Acquiring a new appliance or gadget always comes with a mildly obsessive testing phase in this household. Earlier this year we bought a new iron and for the first few weeks, I ironed shirts and trousers and skirts and handkerchiefs as soon as they were dry. Ironing clothes is a fairly common chore so this probably doesn’t seem that extraordinary. However, we have a policy of minimal ironing so it was quite a strange phenomenon for this household. The iron still gets used relatively often, but not with quite the same amount of joy or frequency as when it was in its testing phase.

Recently I determined that some of my knits were looking a bit fluffy and/or pilled and the de-pilling comb I was using wasn’t really suitable for hand knits. After a bit more research than was probably necessary, an electric fabric shaver was purchased. It’s probably a bit more than I was expecting to pay, but I read a lot of good things about it on Ravelry, which had to count for something, right?

Today it arrived, and before you could say ‘please stop writing about de-pilling knits Emma, it’s disturbing’, I had taken the vest I was wearing off and was removing woolly fluff like it was my last opportunity to do so, ever.

For those wanting relief from the ins and outs of my pilling solutions journey, my first victim was my Grandfather Vest. This vest really deserves its own ‘where are they now‘ post, because it’s probably one of my most frequently worn knits. My initial misgivings about the fabric appearing uneven were soon forgotten. In fact, the only real issue I’ve had with it is that it looks a bit fluffy and daggy with all the wear it has had. This is what it looked like before I took to it with the fabric shaver:

And after:

The difference between the two photos probably isn’t that great, but I can assure you that it took off a *lot* of fluff. The vest probably doesn’t look completely brand new, but it’s looking a lot less daggy. Decidedly undaggy, even.

Now I’m assembling a mental list of all the items of clothing Matt and I have that need de-pilling. All in the name of testing.

So, off came the old buttons, and on went the new ones.

before:

after:

Much better! The buttons are a dark blue acrylic, but have a nice mother of pearl sheen to them. It almost goes without saying these days, but they came from Buttonmania. It’s nice to see how a small change to a garment can make all the difference.

Inspired by one of our lovely Tokyo hosts, I recently picked up a pair of cheery gumboots in anticipation of wetter weather. Luckily for me, the sunflowers in my backyard match my boots perfectly, and provided a good photo op.

These are the first gumboots I’ve owned as an adult. They’re not quite as shooshy as the gumboots I used to have that had smiley faces on the soles (quite frankly someone needs to do something about making adult-sized gumboots with smiley faces on the soles), but despite that drawback, I still like them a lot.

Unluckily for me, the gumboots turned up a week after the big storms. No matter though, I will impatiently wait for puddles I can slosh around in and mud to trample through.

Little by little, my life is becoming complete.