Shoes

Recently Carla wrote I Miss My High Heels (then unnecessarily apologized for the pity party).  We all understand.  It shouldn’t be difficult for someone to make shoes that are both attractive and comfortable, but shoe manufacturers act as though these are mutually exclusive options.

I want to go to shoe school.  For the price of a nice vacation, I could spend a week learning how to make shoes.  I’d come away with a new skill and the basic tools needed to continue this cool project on my own.

Alas, my wonderful husband (who usually supports everything I want to try), doesn’t see the need.  He points out that we could purchase quite a few pair of very nice shoes for significantly less money than shoe school would cost.

That is entirely beside the point.   As a do-it-yourself kind of person, I like being self-reliant.  I can:

• sew my family’s clothes
• knit socks, hats, gloves…
• raise and butcher chicken, rabbit, duck, and beef
• go fishing, then clean and cook my catch
• grow vegetables in my garden
• use wood, tools, and screws to build basic items

But I can’t make shoes.

Plan B:  The Shoe School has a distance learning project.  If I can’t take a week and attend shoe school, the next-best thing would be to get the videos and learn at home.  Unfortunately, they’re taking forever to produce the dvd’s.  I’ve been waiting and waiting, and waiting, hoping to get the entire set.  Their website shows no progress over the past year, so I’ve decided to put the few that are currently available on my Christmas list.  I’ll spread the cost out and get started.

Comfortable, attractive footwear would be so cool!