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Darning

Self Reliance has to be the order of the day, whether the event is short or longer term, people must be self reliant until any outside help gets to them, stands to reason really but i'm sure not many outside of this forum realise that.
Rabbits and Pheasants are common here, in fact a lot of the year you cant move for young pheasants and they don't have much road sense!! fishing lakes are a couple of miles away and deer are everywhere.
 
shows the "skills" of todays youth I think.
they can programme a computer or a smart phone but they cant change a lightbulb.
 
A sound reason not to have kids.
No, they just need to be taught basic skills at an early age. I taught my boys, & now that are teaching their kids. One of my son's bought his 12 year old daughter an Opinel clasp knife for Xmas & showed her how to use it for whittling & carving in exactly the same way I taught him. As children grow up they may drift away from these basic skills for a while, but once learnt they will always remember them.
Keith.
 
It just a little things but darning socks seems to be a dying skill that could be useful when you're doing a lot of walking and are short on spares.
Guilty as charged, I have never Darned a Sock:eek:, and if I did, my Wife would inspect it afterwards, check my poor attempt, then give me that look only a Woman can give you. So no, I'm not going to:)
 
I wear woolen socks pretty much most of the time, Hoggs of Fife produce some quite nice ones but since they're quite expensive I tend to take the worst pair and unravel them to use to darn the others. I need to do it in daylight and wear my glasses but it isn't difficult.
We keep sheep which we also shear, we then card and spin our own wool. My other half knits and crochets. I also sometimes use the spinning wheel to make natural twine.
We've always been into crafts and skills
You can't beat good Wool garments, quality Woolen stuff aint cheap but in my book it's worth every penny.
 
I used to darn when I lived alone and was short of money, I think its only something I would do if wearing wool socks, i'm mostly wearing man made fibres these days so I don't, although I have some wool socks put back if we get any really cold weather- hardly likely with climate change!
 
You can't beat good Wool garments, quality Woolen stuff aint cheap but in my book it's worth every penny.
Totally agree, only way to go. Cost wise you can make a good deal of your own wool clothing from blankets or blanket material. I used to make my own moccasin liners & they work very well.
Keith.
 
Totally agree, only way to go. Cost wise you can make a good deal of your own wool clothing from blankets or blanket material. I used to make my own moccasin liners & they work very well.
Keith.
I don't actually wear them outside re-enactments but you'd be surprised how good an old fashioned woollen cloak is, especially if you cheat a little and sew a layer of tarp between two layers ;)
 
I don't actually wear them outside re-enactments but you'd be surprised how good an old fashioned woollen cloak is, especially if you cheat a little and sew a layer of tarp between two layers ;)
My wife has a wool cloak & it works just fine even without anything between the layers. I use a wool half-blanket as a cloak around my shoulders, & I have a couple of good wool coats, one of which is a capot.
Keith.
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I have a Canadian wool blanket from the 60s, still going strong but showing its age now.
 
If you need something a little finer then blanket for making clothing for re-enactments there is a firm in Cheshire that still makes the wool Melton for No1 military uniforms. They also sell waxed cotton.
 
The US army described old fashioned wooden blankets as life savers in the Afghan mountains bringing cold wet tired soldiers back from the edge of exposure.

Robust enough to strap to a quad or throw out a helicopter,warm when wet, easy to mend (if you could be bothered) Cheap enough to give away.

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not easy to dry when wet though which is why a lot of hikers and walkers wear these dreadful manmade garments.
 
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