Mending time! But first, before you start mending, a little bit of prep work is in order.

Actually, we need to take an even bigger step back. This is probably the very oldest knitting I’ve ever shown around these parts. These socks are from 2008. You know, back when we were all young and well rested, did not have a failed reality tv personality encouraging a coup, did not have anxiety dreams about leaving of the house without a face mask, and had no idea what instagram was because it hadn’t been invented yet.

They’ve been in spouse’s sock drawer for well over 12 years now, and have held up shockingly well given that I used wildly unsuitable yarn and did not yet know the difference between twisted and untwisted knit stitches and so everything I knit in the round ended up with all twisted stitches.

But, while my knitting skills back then left something to be desired, I was good at the sock lecture. The sock lecture goes like this ‘as you wear these (and you should totally wear them, seriously, please wear them), they will get worn spots. This is normal! However, if look for the worn spots when you take them off, and tell me about them as soon as you see them, I can fix them, and you’ll be able to wear them much longer.’

So over the winter break, spouse comes to me, socks in hand, and points out a worn spot (it’s the heel turn, which is apparently the only spot on the whole thing where I didn’t use twisted stitches).

I take a moment to double check that they really are that old, reel in shock for a moment, then make a mending plan. We’ll talk about the actual stitching later. For now, I want to talk about how, before I did anything, I blocked the socks and took the gleener to them to get rid of 12 years worth of fuzzies (no, this isn’t sponsored, I just like that tool).

Because really, look at this. One of those socks is blocked and defuzzed. One is rumpled and covered in fluff. It’s going to be way easier to mend them once they’ve gotten a little help.

So, soon we will stitch. But first we will prep. And then we’ll see just how long we can keep these socks going!