Jane’s Journal

Visible mending on a knitted jumper

Mending baskets! Is there anything quite as likely to engender feelings of guilt as we pass.

All those almost wearable clothes just needing a little attention.

A few years ago I was given this cosy Aran jumper as a Christmas present.

Four times worn and I backed into a barbed wire fence; by the time I had disentangled myself there was a massive hole on the backside.

The wool itself had shredded - much of it left on the fence and I put the jumper in my mending basket to repair. . . .

Four years later, clearing out the 'dressing room of doom' I determined to do better.

It was a drizzly day, I had nothing else pressing to do, I got out some scraps of left over wool and a tapestry needle. It took less then an hour.

Four years and an hour.

In case you also have a ripped jumper in need of some creative mending, here is what I did.

The mending of the ripped aran jumper.

As the rip is very firmly on my backside I decided that it needed a curvy darning, but otherwise I followed the instructions of Flora Collingwood Norris here. The cabling meant that this was never going to be a neat and regimented darn - and it is a little bit more like a hobbity mend, but I love it's organic shape.

Materials

• Holey jumper
• Tapestry needle
• Selection of yarns of similar weight to the jumper
• Scissors

Step 1

I cut out some paper shapes to see what size and shape the patch should be. I went with a circle.

Step 2

Use a contrasting yarn to sew a tacked outline. This is just there as a guide and it will be removed later.