DARN it! (Mending) (Patreon)

For the last ten years, I've been saving our worn out clothing in a basket under my home studio desk. Tig likes to shove her little paws in it up to her armpits and methodically pull out the top layer of clothes to make herself a little nest, exactly where my feet should be, and then nestle herself in like Smaug on his hoard of stolen treasure.

The basket is literally overflowing, even without Tig's help, and finally- finally!- after a decade of ignoring it, I've decided, darn it, it's time to darn it!

Darning is a type of mending, where you basically weave together the existing fibers with your needle and thread, building up a replacement material. No, I had no prior experience when I decided to take on the sock with the biggest hole, but I figured I'd just learn on the job. First thing's first, I had to find a darning egg/mushroom to make the heel keep its rounded shape while I worked on it. Unfortunately, I had no such tool, but fortunately I am a retired sex toy reviewer so I grabbed the next best thing: a spherical masturbation sleeve display case.

The results of my first attempt at darning were....

Yeah, I gave up on that one and didn't try again for a while.

But then! I got myself an actual darning egg-thing! So I took that for a spin:

It ain't pretty but it worked!

There is, indeed, no hole in that sock anymore- and the texture difference is surprisingly unnoticeable to my foot. With this unattractive win in hand, I was consumed with what I can only describe as darning fever.

None of it is pretty yet, but I'm having fun just getting the hang of how this works.

I'm really enjoying being an absolute beginner.

I'm starting to get a feel for weaving, starting to understand what kind of tension the threads need and how to give it to them. I'm starting to figure out how to fill in my gaps and correct my mistakes. Hell, I'm even getting a little bit creative with my (basic) designs! I broke up my solid color block with a stripe of blue! I created a (very lumpy) heart shape! MARVEL AT MY INGENUITY.

As a Professional Visual Artist and Fairly Experienced Embroiderer, I'm enjoying (and being humbled by) going back to being a complete novice, delighting in my hideous accomplishments.