Fly-In Moccasin Making at Lyncrest

Sarah Freeborn finished one of her skin boots a few days ago - March 2013 - great work Sarah!

For a variety of reasons, including limited visibility with early morning snow crystals, six pilots drove in to the Sunday morning Fly-In at Lyncrest to check out the Moccasin making progress. Harvey and Nancy McKinnon, Dennis Forster, Jim Goold, John Blackner, Grant Pronishen, Doug Render, John Wood and Al Nelson dropped in for a cup of bottomless coffee and to admire the creative ways of keeping feet warm in our winter cockpits! Al took advantage of the clearing weather in the afternoon to take his C190 on skiis into the air. Almost everyone got one boot completed; they were made from shrunken sweaters, a variety of different types of hides, recycled fur coats, recycled wool blankets, canvas...just about everything imaginable. A few photos are posted here; as people finish their boots we'll be posting photos of their creative work.

After spending 3 days sewing, participants were introduced to boots made from bird skins - no sewing required, just peel off the skin, and slip it on to your feet. This is an ancient boot style from Inuit living in the Sanikiluaq, Belcher Islands area of Canada. Canada Goose is about a size 12, Eider Duck or Domestic Chicken about a size 7 - a great idea to know if you end up having a forced landing in winter and left your warm boots at home.

Participants are keen to learn how to make traditional mittens next...will check out when the LFC is available to rent in January.

Next course = Mitten Making! Jeanette Mockford has one terrific source, Rick and Jill will share patterns and techniques from Greenland, Alaska, Saami (northern Europe), Newfoundland, Canadian Arctic, Metis, Siberia, and Cree. If you'd like to volunteer as a co-instructor or if you'd like to register, email jill_oakes@umanitoba.ca The date is to be announced (Friday evening and Sunday morning or evening in January or early February, depending on availability of Lyncrest Flight Centre)

 Marrissa Selman (far right) volunteered as assistant instructor and looked after all the paperwork and trouble shooting.

 Jeanette Mockford co-instructed the course, in addition to helping participants with the skin boot sewing techniques, she explained how to bead and shared some great tips on easy fixes for beading 'mistakes'!

Rick Riewe (left) co-Instructed the course, sharing stories of travelling on the land throughout the Circumpolar Regions wearing skin boots. Dave (right) is exploring his Metis roots and intuitively integrated Metis national colours into his moccasins.