I have no idea how but one of my sweaters got a tear (or bite?) on the sleeve. I didn't knit this one but it's worth saving for the yoke pattern, echoed at the cuffs. It took me a couple years to find yarn close enough to mend it--sock reinforcing yarn in fact. Fine black yarn is hard to come by! Then more time to learn and try a few mending techniques, wait for summer and enough light to mend by, and finally now it's finished. The fix is pretty invisible when worn, on the underside of the lower sleeve.
Because multiple stitches and rows were destroyed I couldn't just sew over a couple stitches and be done. I picked up loops of mending yarn above the start of the tear and knit a rectangular patch over the damaged area, sewing the sides of the patch to the sweater at the end of every row. I accidentally moved over half a column on the left side but it's hardly noticeable. At the bottom I sewed the patch to the sweater, then wove all the ends in from the back. The tear was tacked to the patch from the back for stability.
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| The mend: 1"w x 1 ¼"h |
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| Inside: tear is diagonal |
Nice save! That is very Make Do and Mend, in the best way.
ReplyDeleteThanks :) All my knitter friends were amazed, and somewhat horrified, that I'd work so hard to save a RTW sweater. I like having good mending skills, though.
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