Mended sock

Description

This red-and-white knitted sock in a small child’s size was never actually worn, despite having been mended in several places. It was knitted in needlework class for practice only. Two other such socks have survived, and doubtless there were many more of them, since mending socks was a much maligned fixture of the needlework curriculum for girls. The sock was knitted on very fine needles and once it was finished, the girls had to cut holes in it so that they could practice mending it with laboriously knitted-in patches in contrasting colours.