Another natty gadget

@JudyEv (323744)
Rockingham, Australia
October 6, 2017 3:00am CST
My last discussion was about a button-hook that was found among my mother’s belongings. Here is another item that may have you guessing. It’s called a ‘mushroom’ or at least that’s we called it. I don’t know if it has another name. It is/was used when darning socks. The sock is stretched over the ‘mushroom’ part and held tight around the handle. Then you set to darning the hole in the sock. What? You’ve never darned a sock? Shame on you! Actually, to be honest, neither have I.
17 people like this
21 responses
@MALUSE (69428)
• Germany
6 Oct 17
I also have such a thingy, also inherited from my mother. It's made of wood and decorated and looks nicer than yours. :-) The stem can be taken off so that it's easier to hold in some places. I have darned socks, although not for a long time. Believe it or not, it's my plan for today to use the mushroom to close two small holes in the sleeves of a cardigan. I hope we don't have moths which feast on our woollen things.
7 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
I've seen very few of these and certainly no wooden ones. What part is decorated as the head would need to be smooth I would think.
1 person likes this
• Laguna Woods, California
7 Oct 17
@MALUSE - I'm impressed that you have darned socks. That is a wonderful skill to have!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
@MALUSE Thanks for the link. I hadn't thought about painted ones. Yours make mine look very plain indeed!
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Oct 17
I've never darned a sock but my mother certainly used to! Her darning mushroom was made of wood with a turned wooden handle. I remember watching in fascination as she darned socks with incredible neatness.
5 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
My poor old grandmother used to do the mending and darning for our family. She liked doing it as she wasn't really able to do much else and was often very bored. She would darn dark socks with light-coloured wool because the contrasting colours made it easier for her to see what she was doing. Some were very skilled at doing an almost invisible repair.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
6 Oct 17
I never saw this gadget. The traditional tool used to darn socks in France was/is (it is still available) not a mushroom but a wooden egg called "oeuf à repriser". I cannot discuss about the compared advantages of the mushroom vs the egg, as I have never darned socks.
4 people like this
@MALUSE (69428)
• Germany
6 Oct 17
The mushroom thingy has a stem which is like a handle and can be held better than an egg which always tries to slip away.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Most would throw out holey socks now. I haven't seen the egg thingy and very few mushrooms.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
@topffer Thanks for the link. These, like Malu's, make mine look very 'ordinary'. I like the one that splits to hold a thimble, etc.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21617)
• Canada
6 Oct 17
I don't have such a thingy....I've seen wooden "eggs" that were used for darning socks.... Desperation has led me to darning or mending socks. The most challenging pair were my fathers medical support stocking. I mended them while waiting for the company to get back to us about replacing them. (They eventually did). At $90. a pop, I would hope so!
3 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Not too many would bother to darn socks nowadays but at $90 a pop! - that would be a big incentive!
1 person likes this
@peachpurple (13882)
• Malaysia
6 Oct 17
what is darned a sock? I have seen a similar mushroom button somewhere....
3 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Once, when socks got holes in them, the hole would be patched with wool being crisscrossed over it.
@YrNemo (20272)
6 Oct 17
I darned socks before, but only the knitted one (giant yarns!). I didn't use anything to help me at the time. (And I seriously thought that it would be cheaper to go buying new socks, China made, than sitting there darning anything.)
4 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Darning would be out of fashion now.
1 person likes this
@jstory07 (133787)
• Roseburg, Oregon
6 Oct 17
When I get holes in my socks I threw them away and get new ones.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Most people would do that nowadays. Not too many would bother darning socks.
@Juliaacv (48242)
• Canada
6 Oct 17
My Gramma used to have a larger instrument, made out of wood and used for darning socks.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Several have said they've seen wooden ones. This is tin or may aluminium.
@LadyDuck (455008)
• Switzerland
6 Oct 17
This is a darning mushrooms, I have seen modern versions made in different materials. We use darning "eggs" in Italy.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (455008)
• Switzerland
8 Oct 17
@JudyEv I like to look at vintage objects around the world.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Oct 17
@LadyDuck Countries with very cold climates would have lots of vintage articles that I would never see or know of.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Oct 17
It's been interesting to read about the various customs.
1 person likes this
@Inlemay (17714)
• South Africa
7 Oct 17
this one I know. my granny gave me hers although I use a tennis ball, its easier YES I do darn socks, my hubby takes years to like new socks, so I have to keep mending those oldies in his draw
1 person likes this
@Inlemay (17714)
• South Africa
8 Oct 17
@JudyEv I have started doing that with a few tatty things as well ... I have a little evil side too
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Oct 17
My husband has jumpers he refuses to throw out but he is not so fussy about socks. Sometimes I throw them out when he is not looking.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Oct 17
@Inlemay My young son had a desk drawer full of bits and pieces of paper. I used to throw out 3 or 4 sheets once a week from the bottom. That worked quite well too.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (12541)
• Ireland
6 Oct 17
@judyev I read this first time without glasses and read "buttock hook". A lesson learned.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
The mind boggles!
@Fleura (28949)
• United Kingdom
6 Oct 17
I remember those - in fact my only surprise is that I don't seem to have one anywhere, which is odd given that I do have so many other things, including a button hook! And yes I have darned socks, and jumpers, tights and many other things.
2 people like this
@Fleura (28949)
• United Kingdom
6 Oct 17
@JudyEv Plain coloured socks??
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
@Fleura I meant if you didn't have a mushroom did you use anything else to make it easier to darn.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Not many would bother with darning items nowadays. Do you use anything to make the task easier?
1 person likes this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
6 Oct 17
I had seen one of this before but I couldn't remember what it was used for until you mentioned it. If I'm remembering right I thing my foster mother's mother used to use one of these to darn our socks when I was a kid.
2 people like this
• Otis Orchards, Washington
6 Oct 17
@JudyEv This is true. We have turned into a more throwaway world.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
There wouldn't be much call for them nowadays. Not too many would bother with darning things.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22932)
• India
6 Oct 17
First time for me...Though I admit to darning in my school days.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
We used to do darning of a sort using hessian (sackcloth).
1 person likes this
• India
6 Oct 17
@JudyEv we had to learn all this in the sewing class
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40189)
• United States
6 Oct 17
That was such fun to read. I think I tried to darn a sock ( how did we get the word "darn" to mean repair?) years ago, but it wasn't comfortable.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
I know some women back then were very clever at darning and able to make the repair almost invisible. My old grandmother would use contrasting colour for the darn because her eyesight wasn't very good.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (39965)
• Laguna Woods, California
7 Oct 17
@JudyEv - About as close as I have gotten darning a sock is to say, "Darn, I have a hole in my sock!" LOL Fascinating gadget!
1 person likes this
• Laguna Woods, California
8 Oct 17
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Oct 17
That's about my limit too.
1 person likes this
@just4him (303373)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
7 Oct 17
I think my grandmother darned socks. It would be handy at a time when darning was a way of life.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Oct 17
Darning and mending were just as much a part of life as washing dishes and doing laundry.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (18753)
• United States
10 Oct 17
cool. I never heard of that. I thought it was a button.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Oct 17
I should have put something next to it for size comparison.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116876)
• Anniston, Alabama
10 Oct 17
I have never seen one.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Oct 17
Do you darn socks or do like I do and throw them out?
@Kandae11 (53597)
6 Oct 17
I don't know if closing a small hole with needle and thread could be considered darning - but that's the way I did it.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (323744)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Oct 17
Yes, that's darning but stretching it over a mushroom made it a bit easier.
1 person likes this
@Kandae11 (53597)
6 Oct 17
@JudyEv It certainly would
1 person likes this