Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

I do all my own cobbling now, with rubber soles and heels bought online, and the non-metal bigger heel-segs bought online from Blakeys, and some excellent glue called Klebfest which actually keeps things on (apply to both sides, bring together then apart and wait 5-10 minutes; then put them together and clip, tie, tape or sit on it til dry )

I have even started doing minor patching on some older cheap-but-comfy shoes, using the Klebfest and odd scraps of leather a friend gave me, but am mainly working towards having fewer shoes but all the repairable sort, ie not with monobloc heels/soles cast in one which cannot be re-soled or re-heeled, not even with Klebfest... 

So my top money-saving tip for footwear is to not buy the single-use monobloc sort!  

Edit to add: in September each year I go over all our no-summer footwear and check it's ok, and give it all a really good polishing. My Intended has two pairs of lace-up work shoes he wears all the time, both of which 'went' on the inside of the heel, where the plastic rigid cell-structure just pushed its way up, so his heel was on a load of knife-edges - I cut up multiple old expired credit cards and store cards and glued those overlapping to make a new, slightly flexible, inside-base for the shoe, with an insole over the top, you'd never know it was repaired  

-taff

rufydoofyM2 said:

I keep prepping for a harsh winter and have most necessities covered, I think. Our investment last year was a thicker wool duvet. Actually it was so warm we only slept under it for one night. If the power was off though and we had no heating it would be a life saver. They are amazing, after years of being too hot or too cold and arguing over the right tog duvet we bought  a very light weight wool duvet. It is perfect for both of us, no more arguments, a good nights sleep and no having to struggle to wash it. Anyone else got one ?

We also have an electric blanket bought years ago, a mega bargain, but never been brave enough to use it and now don't need too.

I bought a three tog one this year after reading of the wonders of wool but I got it in the tail end of the colder weather. It's been quite comfrotable but I dont know if it's hormones or what but I am always warm at night these days [which is a shocker because I used ot be always cold]. Might be the weather though....I like it, it's very easy to throw around the bed but does have a tendency to squish into the bottom of the cover. Watch this space for how well it performs as the nights get colder. In about December probably.....

And for years, about 30, I always carried a penknife with me in a hidden pocket in my various bags. I never once got to use it....

[Deleted User]

Just had a supermarket delivery and finished off the dry stores to see us through the winter which is a very nice feeling.  I'm nearly there with tins and now I can add just a couple of extras to each delivery and just replace what I use from the larder.  I've made a start of preserving and last week made 5 jars of chutney with courgettes from the garden and yesterday made some 'mock capers' from pickled nasturtium seed heads which I've done before and they're very tasty.  Have some blackberries in the freezer for adding to to make a batch of bramble and apple jelly when the wild ones ripen, plums and damsons on garden trees so some of them will be jammed and some plum chutney and plum sauce made too.  I feel as if I'm in squirrel mode already and we've not really had summer yet except those few lovely weeks earlier on.  Nice feeling though to have most of what we need.

Laura_Elsewhere

I had my first ripe wild blackberry yesterday and it was properly blackberry-y! Most still need a few weeks though... 

I'm getting those woollens washed and hung to dry and checked and mended or reinforced or whatever, before the air dampens. 

It may only be mid-July but it really does feel like time to start stocking the larder! 

Primrose

I think once we reach the end of July the rush towards Autumn does somehow seem to speed up.

It's s been such a bizarre year t with the Coronavirus lockdown and most people's' normal social activities halted for several months that i suspect we're all feeling very disoriented and have lost all normal sense of time and seasonal activities in the way they would normally be recognised.  The sad thing is, for people in their later year, that we're not going to get that time back with a chance to redeem it. 

it does seem realistic,  if somewhat negative,that we plan for "more of the same" in the event of another spike in the autumn and winter. Having experienced one lockdown though, with many people having decluttered, redecorated or done necessary  DIY Jobs, I,m not sure people will be able to cope with "more of the same".   What will LOCKDOWN "MARK TWO" look like?   Will it have to keep us physically or mentally engaged in a different way to prevent the population going bonkers?

daz378

Hello don't  post much on here....some good suggestions....I have a wind up torch  by the leccy  meter  various L.e.d.s  and tealights  some lighters matches etc  ....need to stock up my winter cough kit     aspirin,  throat lozenges,  especially  this year...buying extra tins of stuff....if supply chains interrupted in the new year  ....stay safe

boultdj

I've been working on condiments and spices this month, about 2/3rd's of a way through my list.  I think it's going to be a nasty weather winter just  because sod's law say's, lockdown again, I'll make it so your really fed up and board, so I'll see what I've got in craft wise to keep me out of mischief.

Laura_Elsewhere

I'm doing the dried herbs and spices and vinegars and oils list this evening - great minds obviously think alike (oi! Who just muttered that about fools seldom differing? I heard that...:) )

Yes, I think sod's law is more likely than not for any given question nowadays! So I want our shelves full, and a proper WasteNot catalogued list with expiry-dates, so we work through it in order... 

I'm actively trying to use my vast stocks of fabric and yarn and threads instead of buying new, when possible. So many half-made things, so much fabric and yarn waiting patiently for me to do something! Currently knitting a cap-sleeved cardigan in yarn I must have had in the cupboard for a full decade...

Primrose

With face coverings abiut to become compulsory in more indoor settings and a desperate need to reduce the number of one use throwaway masks being thrown into rubbish bins , home crafters should perhaps set their minds to making more cloth washable reusable masks.  Maybe we need a national "swap rate". I.e one mask = "x" number of tinned goods, etc.

This  would help prevent the kind of profiteering we saw at the beginning of March's lockdown with various goods.   I wonder what a  good quality washable mask is worth in terms of loo roll exchange rate ??  

boultdj

I've got a washable mask for me, but I could do with another one for when it is being washed, then again, thinking about it I might follow the factory uniform policy, one to wear, one to wash and one spare.