Leather Wellies again

Until I started wearing these boots in work, I hadn't worn them much and certainly hadn't posted many photos of me wearing them. I went for another walk in the countryside today so I could wear them again.

Knee length boots in work

So far this year I have managed to wear tall or knee-length boots every day in work, mostly my knee length Converse but occasionally by doc martens or my knee length leather 'wellies'. The shortest boots I've worn have been my Lonsdale boxing boots which are pretty tall.

Normally I wear the boots inside my trousers but it was a warm day so I went for a walk in the nearby countryside, tucking my trousers into my boots when I got there.

 I took a few photos of the boots while I walked around.

 And had a nice sit down on a bench for a few minutes.

 Before I walked back to my office I pulled my trousers out of the boots so this is how I normally wear them. It's great to be able to walk around wearing knee length boots without anyone knowing.

A Variety of boots

I finally got around to throwing out my riding boots a couple of weeks ago so I've been wearing my country boots a lot instead. Last week I went out for a walk in the countryside wearing them. I put them on before I left the house and drove out wearing them, keeping them on until I was back home again. Now they are a bit muddy, I haven't been wearing them around the house any more.
I have decided to keep my knee length converse clean and wear them around the house so that's what I've been doing recently, wearing them nearly every day with my trousers tucked inside.
I have been wearing my Lonsdale boxing boots a lot when I've left the house, unless I've been going into the garden when I've been wearing my wellies. I love wearing wellies and I wish they were a more acceptable fashion statement for men. When I was in the town centre this morning (wearing my boxing boots of course) there was a woman wearing a pair of black hunter wellies. Although it was a slightly chilly day it was completely dry and wellies were a bit overkill but of course nobody gave her a second glance (apart from me who turned to watch her walk past). It really isn't fair.

Riding Boots: not farewell yet.

So today was supposed to be the day when I got rid of my riding boots in favour of my new country boots. After wearing the riding boots around the house all day yesterday, I just couldn't do it. I'm wearing them again today. I just love the feel of the boots around my knees too much. I know I can't keep them much longer and due to a change in circumstances, soon I'll run out of daytime boot wearing opportunities for good. Just one more week. Then I'll get rid of them.

Last month I said I was going to make a note of how much knee length boot wearing I was doing. I recorded the first 4 days of a week of full time boot wearing. I never got around to writing about the rest of the week. On day 5 I did a full 24 hours, with 10 hours each of wellies/countrty boots  and riding boots, with 4 hours of knee length converse. I didn't record how much boot wearing I did in the rest of the month. All I can remember is that I wore my normal converse hi-tops pretty much non-stop for the bank holiday weekend.

Week of Knee Length: Day 4

I slept in my country boots last night and they were comfortable to wear overnight. I wore my riding boots all day, to give my country boots chance to rest before wearing them again tonight. The only bits of the day when I didn't wear my riding boots were when I went to the shops (and wore my knee length converse as usual) and when I went into the garden (when I wore my wellies).
I put my country boots back on to sleep in again tonight.

Week of Knee Length: Day 2

Another day, another 24 hours of wearing knee length boots. I slept in my riding boots again and wore my country boots around the house. I went out for a walk this morning, wearing my knee length converse. It was a warm day and there was no-one else in tall boots.
When I got home I decided to change into my shorts because my legs were a bit warm. I had to put the buckle on the country boots on the smallest setting otherwise the boots were a bit flappy around my knees. I don't think the country boots work as well with short trousers, they are much better being worn over long trousers.

Week of Knee Length: Day 1

So it's been over 24 hours since I started my knee-length boot-athon. The longest time in a one pair of boots has been 11 hours for wearing my riding boots overnight. I have fallen back in love with the riding boots again, after complaining that they were possibly a bit too tall earlier this year.
I'm wearing my country boots at the moment. I was wearing my wellies earlier this morning when I went into the garden to check on the vegetable patch. My wellies are slightly (50g per boot) heavier than my country boots but they actually feel slightly lighter to wear. This is possibly because they are softer and bendier in the leg. When I was walking around the garden wearing them, I remembered how comfortable they are and how much I enjoy wearing them.

