Do you mend your socks? - called Darning

I turn them into rags. Slice them and….I’m too cheap to buy rags.
Ah hah! I use them for dusting before tossing them out. Note to all: also, knee highs make wonderful dusting cloths.
Aunt Mavis, I do hope you don't any of them lying around to use.o_O
 

HC, I applaud you for being uncompromising re style and quality of the articles of clothing which fit your personality. Since you are able to afford the best, why not enjoy yourself? ♥️
Thank you very much. It might seem like I am some sort of spendthrift but why I have such a wardrobe is because my talented wife makes most of my clothes. Shirts, trousers, waistcoats(vests) and so much more. Then there's the clothes and hats that I buy from traders at a fraction of the cost when new, at the various vintage festivals and functions that we go to.

Growing up poor, but not impoverished, taught me both value and economy. There's much in my wardrobe that has been there for many a year, and of course it never gets dated like it would were it a, here today, gone tomorrow, kind of fashion. My clothes follow a timeless style. Some might see it as nagging but my wife steers me in a sensible direction, meaning little weight gain so that clothes still fit decades later.
 
I can remember my mother darning a few socks when I was young, but eventually she abandoned the practice as too much bother, and trashed our socks that had holes.

Like many guys, I will continue to wear socks if the holes aren’t too bad. I don’t know how to darn a sock…they never taught me in Shop class. There was a memorable episode of Married With Children where Al Bundy showed off his “best socks” that were more holes than fabric. They looked kinda like the first picture…

63DB9D8E-1546-4359-9784-5CAB5E497420.jpeg08D5758E-F943-434D-8629-049989B0F1F4.jpeg
 
No, but have a related story.

After we purchased our house an older man who grew up in it told us of how in the 30s they would take socks too old to darn again and use them to pack sausage. This was done at slaughter time in the fall, and the sock/sausages were hung out the window of a north facing bedroom for the winter. The girls room.

That bedroom was the one we designated for the grand daughter, and she would not believe the story. Then one day an older woman, a sister of the man came to see what we had done with the house. She and the grand daughter gone on well, then the woman told the grand daughter that had been her bedroom, her and several sisters. She then repeated the hanging sausage story, and convinced the grand daughter. Both the older folks are gone now, but the sock story goes on.

Many uses for old socks I guess.
 
My Mother ( born in London England in 1905 ) had a wooden sock darning object that was rounded, and had a small handle to hold it by. She did darning, and all kinds of other needlework, as she was a Ladies maid as a young woman. Being able to maintain her Ladie's wardrobe was a part of her duties.

In those days young working class girls left school at 14 or 15, and "went into service ". Mum came to Canada at age 23, to take up a position with a wealthy family here in Toronto. That was in 1928. She eventually went to work for Lady Eaton, to be her chief housekeeper. My Dad was the family driver, having taken a Rolls Royce driver's course in England after his Canadian Army service in The Great War. Mum and Dad got married in 1940 when both of them were released by Lady Eaton so they could take jobs in the War Effort. I was born in 1946. Mum kept a spotless house. JImB.
 


Back
Top