How to Fix a Worn Heel in a Sock

Knit socks are a thing of beauty, and a thing that’s meant to be worn and enjoyed. But socks are under a lot of pressure, particularly in the heel and toe areas, so the odds are good if your socks have been well loved and well used for a long period of time, they’re going to get worn spots.

With store-bought socks, we’d probably just throw them away and buy new ones, but who could bear to do that to a knit sock? Not me. So it pays to know a little bit about hoe to repair socks and even tear out and reknit sections of worn socks if need be to get them back in good wearing order.

Jennifer at Tinking Turtle has a great tutorial on replacing an afterthought heel in a pair of socks. Yes, it involves cutting the knitting, ripping out the old heel, picking up stitches and working a new heel in its place. And all of that sounds kind of scary, but her big pictures and calm language should reassure you that this is a great way to go.

Have you ever had to repair a pair of knit socks? I’d love to hear what you did!

[Photo via Tinking Turtle.]

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Santa and Saint Nicholas generally get all the good press, but Central European kids know you don’t want to just be good so you get presents from St. Nicholas; you also want to avoid the ire of Krampus. (He’s depicted as a human-like figure with horns and usually hairy or furry who gives birch rods instead of gifts to kids who are bad.)

If you’re the type to embrace the naughty side (or you just want to scare the children into good behavior over the holidays), maybe you’ll want to knit a Krampus sweater.

This one, from Sofie Amalie Laulund, is a top down circular yoke sweater with Krampus faces at the top and cavorting Krampuses further down the body, with some traditional Scandinavian snowflakes thrown in for fun.

Because of the large motifs there’s not a lot of room for adjusting the fit, but it is available in five sizes (the Ravelry page doesn’t say what the sizing is, and it says its worked with no ease but the photo looks like the sweater has a bit of positive ease, so if you decide to make this one just check the measurements and your own comfort level for ease when picking a size).

It also uses five colors, but there’s very little red and brown so you can probably use scrap yarn for those parts. It calls for DK weight yarn. You’ll want a background color that helps the creatures stand out. You could also work the snowflake bands in different colors if you want to mix it up.

The pattern is available in both English and Danish, and you can find it on Ravelry. This is the designer’s first pattern, which kudos to them because it’s such an ambitious (and fun!) project I’m happy to add to my collection of whimsy-filled knits.

[Photo: Sofie Amalie Laulund]

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