A week of knee length boots

I have decided to spend all of this week wearing knee length boots non-stop. I have my 4 pairs and have decided to wear my riding boots and country boots indoors, my wellies in the garden and my knee length converse outside.
I started off this morning wearing my riding boots for a few hours before changing into my converse to walk to the shops. I am now back in the house wearing my country boots. My plan is to wear each pair of boots for as long as possible so I will be wearing my riding boots overnight.
I will try to keep rough track of how many inch-hours I achieve. Since everything is roughly knee-length, I should get some good results.

I love my new boots

I have been wearing them most of the time, nearly every day for the last couple of weeks. Only changing to a different pair when I went outside. I'd normally wear my wellies in the garden or a pair of boxing boots if I went out anywhere, such as to the shops.

I love the look of the boots, with the buckle on the side and the zip up the back. I love the feeling of the boots on my leg just below my knee.

Shopping in my new boots

I left the house wearing my new boots for the first time today. It was raining so I wore them to walk to the shops. They were comfortable and didn't rub, which is a good start. They were nice and snug around the knee (I had the width adjustment straps on the second narrowest setting). The tops of my calf muscles got a bit warm but they are winter boots so that's probably expected when you wear them in the middle of summer.

New leather boots

My new boots arrived this morning. Now why on earth did I buy a new pair of knee length leather boots in the middle of a heatwave?

 The boots have a zip up the back for quick on and off, and a buckle at the side to adjust the width. If I have the buckle at the widest setting, the boots are a bit like my wellies where I can put them on and pull them off without bothering with the zip.

 So far I have only worn the boots for a couple of hours but they seem to be reasonably comfortable. Of course in this weather they are a bit too warm so I'll probably only wear them occasionally until the autumn when I should be able to spend a bit more time in them.

The boots are about the same height as my wellies, possibly a fraction of an inch taller, and are shorter than my black riding boots. I look forward to getting a chance to wear them for a whole day.

Black and White Laces

A couple of weeks ago I decided to see what my knee length Converse boots looked like with black laces instead of the white ones they came with. The easiest way of doing this was to swap the laces with the black ones which came with my Lonsdale boxing boots. The laces from the Lonsdale boots aren't as long as the Converse ones so I can't lace my Converse all the way up to the knee but I think I like them this way.

I put the white laces from the Converse onto my Lonsdale boots and I think they work well too.

It's that time again...

when I feel the need to buy a new pair of boots. I mentioned quite a while ago that I would like a pair of leather 'welly style' country boots. I've been thinking about them a lot recently and have decided that I really want a pair.
I don't really have room for another pair of knee length boots so I'll probably have to get rid of my riding boots when I buy them so I probably won't buy them for a few weeks so I can get a bit more use out of my riding boots. The only real disadvantage of the country boots is that they are only 'welly height' and not full riding boot height. Even so, they'll probably be a snug leg-hugging fit and should be fun to wear.

Spending time in my Converse

I have decided to retire by riding boots for a while. I mentioned last month that I was getting a bit fed up with them but after wearing them for a few more days I fell in love with them again. My reason for retiring them this time is that they have been squeaking a lot when I walk and it has been annoying me quite a bit. They are still lovely comfortable boots to wear around the house but they are much less comfortable for walking in now.

Yesterday I was wearing my knee length Converse xx-hi and I found that they were starting to rub my leg a bit so I switched to my shorter grey Converse x-hi and I've been wearing those again today. I think for the next few weeks I'll be concentrating on my x-hi because I've been neglecting them a bit in favour of knee length boots.

Wearing my tall converse

I started this morning wearing my knee length converse xx-hi but after a couple of hours I changed into my black and white converse x-hi. I looked down at them and thought they looked a bit different. I had to compare them side by side before I noticed that the xx-hi had black stitching and the x-hi had white stitching. I already knew that the soles were different - the xx-hi appears to be made of several pieces whereas the x-hi is 'all-in-one'.

What actually surprised me was that I found myself enjoying wearing the shorter x-hi more than the knee length xx-hi. I'm not sure whether it's because they might be a bit more comfortable but I should probably get over my preconception that taller is always better. Taller boots might look better but they aren't always better to wear.

