puttees ! (2 blog 2 writeous)

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in

i am now the proud owner of a pair of olive green 1940s surplus british army wool puttees !

backstory: in the past few weeks i’ve noticed that the brambles in my hedge are pulling lil loopies out of my corduroys. i decided something had to be done to defend my one pair of trousers. later that day i came across a reel of a guy explaining why wwi soldiers had bandages around their legs and hours later they were on their way to a friend’s house (thanks e-commerce ig)

i’ve been trialing them for three days now and i love them. they add a nice grounding pressure around my legs, they look interesting, and they keep early-Winter breeze from rinsing the whole way through me. i still haven’t field-tested them as an anti-bramble measure, but that will come by saturday (big hedge plans).

military surplus gear is kinda new to me, but this is cheap, durable, plastic-free, and i can rest assured knowing that they’re designed for unimaginably dreary conditions. it takes a minute to take them off and roll them up, and a couple of minutes to wrap them around, but it’s a nice activity. i like the texture of the wool. it also blows my mind that they’re older than my grandfather. ancient sheep, forgotten by time.

an excerpt from the wikipedia article for puttees showing some examples of leg wraps in history
leg wraps in history

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