Turning into my Gran?

I have my gran's darning mushroom! I haven't used it for years though. Good for you.

Funnily enough, DH and I were talking about darning socks just yesterday.
His Gran used to darn his socks for him beautifully. She had a kind of mushroom shaped darning tool.
So I did try when we first got married but they became very lumpy.
He mentioned darning yesterday and I said, very firmly, "They're in the bin".

I have the darning mushroom that I inherited. I used it just the other day to mend DH's almost new socks which had got caught on something. Not quite traditional darning but you can't see the mend! Very satisfying.

A "mushroom" tool must have been a bit out of my family's reach.
I remember a thin lid from a jar of something, so you could pull the yarn through.

Not me, but Himself mentioned the other day he’d not had ‘cabbage and ribs’ for 50 years (since he married me I suppose) that his gran used to make in a big pan on the hob. Said the meat ‘fell off the bones’.

Poor neglected man.
I’m a mean woman.

Urmstongran

Not me, but Himself mentioned the other day he’d not had ‘cabbage and ribs’ for 50 years (since he married me I suppose) that his gran used to make in a big pan on the hob. Said the meat ‘fell off the bones’.

Poor neglected man.
I’m a mean woman.

DH makes a hotpot just like his "old Gran used to make".
It's very tasty!

Meg54

A "mushroom" tool must have been a bit out of my family's reach.
I remember a thin lid from a jar of something, so you could pull the yarn through.

I'd send it to you if I hadn't thrown it out years ago, Megs!

Sooooo impressed Meg, I bow down in awe because I couldn't find a darning mushroom ( methinks my dad has it, along with grandmother’s Singer sewing machine) but I’m sure I could do a passable job on a pair of woollen socks if I had to!

In other respects I’ve been my Nain (grandma) for a long time in that I make my own jam etc, air beds for hours before making them up and never go empty handed when I’m invited to somebody’s home for the first time.

All these things are so old fashioned nowadays (my DD and DGD smile benignly when I do these things) but I hope that hospitality and small kindnesses will become their habits as they mature!

I have my gran's darning mushroom too Grandmabatty and her thimble, needle book that my mum made for her when she was at school, her sewing scissors and her hand Singer sewing machine with all the bobbins and needles.

I still make a lob Scouse (stew) like my grandma and mum made it. In a pan until it breaks down put it in a large bowl and cover it with pastry and finish it in the oven. I still make a big pan of it coming from a big family it's a habit I can't drop.

I played ‘hide the thimble’ recently with my grandchildren (using a ping pong ball). They asked me “what’s a thimble?”.
?

Redhead56

I still make a lob Scouse (stew) like my grandma and mum made it. In a pan until it breaks down put it in a large bowl and cover it with pastry and finish it in the oven. I still make a big pan of it coming from a big family it's a habit I can't drop.

Hello Redhead56
I’m a Scouser - 71 yrs old - & still make Scouse - no pastry involved from my neck of the woods though - served with beetroot - delicious - especially in Winter ?.x

Chrissyoh My gran and mum made their own pastry as I do. They initially topped it with pastry so it was more of a filler. Both my grans had ten children my mum had eight so the Scouse had to go along way!

I too have 1 of those 'Mushroom tools' it was my mums, its still in her sewing box, it might have been my grans originally.

I never think to use it ( slap on wrist for me ) and i actually darned some socks of my husbands, they were a thick pair and the heel had gone.

Glad i read this thread because i will remove the 'Mushroom' from my mums old sewing tin and pop it in my own.

Redhead56

Chrissyoh My gran and mum made their own pastry as I do. They initially topped it with pastry so it was more of a filler. Both my grans had ten children my mum had eight so the Scouse had to go along way!

?
My Mam was one of 10 kids - she then had 6 - Scouse definitely had to go a long way didn’t it ?
But I still love making it & giving it to my 3 & their kids - x

I love cross stitching. My great-nan and great-aunt did quite a bit of embroidery - not specifically cross stitch, but other types. To me, cross stitching is a connection to my heritage.

I have an inherited darning mushroom, but no idea how to darn!

I took it to a car boot sale, an old chap asked me if I would darn his socks!

It came back home and sits in state in the (unused) sewing box.

i didn't have any grans/gramps, so that's my excuse for total ignorance of traditional skills. or any kind really.
my parents never went to each other's home place, never met each other's parents.
and they were departed before i was born.
but really, although i admire these skills, isn't it easier, and so cheap nowadays, to just buy another pair of sox.
i use old ones on hands in bed, where holes don't matter.

Watched my Gran and Mum darning socks and jumper elbows years ago, but have never followed in their footsteps, as the yarn used for modern socks isn’t really suitable for darning, ie synthetic. Had this conversation with DH this very week when I told him one of his pairs needs to be binned (well, bagged and taken for recycling). I have found the wooden mushroom invaluable for other sewing jobs though, and it’s a lovely reminder of happy childhood days with Mum, taken too soon before I learnt all her marvellous skills.

I have recently darned a ladder in two pairs of tights. Took me back to younger days and without much money, simply had to make do and mend.
A small ladder in the foot of a pair of tights is no big deal for getting an extra wear or two out of them.
I was chuffed with the result but gave myself a small chuckle of achievement as I put my needle & thread away.

A dab of clear nail varnish was always useful to stop a ladder in a pair of tights.
But then the tights stuck to your leg ?

I still have a ‘mushroom’, dating from the days when I did actually darn some of dh’s socks, since we were skint and new ones were relatively a lot more expensive than now.

Only he’d usually manage to wear through the darned bit pretty quickly.
I think I learned to darn at Brownies (I use the term loosely - more accurate to say we were shown how we were supposed to do it.)

I have a darning egg, used to belong to my grandmother. Some sort of early celluloid, half black and half white, for dark and light wools. An I do know how to darn

air beds for hours before making them up and never go empty handed when I’m invited to somebody’s home for the first time.. Same here, sometimes our bed gets aired for days on end! Both of my grandmothers were fantastic knitters, a skill I have not inherited, as a child, I used to be spellbound watching one of my grandmothers knit socks with three small needles to turn the heel. Witchcraft