Darn it...

Last weekend, I came across a bag. A bag with socks in it. They were socks I had completely forgotten about, so I was very happy to have found them again. And when I took them out, I realized why they were there. Darn...
Yes... holes and more holes... As is quite normal with socks, if they fit well and they look nice, you wear them a lot. And when you wear them, they wear as well. Resulting in holes.
Unlike some people who get holes on the heels of the feet, which for me always stay nice, I get them under the ball of my feet and under my toes. Like this...

See how this one has already had the darn treatment before? The part on the left (with the purple thread) has been darned, while the part on the right, under the 'new' hole, has been re-knit. I took up the stitches, and just knit an extra patch, picking up a stitch every row on the sides. The last row is then grafted in. Easy peasy.

Here's the sock with the toe hole fixed and a small worn patch regrafted. It's basically been embroidered over, like you do with patterns in a sweater. The socks are now back in action, and can definitely be worn for a few more months. It's a shame to let lovely socks go to waste!
As this pair went swimmingly, I also fixed these.

These got the second (or third) graft/darn treatment... Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original yarn in my (ginormous) yarn basket, so I just used some strong acrylic pink sock yarn.

Back in action again! Luckily no-one can see the underside of socks when you wear them...
Only these are left now, my lovely Salida's... As this yarn is a bit thinner, I might actually reknit the entire underside, as they are just too thin to just graft and darn...

I'm planning on buying a darning egg at the Handwerkbeurs weekend after next, to make these little jobs a lot easier for myself...
And why am I darning all these socks when hubby just brought me back a lovely fresh pair of Donegal (machine-knit) socks? Because of this, and this, and this, and this... and the photos in this stream... The Elfstedentocht fever has hit our country hard! Just go to any news site and the only question you see is: Will it happen???? Despite a few nights of decent frost, thaw is forecast again from Sunday, so we're crossing our fingers and hoping that the Elfstedentocht will go ahead again this year, after 15 years of waiting*...

*This little sad girl was sitting on a plane back 'home' to Ireland last time around, on January 4th 1997... Yes, I was going back to the boyfriend I missed so much during Xmas break and back to university, where exiting things were waiting, but you can imagine the disappointment of having to sit at the airport in Departures, watching the race unfold on a small TV without sound. Heartbreaking! I have great memories of 1985 and 1986, so would love it to happen again this year!!!