Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Orthoticky shoes for handknit socks

The nasty Achilles tendon issue that befell me last September is back again, leaving me with no choice but to go shoe shopping.  Ahem.

(no, really: I've been experimenting, and even an hour's outing with the wrong shoe seems to make the problem exponentially worse.  I'm beginning to lose hope of ever wearing a heel again! which would be horrible if it didn't leave me with more opportunities to wear socks of my own making.)

So off I went a week or two ago with a pair of handknit socks in my current Mary Janes to find a pair that were more substantial-looking and incidentally offered a lot more arch support.

The shoe salesman kinda freaked out about the socks, which he felt were very bright.  I must be losing perspective because I thought they were pretty subtle - Vesper 4-stripers in pale pink, soft grey, bright blue and cream.  I guess he's used to black or navy or brown, no stripes? 

We tried on Birkenstock Mary Janes, and Clarks Mary Janes, and a ton of others whose names I don't remember, plus some boots, and my toes and arch were unquestionably happiest in a pair of Keene Mary Janes which I find ironic for a couple of reasons.


One, it was the mostly archless Keene waterproof sandals I wore in the summer that seem to have caused the trouble in the first place, and two, these Mary Janes were way, WAY less expensive than any others we tried.  Usually I have an unfortunately homing tendency toward the most expensive option.

I've been wearing the new shoes every since and they are working wonders on my leg.  They have a real buckle, not a Velcro strap, so they are much kinder to my handknit socks.  But hooo.

Nelly. 

Are they stinky!

I don't know what it is about the synthetic parts in these babies but if you're going to a place where you'll be expected to take your shoes off at the door (and want to be invited back), you'll do as I do, bad tendon or not, and wear something else.

And now if you'll excuse me I gotta go put my leg on a heating pad 'cause I just did that.

(should I file this story under What Price Beauty?)

1 comment:

Brendaknits said...

I thought you choose these shoes because what other brand of shoes would Mary Keenan wear but Keene Mary??