My xx-hi viewed from above (sorry for the blurry photo)

The sole of the xx-hi, made from different sections

The x-hi viewed from above, with the white stitching.

The sole of the x-hi, made from a single piece of rubber

Apparently the difference in the sole depends on where the shoes were made. Any made in china have the multi-part sole but but ones made elsewhere have the all in one sole, although my grey x-hi claim to be made in china but have the all in one sole too.

Distracted by boots

I am supposed to be working but since I have the office to myself I have been wearing my boots with the trousers tucked inside. Yesterday it was the turn of my Lonsdale boxing boots. I just love the look of these boots when they're worn that way. The tall padded shaft just looks so right. The trouble is I found myself looking at my boots instead of working. I would sit with my legs either side of the chair so I could look down at the backs of the boots.

Today I fancied wearing something a bit taller so I'm in my knee length Converse XX-Hi. I don't think these look as good as the boxing boots (not from behind anyway) but since they are much taller I love them anyway. They do look great from the front when you can see all the laces.

October Boot Wearing

During October I decided to keep track of which boots I wore and for how long. I tried to wear boots as much as possible, and wear taller boots whenever I could. I did my usual 'inch-hours' measurements where I took lo-tops as the zero-point and multiplied the height of the boot with how long I wore them for. If taller boots are better than shorter boots, then the higher the inch-hours score the better.

I managed to wear most of my boots, from my normal converse hi-tops, all the way up to my riding boots. I wore boots for a total of 272 hours, and lo-tops for only 43 hours. The boots I wore the longest were:
Converse XX-Hi: 87 hours (worn on 14 days out of 31. I even slept in these boots one night, which I enjoyed doing.)
Lonsdale Boxing boots: 58 hours (worn on 11 days)
Converse Hi-tops: 54 hours (worn on 8 days)
Adidas Boxing boots and Riding boots: both worn for 22 hours each.

I also wore my wellies on 15 days during the month, mainly in the garden, but managed to wear them for a total of 12 hours.

My total tally was 2,800 inch-hours if I ignored any times when I didn't wear anything. If I counted nothing as -2 inches, then the total was 1,940 inch-hours, which was equivalent to wearing Converse hi-tops for 864 hours, or 36 days straight. This was also equivalent to wearing my wellies for 139 hours, or  5.8 days.

By subtracting time spend wearing no shoes, I have to wear boots for a minimum length of time to avoid being in negative inch-hours. Since normal Converse are just over 2 inches taller than lo-tops, I need to wear them for just under 12 hours per day to break even. Alternatively I need to wear my wellies for only 3 hours a day to break even.

October Boots Survey

I have the results of the boot-wearing survey for October. As usual, boot heights are divided into low (ankle height) to top (knee length). The results are similar to previous ones where women wear more boots than men. I think all of the high and knee-length male results are from me wearing my lonsdale boxing boots and my knee length converse xx-hi, otherwise most of the male boot-wearing is short boots.


       none    low    mid    high   top
Male   84.54%  14.01% 0.48%  0.48%  0.48% (of 414 people)
Female 58.42%  17.11% 15.00% 3.68%  5.79% (of 380 people)

Male:
Female:

Blogging in my Riding Boots

Well last week I said I was getting a bit fed up with my riding boots but I have been wearing them again today and I have decided that I still love them and want to wear them more often. I have been looking on-line for a replacement pair and I have found a couple of pairs which look good but they are both around £100 so I think I'll keep my current pair for now.

I have decided that I want to make sure that I always have a pair of riding boots so that whenever the need takes me, I can put them on and admire the snug leg-hugging fit.

Riding Boot Fatigue

I am starting to get a bit fed up with my riding boots. I love wearing them and especially enjoy the snug feel of the boots below my knees and the look of the shaft of the boot, and the fairly stiff leg-hugging nature of them. Sadly they are too much of a struggle to put on and take off. They also aren't very comfortable for walking in, even short distances around the house.

I have been wearing them occasionally in the last week and I feel that I really could do with a better pair. I can't really justify replacing them though, since I only recently bought my extra tall Converse XX-Hi. I expect after this week the riding boots will go back into storage for another few months before I start to get the urge to wear them again.