Not too long ago, a pair of hand-knitted socks was considered a valuable Christmas or birthday present. Why? Because, before our Industrial Age, a lot of work, "know-how" and considerable time had to be employed to care for a sheep, to sheer it, to wash the wool and to spin it until finally a pair of socks could be knitted, which in itself is more complicated than knitting other garments. Additionally, wool wasn't as hard wearing as modern materials are, so women had baskets full of items to darn. And any luxury thin cotton or silk stocking that could be saved by mending, would also have found its way into the darning basket, because to acquire new socks or stockings was either more time intensive or more expensive than darning it. So a small piece of wood in the shape of an egg or a mushroom, to help support the task, a pair of scissors, a thick darning needle and thin darning wool in the most popular colors could be found in any household's sewing box.

With new socks being so cheap nowadays, hardly anybody feels the need to learn how to darn a sock. But what about the hole in your expensive real sheep's wool socks or the socks Grandma hand-knitted as a Christmas present years ago? They've worn thin at the heels a bit and could be reinforced to give them another lease on life. They are so comfortable after all! Darning socks is not complicated, needs only a few sewing tools and with a bit of patience and time (approx. 15 to 20 min.), those valuable socks can be saved.

It shouldn't be difficult too acquire darning needles and darning egg/mushrooms. Department stores, haberdashery shops or craft websites that stock sewing materials will likely stock them, and you may even have one tucked away in your mother's old sewing box. You will need to acquire suitable wool to match the sock you want to darn. Prepare a sewing basket or restock your existing one. Then after a little practice, even if you have never used a needle and thread, you can master the task and easily learn how to darn a sock.

1. Darning needle (about 3 times thicker than a normal sewing needle with a fairly big eye-hole to accommodate the woolly "thread")
2. Darning wool matching the color of the sock to be mended (can be bought in a small quantity or if one knitted the socks oneself, one can keep a bit of left-over wool for darning)
3. A pair of scissors
4. A darning egg or mushroom (usually made from wood or plastic)

So the rainy day has arrived for which you have planned your darning session or maybe it's a nice summer's day and you wish to sit in the garden to do some darning, a suitable table, chair and maybe even a foot stool are available and if you need reading glasses, you have brought them along with the socks to be mended and your sewing box or darning equipment.

1. Take the pair of scissors and cut off approximately an arm length of darning wool.
2. Thread the wool through the darning needle, usually easy to do as darning needles have big eye-holes.
3. Pull the darning wool through the needle until both ends meet again, i.e. the darning wool is "doubled".
4. Do not put any knot into the end of the darning wool, knots are uncomfortable for the feet.
5. Put needle and thread aside, onto the table next to you for example.
6. Take the sock to be mended into your hand and examine the hole to be mended.
7. If there are any frayed bits around the hole, carefully cut them off trying not to make the hole bigger. Just tidy it up a bit.
8. Slide the darning egg or darning mushroom into it until the hole appears over the darning egg/mushroom. This will support your work and aid in the process.
9. Slightly stretch the sock to keep the hole over the darning egg/mushroom and gather the sock under the darning egg with your left hand (if you are right handed).
10. With your right hand, pick up the needle and stitch through a bit of sock material just outside the hole, i.e. on the "left hand side" of the hole, pull the thread through almost to the end, leaving about 1/2 an inch of darning wool as not to "pull it through" by accident.
11. Now lead the the darning wool over the hole and stitch through a bit of the sock material on the other side of the hole.
12. Turn your left hand slightly, but don't let go of the sock and darning egg/mushroom and as close as possible to the last stitch, take up another bit of sock material, pull the darning wool through and lead it back to the first stitch, nicely parallel, take up a bit of sock material next to the first stitch and carry on like that until the entire hole is covered by parallel lying darning wool.

Half-way through the darning process, looks great already! Another few minutes to go:

1. Adjust the sock and darning egg/mushroom in your left hand to allow you to repeat the process from the other direction.
2. From the last stitch you now begin to "weave" over and under the parallel lying darning wool until you reach the other side of the hole where you take up a bit of sock material again. Then you move a little bit next to the last stitch, do another stitch and "weave" over and under back to the side where you started with the weaving.
3. Continue until the hole in the sock is covered by the "weaving".
4. Finally cut off the darning wool at both ends, leaving a bit of wool sticking out as there are no knots.
5. Remove the darning egg/mushroom from the sock, stretch the darned area slightly and smooth over it with your hand.

That's it, you've darned your first sock! Congratulations!