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Materials needed: A sock with a hole, obviously. You'll also need a yarn needle and a length of yarn. You can pick something that contrasts or that matches, but I'm using different colors here for visibility. drawing of a sock with a hole in it

First, ideally you'll have something to put inside the sock to keep yourself from accidentally sewing both sides together. Traditionally this is a darning egg or a darning mushroom, but you could also use something round of about the right size, like a tennis ball, or failing that, a bit of cardboard.

drawing of a sock with a hole in it

First you'll make a circle around the hole with the yarn. This ensures that there's something to hold the weaving in place without it pulling on the remaining stitches too much. I find it easiest to do this with a single long piece of yarn for the whole project, so for me this step involves pulling a very long piece of yarn through as I go.

drawing of a sock with a hole in it

Once the circle is complete, I string the warp for the little weaving we're going to do to fill the hole. The goal here is to make it as close as possible to straight up and down, with minimal space between the strands (though you can always tighten it later when you weave). Make sure that in each direction you are going past the "edge" yarn before you put the needle through, and pull it back up on the inside of the edge so that the edge yarn is able to anchor it.

drawing of a sock with a hole in it

Now we start weaving! Depending on the shape of the hole and the shape of the yarn edging you made, your first few rows may be narrower than when you get into the main section of the hole. That's okay. Just use the yarn needle to weave over and under each of the strings of the warp, and again make sure you're anchoring it by sewing around the edge yarn when you turn back and the end of each row.

drawing of a sock with a hole in it

At the top, your final row may go above the yarn edge, that's okay. Just make sure you're satisfied with how it looks and how sturdy it feels.

drawing of a sock with a hole in it

Rather than tying it off, which can result in a knot under your foot, I prefer to weave the end through the stitches off to the side and then trim it so the extra stitches will hold it in place. Then you can snip off the excess and put your sock back on.

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