DIY Wristies

[Blundstoned Love]

I've got a pair of woollen socks that were very soft and warm, but quickly wore out at the heel and are now beyond repair.

I'd like to recycle them into a pair of wristies.

Has anyone done this? I'm sure someone here will have.

My question is, where I cut them off and cut a thumb hole, how do I best stop the weave from unravelling?

 

[g4ghb]

I would think turning a 'seam' over and sewing down would work but I'd put money on Mary being along in a mo with a proper answer

 

[Toddy]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57000

I bought a pair of loop pile camping socks but when I got them home I realised that they had really thick clumsy seams across the toes. This makes them unwearable for me, just blisters waiting to happen. I was about to throw them out, when I had an idea.

Put your hand into the sock so that the base of your thumb sits at the heel of the sock.

Mark where your big thumb joint lies. I used a scrap of soap to give me a line that rubs out.

Mark where the knuckle nearest the tip of your middle finger lies, on the sock too.


Now cut straight across at the mark where your finger knuckle was.

Then use the scissors to cut through the fold of the sock at the heel. A couple of cms long is more than ample. Cut small rather than too long.

Because the fabric is loop pile knitted it won't unravel, instead it will roll back on itself and then stabilise.

Result, one pair of warm, comfortable, fingerless mittens, in a good bushcrafty green colour, for a pound

 

[Toddy]

If your's are worn out at the heel Bluntstonelove, then you really need to consider whether the foot or the leg is the better fit for around your wrist.
If they're wool then you can try to felt them. Just use really hot water and soap them up and then plunge them into cold. That thermal shock should do the trick if they are going to felt. They won't unravel then. Wring them out and put them onto your wrists to shape them, when your happy with it, take them off and let them dry somewhere cool-ish.

If they won't felt then you can either unravel until you have a line of loops that you can pick up on a knittingpin and 'cast off' as usual with knitting, or you can run an elastic thread through those same loops and tie off the ends.

The thumb hole might be your problem. I don't know how well you can sew ? but I'd just sew anything that was going to unravel with a buttonhole stitch, making sure to catch all the loops securely; or find (or make) some bias binding (or use thin leather) and just wrap that over the ends and stitch it down.

I think I'd try to see if my other post instructions would work and use the hole as the thumb slit, and just stablise it somehow.

atb,
M

 

[g4ghb]

See told you so! Not only an answer but a tutorialnotworthynotworthy

 

[Toddy]

I just remembered the earlier thread

Those cheap socks made good wristwarmers. They're excellent for working in the garden when it's cold and windy.

atb,
M

 

[Toddy]

Actually, I've just minded another kind that I did from a shrunker wool pullover too.

Instructions, and stitch guides for turning over raw edges on the thread See posts No.s 17, 18 & 19, in particular.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99131

atb,
M

 

[Blundstoned Love]

Not only an answer but a tutorial

You were right!

Thanks for all the help - I think I know where I am going now - my knitting is non-existant, but my sewing is "functional", so I reckon it's a goer.