DARN IT!!

A few decades ago it was common practise for wives or mothers to repair socks when a hole appeared in the toe of their male relatives' socks.  It required special equipment: a wooden or melamine 'mushroom' shaped darning stool that went inside the sock; a large eyed needle; grey darning wool and a thimble.

Females learnt the skill from their mothers, perhaps by observation or learnt behaviour rather than a sit down spoken demonstration.  There were no questions about it being worth the time and effort, it was a skill to be proud of and thrifty.  The pair of socks lasted twice as long saving the expense of a new pair.  All were happy with this arrangement.

Today, however, more and more women work - time for housework does not include darning.  It is becoming a lost art as the throw-away society disposes of lots of odd socks or pairs of socks that are no longer serviceable due to the hole in one of them.  Even though the recession goes on and on the habit of 'bin it' quickly solves the problem of a holey sock.  No wonder socks are sold in multiple packs. 

It would seem that some men do not understand this changing female trend of  seemingly wastefulness.  It is quite unfathomable as to why a perfectly comfy pair of socks should be discarded so easily.  They either go on wearing the holed sock until it appears no more in their sock drawer or leave it waiting for the fairies to mend without a word to anyone.  It was a given, an expectation, a normality.

For the ladies their stockings and tights would also be 'saved' by a stitch in time or with a bit of nail varnish dabbed on to the hole to prevent laddering.  These practises by young ladies today are probably as foreign as 'mangles' and black and white TV.

Change is a natural progression of life.  And now that also refers to updating one mobile phone, laptop or i-pad for another which makes a nonsense of recycling as few want technology caste offs.  New, bigger, smaller, faster, more costly, seems to be order of the day.  There is a sense of being 'left behind' that drives most people to try to keep up.

Getting back to socks.  So the fashion of foot and leg garments remains unchanged but how long they are kept for is minimal.  Are they even reused for stuffing home made soft toys with the alternatives available to buy in craft shops?

Is there a society of darners out there to keep the tradition going?  Did the army or navy teach you to darn socks and do you still do it? Do you use them some other way after their drawer life?  Do comment in the space below.....