How learning German taught me the link between maths and poetry | Harry Baker | TEDxVienna

I applied to university to study medicine but switched courses to do maths so that I would havemore time to write poetry.

(Laughter) Thank you for laughing at my life choices.

(Laughter) (Applause) And, apart from oneof the first poems I wrote, being a love poem about prime numbers, I told myself that the twoweren't really that linked.

I liked maths because there wasalways a definite right answer, and I liked poetry becausethere wasn't a definite wrong one.

But for me, when I switchedcourses to do maths, I was given the optionof doing maths with a year abroad, and I thought that would bea fun way to live in another country and experience another culture.

So for a year I lived and studiedmaths in Germany, and I thought it would be a good ideato try and learn German because I'd heardit was really popular there.

(Laughter) When I arrived in Germany, my level of language speakingwas approximately: "Hallo, mein Name ist Harry.

Ich bin English.

Sprechen Sie English?" (Laughter) "Nein.

" - "Scheiße.

" (Laughter) Thankfully, as the year went on,my language skills improved slightly, and I'd like to share a couple of thingsthat I learnt along the way.

Now, I am aware that I am talkingabout learning German in a German speaking country, whilst relying on everybodyto understand my English, but don't worry, "Mein Englishist unfassbar gut.

" (Laughter) What struck meabout learning a second language is that whilst everybody hasthat same destination in mind of hopefully becoming fluent, the journeys that we go onare very different.

And measuring your progresson that journey using verb tables and grammar exams, whilst helpful for some, for me didn't fully capture the excitementof what it was to learn another language.

So I began to set up my own milestones for when I knewthat I was making progress.

The first was that oncethose basic building blocks are in place, being able to trust your instincts.

I remember explaininga story to a friend where everything had worked outin the end, and come together nicely, and I found myself using the words,"Alles hat geklappt.

" I don't think I've ever heardthat word before, but as I said it,it kind of made sense to me, because if you clap, that's a very literalcoming together of your hands.

But also if you make a planand it works out, sometimes you feel likegiving yourself a mini-round of applause.

The difference wasthat when I said these words, I knew that it was the right wordto use in that context because it felt natural.

Up until that point, if I didn't knowwhat a word was in German, I was just trying to saythe English word with a German accent, and try and get away with it.

But more often than notthat left me looking like "ein Idiot".

(Laughter) The second stage for me was when you first beginto dream in another language.

A lot of people talk about this, as for all of your external efforts, this is the point when you knowit's finally started to sink in.

And the first dream that I had in German, I dreamt that I was in a German classroomlearning some new vocabulary, which meant that not only hadmy subconscious taken in enough German that I could understandso that I could dream about it, it had also taken in some GermanI couldn't yet understand and was trying to teach itto me in my sleep.

(Laughter) Now, whilst I don't think this is the most foolproof methodof learning a language, it was quite exciting at the time.

But the third stage for me, and the moment when I really kneweverything would be OK, is when you were able to either understandor make jokes in another language.

I absolutely love puns, and whenever any of my non-English friendsare able to make puns in English, I'm always really impressed.

So, a moment came when I was speakingto my German friend who was a poet, and he was talkingabout how, when he has ideas, they begin to snowball into each otherinto a kind of ideas avalanche.

And he told me that the German wordfor "avalanche" was "Lawine".

Without skipping a beat, I said to him, "Hey, if there was a lot of snowbetween the months of March and May, would that be called an 'Avril Lawine'?" (Laughter) And he said, "That's hilarious.

" (Laughter) "You should definitelyput that in your TEDTalk.

They'll all laugh lots.

" (Laughter) I think being able to playwith another language is a very exciting thing, and it's not somethingyou always get an opportunity to do, in particular, [in] grammar exams - well, they don't give youbonus marks for puns, anyway.

What I was experiencing was somethingthat I had experienced before - something that at school, me andmy bitter maths rival / best friend Luke had called "the nerd rush".

This is the feeling you got when you first wrapped your headaround a concept, or were able to solve a problemin a particularly neat way.

This is a feeling I later experiencedwhen I started writing poetry, whether it was when the wordsjust seemed to fall into place, or whether it's coming upwith a particularly satisfying rhyme, or maybe even just thinkingof a ridiculous pun.

For me, the difference was now that I was getting thisin day-to-day conversations.

Whether it was the thrill of beingunderstood by the person in front of me, or just having a kind of slight ideaabout what they were talking about, piecing together simple sentences became like mini-equationsto be solved there and then.

It involved the pattern recognitionand attention to detail that I love from maths, and it combined it with the creativity andthe ability to think outside of the box that I really enjoyed about poetry.

