How to Mend Crochet

Look what my darling dogs have done! So this weeks blog is all about mending. My dastardly darlings must have had a lot of fun when they played tug of war with my Spirits of Life Wrap. I was very good, I didn't scream at them, I didn't panic, I didn't even put them on half rations. Instead I tried to see it as a learning opportunity!

I remember seeing a post about mending crochet by LillaBjorn there was also a post by Robyn Chachula. Being dyslexic I read both but failed to understand them! Doesn't that sound like a cue for a photo tutorial in which we both learn together?

Having consulted my Ravelry Project page for the hook size and with pattern in hand I'm ready to start.

Here goes then, lets start with one of the smallest rips first. A row of Treble stitches followed by a row of Double Crochet (Dc, Sc-USA). I'm going to run a thread through the base of the upper row of stitches, the navy row. I'll remove this later.

 Now I have to undo the stitches from the middle outwards, leaving the threads to weave in. I'm a bit anxious about this bit!

I can now work the Treble stitches from right to left. I am joining my new yarn into the loop I've parked on a stitch marker.

And needle joined to the other side.

(Because this wrap is made in rows I need to turn it over for the next row.) Turning over I can again join my new yarn to the stitch parked on the second marker. Now I'm following the instructions...Make one stitch...

Using a smaller size hook, thread it through the bottom of the stitch above (where the yarn is threaded,)...

Grab the loop and pull it through.

After making each stitch pull the loop through, as before. It's very fiddly but it works!

Remove the thread you added right at the beginning.
This is what it looks like finished. Not perfect but compared with what we started with I'm really pleased.

Here's what the other little tear looks like when mended.

Now I've got the confidence to tackle that huge rip along the seam.
According to my pattern this is two rows of Double crochet (Sc-USA). The corner-to-corner panel is then worked into the top row of double crochet stitches.
 
There are two tiny breaks in the corner-to-corner work. I am going to do my best to reinforce this with a yarn thread of the same colour.

That done I can carefully remove the old damaged grey stitches leaving enough thread to weave in later.

The first row of grey stitches is complete.

The second row was originally joined to the corner-to corner work with slip stitches so I have to pull the loop of each stitch through the old loops of the corner-to-corner work.

Oh No! I've only got that scary corner-to-corner section left to mend. I've only ever used the corner-to-corner technique on this project. Deep breath Rach!
 
OK so lets just go one step at a time. As the name suggests it's worked diagonally. So first of all I've got to figure out which direction to work in.

 
Like this...
 
I'm going to mark all the stitches that the grey yarn joins to. I'll use the same yellow thread from before and then remove the damaged section.

 

Now that the damage has been removed it doesn't look as scary. All I have to do is join the new yarn in the stitch I've parked on the stitch marker. Then continue working in the diagonal rows. When I get to the bottom of the row I slip stitch to the base.

When I get to the top, I slip a loop through the 'yarn-marked' stitch on the right side of the cell.(1). 

Then I need to get to the left side of the cell. So I place a slip stitch in the top of each treble stitch (Dc-USA) across the top of the cell,(2,3&4).

 Then another slip stitch in the 3-chain loop.(5).

This leaves a loop on the hook which I can pull through the next 'yarn-marked' stitch.(6)

 

 

I hope you've been following so far because I have now run into a problem. When I get to the left hand side I need to feed 3 chain stitches through the 3 navy stitches. But that leaves my working yarn too far away from my hook.

 

So the only way I can think of to do this is to work out how much yarn I need to finish the entire area and pull it all through those three stitches. If you can figure out another solution please let me know!!

 

I have to do that with each of the navy cells all the way to the top. Fortunately it's not as hard as it sounds.

Et Viola!!

 

That was an awfully long post, so well done if you stayed with me to the end. The important thing to take away with you is this. When the worst happens there is a solution. Just take it one step at a time!