Well now. Repairing moth damaged crochet may never make it to my list of superpowers, but I'm managed to fix moth holes in a crochet vest that I like to wear over my chore jacket in winter. When it's time to do morning barn chores on a frigid morning, it adds a comforting extra layer of warmth.
The vest
was crocheted from a bulky 2-ply yarn from what was called "beast roving."
It's a blend of mixed breed fleeces, mostly gray mill ends but with bits of
color here and there. It was fun to spin and quick to crochet into a vest.
Happily, I found some of the leftover yarn when I cleaned out and rearranged my stash of handspun. I also still had the pattern in a notebook.
The first step was to pull out the yarn back to solid crochet stitches, securing them with safety pins and stitch holders.
In hindsight, I should have started on the other side, but since I was trying to figure it out, I just accepted my clumsy results and moved on to repair the second large hole.
The second hole was challenging because it was on the front edge and is the foundation for the reverse crochet edging. I had no idea how I would manage that.
I filled in the eaten away single crochet stitches and then re-did the edging. The result?
No where near invisible mending, but at least the repair matches.
It puts the vest back in service with I am glad of because winter is far from over with.
I confess I had a hard time mustering enthusiasm for this repair. But I pushed on because I like the vest and it is useful to me. In examining it closely, I made the discouraging discovery that not all of the moth damage was holes, but in many places they appear to have nibbled through strands of the yarn so that it looks intact until close inspection. I wondered if I should have tried a different, visible repair, but sometimes, something is worth doing not because of the results, but for what one learns from doing it.
4 comments:
It looks very good to me Leigh! I am super impressed (my sock darning is not nearly as clean looking).
Thanks, TB! I never used to think of mending as an art, but as it's become more popular, it's become refined and creative. It's a useful skill to learn and practice.
Lovely vest and good observations made by you!
Nice workmanship.
Goatldi, thanks! It's a pattern I would definitely make again, and may have to at some point if the yarn continues to deteriorate. The lesson I didn't mention was that I need to store my wool things better in summer!
Post a Comment