Swiss Darning

Tuesday Tip: Swiss Darning for Repair

Tuesday Tip copyLast winter I wrote a Tuesday Tip about using duplicate stitch to reinforce stitches before a hole formed. Today I want to kick that up a notch and explore Swiss Darning (a term sometimes used interchangeably with Duplicate Stitch).

Swiss Darning for Repair

Duplicate stitch, true to it’s name, duplicates a stitch. When you have a stain or a small hole, or a fray in your yarn that will become a hole, you can replace those stitches with new yarn.

The first thing I like to do is take a running start at it by duplicating a few stitches before the problem area.

Swiss Darning Start

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Swiss Darning Duplicate Stitch

Move the tip of the darning needle into the base of the next stitch

Swiss Darning Duplicate Stitch

Can you start to see the path?

Swiss Darning Duplicate Stitch

Once you get the hang of the path, you can “chase” the broken yarn, by putting your needle into the space that the broken yarn is coming out of.

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Swiss Darning Repair

I continue to replace stitches until I have worked over the stain or frayed bit AND I have a long enough tail of the old yarn to weave in.

Swiss Darning Repair

I cross the old and new yarn and weave them in different directions. For a really secure join, sometimes I do this trick:

Swiss Darning Weave in Ends

Swiss Darning Finished

There are oh so many fixes that can be made to your knitting.

To find out how, along with a myriad of other fixes (fixes in cables, lace, color work, circular knitting, shaping and more – both on and off the needles!), check out my new Interweave DVD, Advanced Knitting Fixes.

15KN18CLICK HERE for DVD or Digital Download

 

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