It combined the two in a waythat I had not previously thought about.

And in many ways, German is quitea logical and mathematical language.

I remember asking my housemateswhat the German word for a kettle was.

And I said to them, "How do you callthe thing that cooks the water?" And they said, "Das ist ein Wasserkocher.

" (Laughter) And for me, it just made perfect sense, and there wereall of these moments where - (Laughter) I would be really excited.

I remember when I found out, I came home and I said to them thatthe German word for glove is "Handschuh" - because it's like a little shoeyou put on your hands.

(Laughter) And I thought, that's incredible.

And they said, (Laughter) "Why are you so excited about gloves?" (Laughter) But I came up with this whole listof my favourite words.

My absolute favourite: I learnt that the German wordfor "turtle" is "Schildkröte", which is like a kind of "shield toad".

And when I found that out, I immediately looked up what a snail was, because I hoped that it would bea kind of "shield worm".

(Laughter) It turns out that the German wordfor "snail" is "Schnecke", but the German word for "slug"is "Nacktschnecke", (Laughter) because it's like a naked snail.

(Laughter) And I thought that was fantastic.

(Laughter) And my housemate said,"Why have you brought snails home?" (Laughter) But in a way, this sticking togetherof words could be quite poetic.

I remember learning that the German wordfor "iris" is "Regenbogenhaut", which translates as "rainbow skin", which I think is kind of quite beautiful and still hasthat weird sort of logic to it.

Similarly, I found out the German wordfor "nipple" is "Brustwarze", (Laughter) which means breast wart, which, whilst less beautiful, (Laughter) (Applause) has still gotthat weird kind of logic to it.

So I thought it would be funto try and invent my own words.

And where I lived, in Hannover,there's quite a large Turkish population.

So there's a lot of places that sellkebab and döner and also falafel.

I was really happy to find out the Germanword for "falafel" is "Falafel".

(Laughter) But the German wordfor "spoon" is "Löffel".

If you had a specific spoonthat you only ever ate falafel with, you could call it a "Falafellöffel".

(Laughter) So I've written a poemcalled "Falafellöffel", and it's about a guy called Phil.

You might be able to seewhere this is going.

It does involvesome kind of call and response, which is entirely in German, but I think you guyswill be slightly better at that than they are back in England.

"Phil ist voll.

Die Nacht ist gut verlaufen.

Phil sieht ein Geschäftund er fragt, was sie verkaufen.

"Falafellöffel.

Für Löffelvoll Falafel.

" - which means Falafal spoons,for spoonfuls of Falafel - "Was?" "Falafellöffel.

Für Löffelvoll Falafel.

" "Wie?" "Falafellöffel.

Für Löffelvoll Falafel.

" Phil doesn't speak German,so he’s left a little baffled.

See there’s this fella Phil,and Phil loved falafel.

In a falafel raffle he wouldsnaffle all the tickets.

He always answers in affirmativeto offers of falafel; even if he’s awfully full,he’d feel awful if he didn’t.

(Laughter) And for us it might feel effortless to live a life falafelless.

(Laughter) But Phil effervescesunless he gets his falafel fix.

So if Phil was everto be offered Löffel of Falafel he'd say "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is! For Phil a life of love and laughterwill have a falafel after.

(Laughter) So it’s "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

If a falafel fell off a Löffel,Phil’d feel awful, (Laughter) so it’s "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

A fluffy falafel is often iffyif he’s honest, but it’s "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

If half a Löffel of filthy falafelis overly lethal, even as we leave Philhe’d still have a message for his kids, saying "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is, always "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

So when I say: "Wie viel Falafelist zu viel Falafel?" - which of course means: How much falafelis too much falafel? - could you reply in unison, as one: "Vier Löffel voll Falafelist zu viel Falafel.

" - (Laughter) which of course means: Four spoonfulsof falafel is too much falafel! - If anyone doesn't speak German, I can talkyou through it, if you repeat after me: "Vier"- Audience: Vier Harry Baker: Löffel voll- Audience: Löffel voll HB: FalafelAudience: Falafel HB: ist zu vielAudience: ist zu viel HB: Falafel.

Audience: Falafel.

HB: Wunderbar! (Laughter) Wie viel Falafel ist zu viel Falafel? Vier Löffel voll Falafelist zu viel Falafel.

Wie viel Falafel ist zu viel Falafel? Audience: Vier Löffel - HB: Lauter! Wie viel Falafelist zu viel Falafel? Audience: Vier Löffel - HB: Schneller! Wie viel Falafelist zu viel Falafel? Audience: Vier Löffel - Vier Löffel voll Falafelist zu viel Falafel if it left him on his deathbedwith a message for his kids saying "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

always "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

Phil war voll.

