Next to handmade socks, we love Smartwool most. Their socks fit great and feel great, and most of them are pretty long-wearing. Some of the styles are more of a thin dress sock than a cushioned practical sock, and I’ve discovered that these dress socks can wear thin. It’s not a hole, not the kind of thing that you could fix by darning. So instead of throwing them away, I decided to do a needle-felted patch. It was so easy. Much faster than photographing and writing up this quick how-to. 🙂
Here’s what you’ll need to fix a thin spot in a wool sock:
- A needle felting needle
- A very small amount of wool (crimpy soft wool works best. You can buy bits especially for needlefelting or just use something from your spinning stash).
- A foam block at least 1.5″ thick and narrow enough to fit in your sock.
Turn the sock inside out and slide the foam inside. Stretch the sock a little so you can see the thin patch well.
Lay a thin layer of wool across the spot you want to fix. (Remove any vegetable matter from the wool so it doesn’t poke your feet).
Use the felting needle to attach the wool to the sock. Stab it a lot. You want that patch to stay put.
Turn the sock right side out. You’re done! See the wooley bits poking through? Don’t worry about them. They’ll flatten and help felt the patch into the sock as you walk on it. Washing the sock should get the patch to felt into place even more. I tried this sock on, and I couldn’t even feel the patch. A successful repair!
If you try this technique, I’d love to hear what you think. It might work on small holes as well, or in combination with darning.