Darning needles for socks, knitwear and repairs

Darning needles with a large eye

Darning needles are long and have a large, elongated eye that takes wool, embroidery floss or heavy threads. Use them to darn holes in socks, sweaters, hats or gloves, weave in ends on knitting and crochet projects or pull thick yarn through fabric for decorative stitches and upcycling.

Sharp or blunt?

Blunt needles work well for knitted and crocheted pieces, because the rounded tip slides between the stitches without splitting the yarn. You need sharp darning needles when you want to stitch through woven fabrics, felt or dense material. Bent needles make it easier to sew together pieces lying flat, for example when making amigurumi or closing side seams. For darning, choose a yarn of similar weight and fiber content to the original.

• Straight darning needles for repairs and weaving in ends
• Bent darning needles for seams on pieces lying flat
• Blunt needles for knitted and crocheted items
• Needles made of steel, plastic or aluminum

Tip: Stretch the area over a darning egg or darning mushroom. First lay parallel threads across the hole, then weave across them, going alternately over and under. Work a few stitches into the intact knitted fabric so the repair lasts longer.