Knit Repair Workshop With TRAID

When we heard about Traid's darning workshop in Dalston, we jumped at the chance to go after learning so much at their fun denim repair session. The class was perfectly timed too – the temperature’s dropping day-by-day and Mark’s favourite Fair Isle sweater, despite being previously repaired, needed some TLC. John and his much-loved, slightly holey walking socks joined in too. Here’s Mark with how they got on... The workshop was at the Traid shop in Dalston. There was a full turn out and a lively atmosphere! First of all we all talked through what we were wanting to repair and then we were given individual attention to repair our garments. I had an old (but favourite) Fair Isle jumper that had come apart at the under arm seams. Over the years, I had attempted to sew it back together very crudely but eventually the hole would reappear again so it was great to get technical advice on how to do it properly. Tool wise, I was given a wooden mushroom type thing that helped give you a flat surface to work with along with large darning needles and some wool yarn. The technique involved working on the underside of the garment and carefully pushing the needle through the yarn loops, very therapeutic thing to do actually! After 30 minutes or so I had repaired both underarm holes which look like they’ll last years and years – they’ve not just repaired the hole, but reinforced it as well… result! Fancy learning a new skill too? You can find out about all the workshops Traid run's here. There’s a Bobble Hat one coming up which sounds fun - take some pics to show us if you go!