Today I mended a pair of my hand-knit socks using a method recommended by a friend of mine from the Ottawa Knitting Guild. I will go through the stages to show how it is done. A warning, in advance, is that since this was my very first attempt please do not expect perfection! I was merely aiming to fix the soles of my socks where they had worn through.As you can see the socks have holes in the soles. The left sock was mended roughly and had worn through again. The right sock was also mended roughly but still holding.
The first thing I did was to cut around the mending I had previously done. Then I inserted double-pointed knitting needles into the live stitches on the top and bottom of each 'square' hole that I had made. This was done to hold the live stitches in place for when I would later want to attach the patch to the holes.
I then did two things. First I crocheted a number of loops and then I knitted from the loops (provisional cast-on). I counted the live stitches and cast on that number plus an extra stitch or so on each side. 
I also counted 'up' the number of rows on the sides of the holes in the socks, thereby learning the number of rows that would be required. To be on the safe side, I added 2 extra rows to each of the patches that I made. In the photo to the left here, you can see the provisional cast-on along with the patch that I made.
The next stage in the mending was to use kitchener stitch to attach the live stitches at each end of the patch to the live stitches at each end of the square holes in the socks. This requires a great deal of patience and concentration! In this photo, you can see that I have already attached one row of live stitches to each other and am about to begin d
oing the next row.In the next photo, you can see that the top and bottom rows of live stitches are now completed. What remains to be done is to sew the sides and to tuck in the loose threads.
This photo shows the completed patch, completely knitted and sewen into where the holes were. Am I finished? Not quite. There is still one step (no pun intended!) left to do.
I turned the sock inside out in order to see how it looked from the inside. What I saw were some 'rough edges' that I felt needed 'pruning'. So I took my scissors and VERY CAREFULLY went around the 'rough edges' and trimmed these.This completes my explanation of the process. I wondered if the socks would feel comfortable aftering this patching and they do. I hope this helps you if you ever find that you also have socks that need mending but you are not quite sure where to begin!
