How to fix a hole in your garment

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A sweater is made up of thousands of tiny unique stitches which each have to be joined perfectly together with the four closest stitches: 1 either side on the same row and 1 from the row above and 1 from the row below. This creates the structure of the knitting. We individually make each of our garments and as careful as we like to think we are, from time to time it is possible for us to miss a dropped stitch. 

Accidents can happen when you are wearing your sweater. You may be unlucky enough to catch your garment on something sharp creating a hole in your garment. Do not despair, your sweater is not ruined, you are going to enhance the personal character of your sweater and give it a new lease of life. Find some yarn similar to the broken yarn. Or you can get in touch with us and we will be happy to send you some yarn in the post.

Carefully give one end of the broken yarns a little tug and with a blunt needle, gently pull the loops of the same yarn on the back of the knitting. Pull the broken yarn on one side of the hole to carefully unravel the stitch next to the missing stitch. Repeat this for one or two stitches until you have enough yarn to tie the broken yarn to the spare yarn. With a blunt needle you then recreate the same stitches you have just unraveled including the missing stitch where the hole was. Then you gently pull the broken yarn on the others side of the hole and continue with the spare thread creating the stitch you have just unraveled on this side of the hole. Repeat this for one or two more stitches until you have enough length of the broken thread to be able to tie it to the spare thread.

If the thread is not broken, but there is a dropped stitch, possibly a dropped stitch over several rows, use a crochet hook to pick up the dropped stitches and spare yarn and a blunt needle to create the final stitch. You do not need to break the yarn and reattach the spare yarn.

A larger whole with several missing stitches, maybe caused by moths, takes a little more patience. Find the broken ends of the yarn and unravel  stitches to recreate the missing stitches with spare yarn. If the whole is too big to fix, it may be easier to sew a patch on to the knitting, for example if the elbow is worn.

Never discard your wool sweater although it may not be perfect. Love the imperfections that are in an individually lovingly made garment, knitted in the most natural and sustainable fibre available, 100% wool.