Darn

Some of you will recognise this as a darning mushroom and others will look at it puzzled.

A brief history of darning mushrooms.

I used mine today. I don't know how old it is, Mum passed it onto me at some stage. I don't use it much these days but it's handy to have. I can remember being shown how to use it to darn socks and elbows in jerseys.

I never darn my running socks. While a shocking price once they're worn, they've had it. Darning will only invite blisters, which is the reason I have to wear expensive socks to begin with.

Same with socks for tramping. If they're that worn they'll be causing blisters and darning only makes it worse.

Today I darned the holes in my woolen long johns. One was large and caused by rock when I fell late last winter. The other hole was smaller and from snagging on Matagouri. Good quality fine merino long johns don't come cheap and it's only right their functionality should be extended. My mending isn't pretty as it's more along the lines of hand sewing jagged edges together but it will do the job.

It only took a few minutes. I wonder why I put it off for so long? I get a hard time each time I tramp and need to wear them. If I need them tomorrow I bet it will like when men shave their beards off; no one will notice.

I still make an exception and darn my black fine woolen socks I wear most of the year. They have fancy top bits that don't cut into your leg and because they're engineered with healthy circulation in mind, they get the thumbs up for feet care for diabetics. They're double the price of other socks so get one darn from me and then they're replaced.

How to use a darning mushroom

A curious thing happens with socks. Two go into the wash but often only one is present when it comes to processing dry washing back into drawers. Somewhere there is a black hole mostly full of my odd black socks.

A day of domestic pottering and organising for hpx. Oh yes I ran, but only up the hill once with no repeats. I thought I'd take it easy ;-)

I'm up very early tomorrow for a long day in the hills and I'm mostly sorted for work on Monday. It dawned on me today it's Easter at the end of the coming week. You guessed it, I'm off to the mountains again so have made a cursory start at organising for that.

I'm ever so happy to be heading to the hills tomorrow ;-)