A simple sock repair

And a field trip to the future

I’m feeling rather dazed after taking part in the wonderful three-day course ‘How to fall in love with the future’ at Hawkwood College. Under the guidance of author and Transition Network co-founder Rob Hopkins, I learned how to harness my imagination for time travel, alongside 25 other brilliant humans.

It was wonderful, whimsical, emotional and exhausting. The setting was stunning - it was a privilege to wander through fields and forests as we imagined the future we want to see. At the end of the course, Rob told us he had reorganised us on a quantum level. Okay, so this may not be scientifically accurate, but I do feel changed. Rob also advised that it might take us some time to come back into the present day…which explains why I feel out of it.

The grounds of Hawkwood College, Stroud

Following the course, I feel more hopeful. More equipped and joyful for what’s ahead. With the unrelentingly dismal news these days, its hard not to be affected by the state of the world. The course has given me tools to reframe the future. It’s not about positive thinking or a head in the sand ‘let’s ignore the bad stuff’ mentality. To make something happen we first need to imagine it.

I may write more on this another day. For now, while my brain feels like its stuffed with cotton wool, I’ll stick to writing about clothing repair. That feels more doable at this point in time.

I took some mending with me on the course, thinking I might have free time. With so many interesting people to chat to and futures to travel to, there was actually very little downtime. I did manage to darn a small hole in a sock though.

A few years ago, I was given a set of these socks and though they’ve lasted well, a few have developed holes at the same time, in the same place.

My mending kit for this repair:

• Darning needle

• Snips

• Darning yarn in yellow and navy

• Darning mushroom

Left: after the repair inside the sock. Right: after the repair outside the sock.

Here’s how I did this repair:

• Just like last week’s glove repair, I did a traditional stocking darn on the inside of the sock

• Starting just outside the hole, I wove a yellow warp vertically over and under alternate loops of the knit – up one row and down the next

• Next, I wove the navy-blue weft horizontally over and under the new warp threads

• Then, I wove the ends back into the darned area to secure them

• I always aim to leave loops at the end of each warp and weft row to allow for movement. If they’re woven too tight, new holes can form at the edge of the darn.

Some socks are very tricky to repair – the very thin ones are a real faff to fix - but these slightly chunkier knits are simple and satisfying to mend. My newfound time travelling skills tell me that, thanks to this darn, my stripy sock has a long future ahead!

What’s coming up this week:

My mending pile: I’ve got a couple more of these socks to repair, plus the never-ending pile-up of jumpers to mend.

Next week on The Mending Kit: its school half term so realistically I’ll need to take a week off. I’ll be back the week after next!

Want to read some more of my posts about darning? You can find them here: Darns from The Mending Kit.

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