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.

Lots more riding boots time

I've been wearing my riding boots rather a lot these days, part of nearly every day. I've also been wearing my wellies for part of most days, usually when I go out into the garden.
Anyway my main point is that I've started to think that the riding boots are actually too tall. Now I usually feel that where boots are concerned, the taller the better. Now that I've been wearing them for several hours a day, I think they are slightly too tall. I used to love the way they would press into the backs of my knees but now they have started to rub a bit.
At some point I will probably get rid of them but I want to get as much wear as possible out of them before the weather gets too warm and they make my legs too sweaty.

Tall Converse Time

I have decided to wear my grey Converse X-Hi for work during the summer so I have been wearing them whenever it has been suitable weather for long trousers. If it is short trousers weather, I have been wearing a normal pair of Converse hi-tops. I plan to wear my tall converse nearly all summer if possible.

A few weeks ago I went out for a walk and decided to wear the tall converse with shorts just because I thought I could get away with it without being seen by anyone who knew me. It was fun and a liberating experience.

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.

More pictures of my knee length Converse XX-Hi

Here are some photos of my wearing my knee length Converse boots around the office, with my trousers tucked inside. I had originally laced the boots up without having my trousers tucked in, so they are a bit snug when worn this way.

I plan on wearing them nearly every day this month, although when I'm in work I will be wearing them inside my trousers so they look like 'normal' hi-tops. I am going to do another boot-wearing survey later this month, as well as another 'boot-inch-hours' tallys.

I have been wearing the boots every day so far this week and each morning when I pull them on and zip them up, I am amazed by how tall they are and how happy I am to finally have a pair.

This final photo shows just how tall the boots are and how close they fit to my knee.

Converse Heights

I still can't really believe that I own a pair of the knee length Converse XX-Hi. I have been wanting a pair for years, ever since I first found out about them. I was curious how they compared to my other pairs of Converse so I prepared a chart:

The blue column is the height in inches from the ground. The red column is the height above a normal shoe or low-top trainer. The XX-Hi converse are higher than I was expecting. I realised they would be taller than any of my boxing boots but I think they are taller than my Doc Martens. I will need to compare them when I get back home.

Edit:
I am home now, after wearing the converse all day. For the record, the Converse XX-hi are taller than my DMs and only about 1/2 inch shorter than my green wellies! I also weighted them and they are 1146g for the pair, compared to 940-970 for the x-hi.