New Freedom Kilts hose
I'll start off with full disclosure: 1. Steve Ashton, the hosemaker, is a friend of mine; and 2. He made me these hose for free so he could try out his new hose making machine. In other words, I was his guinea pig.
The technical details about Steve's custom-made hose are laid out in his post on his new toy. What matters to me are fit, comfort and durability.
Fit: I'm picky about my hose. I'm around 6 feet tall and have size 10 feet. Like creagdubh, I end up having to buy hose in a size smaller in order to get anything close to the correct hose height. It drives me nuts to either have to roll the top of hose down three times, so I buy too-small hose to make sure the length is right. Then I have the hose heels under my arches
. With these custom-made hose, I have no such issues. They were made to my specifications and fit perfectly.
Comfort: These hose are among the most comfortable I've ever worn. (The other ones that come close were custom hose from Freedom Kilts from way back.) Because they're custom made, they fit nicely on the leg, and fit perfectly in the foot. The material grips the leg well, and there are no baggy bits around the toes.
Durability: I've only worn the hose once, so I can only go by what I see at this point. All of the "connection points" of the various parts of the hose look bullet-proof. There is no stretching or thin areas, and the whole hose is thick. I'm not a knitting expert (as you can tell by my use of non-technical jargon), but even to me these seem like really solid hose.
The bottom line is that I really like these hose. I think there are other options as to ribbing, etc. that can be chosen. I'm also looking forward to getting some in some more offbeat colours than lovat blue.
Maybe someone can tell me how to turn my picture around
!
"Touch not the cat bot a glove."
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