How to fix a hole in a sweater before it gets bigger

You find it pulling the sweater over your head: a small hole at the elbow, near the hem, or right on the front where a moth found it in storage. It’s tempting to put the sweater back in the drawer and decide later.

The trouble is that a knit is one long strand looped into rows. Once a stitch breaks, the loops beside it have nothing to hold them, and the hole grows a little every time you wear or wash the sweater. A hole the size of a pea can be the size of a quarter by spring.

Darning closes it while it’s small. It takes about twenty minutes, a darning mushroom, a needle and a little yarn, and a careful darn holds up to normal wear and gentle washing.

Stop the run the day you find it

The first job is keeping the hole from growing. If you see loose loops at the edge, slide a safety pin through them, or thread a piece of yarn through the open stitches, so they can’t unravel further. Do this even if the repair has to wait until the weekend.

Then look over the rest of the sweater. Several small holes, especially on the front or the shoulders, are often the work of clothes moths. If you find more than one, check the other wool and cashmere in the same drawer before the mended sweater goes back in.

Match the yarn to the sweater

The repair blends in when the yarn matches the sweater in three ways.

Weight. Fine yarn for a fine knit, heavier yarn for a chunky one. A thick yarn on fine cashmere makes a lump, and a thin yarn on a chunky knit pulls away.
Fiber. Wool for wool, cashmere for cashmere, cotton for cotton, so the repair stretches and washes the same way as the knit around it.
Color. Get as close as you can, and compare in daylight. A near match on a dark sweater disappears; on a pale one, every shade shows.

If you’d rather make the repair a feature, pick a contrasting color on purpose. Visible mending has a long tradition, and a neat square in a bright color looks intentional.

Darn the hole in four steps

Work with the sweater right side out, over the darning mushroom, with the hole centered on the dome. The dome holds the knit smooth without stretching it, and it keeps you from sewing the front of the sweater to the back.

Outline the hole. With a large-eye darning needle, sew a square of small running stitches into the solid knit about a quarter inch outside the hole. This anchors the patch in fabric that is still strong.
Lay the vertical threads. Starting at one side of the square, take the yarn straight across the hole to the other side, catch a stitch, and come back, like the strings of a guitar. Keep them close together and relaxed, not tight.
Weave across. Now work side to side, passing the needle over one vertical thread and under the next, then the reverse on the way back. Nudge each row up against the last with the needle tip. You’re weaving a small square of new fabric over the hole.
Finish on the inside. Turn the sweater inside out and weave each yarn tail through the back of a few stitches before trimming it. Skip the knots, which work loose and leave a bump.

A thin spot that hasn’t broken through yet can be reinforced the same way, by weaving over the worn area before it becomes a hole.

Snags are not holes

A snag is a loop pulled out of the knit with no broken yarn. Don’t cut it. Push a needle or a small crochet hook through from the inside, catch the loop and pull it to the back, then gently stretch the knit around it so the stitches even out.

Make the repair last

Wash it gently, by hand or on a delicate cycle in a mesh bag, and dry it laid out on a towel.
Store it folded, not hung, so the mended area isn’t carrying the weight of the sweater.
Keep the kit in one place. When the next hole appears, the repair takes twenty minutes instead of a season of putting it off.

What to actually buy

The mushroom. A wooden darning mushroom with six large-eye needles. A magnet in the top holds the needle between stitches, and the hollow handle unscrews to store the needles, so the whole kit stays together.

The yarn. Cashmere darning yarn, 5 meters in each of six colors: black, two navies and three grays, for black, navy and gray cashmere. Because it’s real cashmere, the yarn is fine, so it suits fine knits rather than chunky ones.

The scissors. Five-inch micro-tip fabric scissors with sharp points for trimming tails close to the knit without nicking the stitches next to them.

Who this is not for

If the hole is bigger than about an inch, or sits on a seam, a tailor or a knitwear repair service will do a neater job.
If the sweater is chunky, brightly colored or not cashmere, buy a yarn that matches its weight, fiber and color instead of the cashmere set.
If you’d rather not mend it yourself, ask your dry cleaner whether they offer repairs, and take it in before the hole grows.

Start on any Monday

This week, go through your sweaters and pin any loose stitches you find. Put the ones that need darning in one pile with the kit.

On the weekend, darn one. The first takes the longest; by the third, a repair fits in the time it takes to watch an episode of something.