(Laughter) Die Nacht war gut verlaufen.

(Laughter) Phil sah ein Geschäftund er fragte, was sie verkaufen.

"Falafellöffel.

Für Löffel voll Falafel.

" "Falafellöffel! Für Löffel voll Falafel!?" "Ja - Falafellöffel!Für Löffel voll Falafel!" You’ve got to make an effortwhen you travel! (Applause) One of my favourite poets in the UK,called Disraeli, once said to me that learning another language is like learningto think in another colour.

And I've spoken to other peoplewho say they feel like they have different personalitiesin different languages.

And I learnt quite early onwhilst learning German that when I express an opinion in English,I would often say things such as: "I think, maybe, if you want,we could possibly do this.

" Or: "I feel like, you know,if it's not too much trouble, possibly we could do that.

" And whilst in English that just makes mesound very unsure of myself, in German, it rapidly affectsthe sentence structure, and then I didn't knowwhere to put the verbs.

(Laughter) The result of thiswas that the German Harry became a lot more decisive and directabout what he wanted to say than English Harry, purely because I lackedthe language skills to be able to doubt myself in that way - (Laughter) which was an incredible thing.

Another side effectwas that whilst in English I think I'm slightly more comfortabletalking to a thousand strangers than one-on-one kind of small talk, in German, because I was so excitedabout learning the language, small talk with strangersbecame like homework.

I was really excited to ask questions and learn quite simple factsabout other people's lives because that was the sort of vocabularythat I could understand.

Similarly, I was really excitedto talk about myself because I needed to practise.

And so whilst German taught mea link between maths and poetry that I hadn't previouslybeen able to imagine, it also taught me things aboutmy own personality that I hadn't expected.

And I realized that these milestonesI'd given myself in German, and learning a language, were things that I've seen before.

When it came to maths, whilst it might be difficult at first to get your head aroundthe basic building blocks, once they're in place, I think then you can begin to have funwith it and jump between them and trust your instinctswhilst doing that.

When it comes to writing, if you can immerse yourself enoughin the world of a poem or a story, then it becomes possible for these ideasto seemingly come from nowhere.

I've often gone to bed,or just fallen asleep in the daytime, whilst writing a poem, and when I wake up,there'll be a new idea there, that's almost as if I've triedto teach it to myself in my dreams.

And the final thingwas with these two things, as with learning German,as with many other aspects of my life, I realized that once you put the work in, you can get comfortable enough withsomething, and be willing to take risks, but also have fun with it.

That's when you can really startto put yourself out there.

After I finished my year abroad, I came back to my final yearat university in Bristol, and I was moved up from the beginners German classto the advanced German class.

And, whilst at the end of the year I did quite well inmy listening and speaking exams, I still managed to failmy final grammar exam.

I did, however, pass my maths degree, and since then I've been ableto do the poetry full time, and travel around the worlddoing what I love doing.

So in a way it's beenquite a unique and weird journey but everything has "geklappt".

Thank you.

(Applause).

Source: Youtube

How to Organize a Closet : How to Organize Coats

And now we're onto coats.

Coats always goin the back.

So I have an array of coats, I have pea coats, I have blazers, I have coatsthat I wear sporty coats, so let me show you a couple of jackets that I have right here.

This is a white pea coat its short-sleeved, its light, its perfect for California.

SoI always keep this at the front because I wear it a lot.

Now the jackets you wear themost you always want to keep in the front and the heavier ones you always want to keeptoward the back.

Now again of course I color coordinate so I have my white jackets hereand it goes all to my khaki over here and of course to my black over here and you alwaysalways always has to have a black long pea coat and thats a must because no matter whatcolor you're wearing, black goes with everything unless you're wearing brown and then you wantto get a brown pea coat as well.

But I have that and another great thing to have are blazers.

Now blazers are wonderful because if you're not in the mood for a full length coat, youcan have a blazer just to if you're cold, if you want to get dressed up a little, itcan go over tank top you always want to have a black basic blazer.

Now I put this withthe coats as well because it?s a jacket so you don?t want to put this with your blousesso make sure you put this in the back.

And again it?s black so it goes toward the blackand this way you have your summer colors and you have your winter colors but of coursein California, you can wear any color at any time.

Source: Youtube

Perfect Clothing Combo? | Sports Jacket + Jeans = AWESOME | How To Wear Jackets With Denim

Sports jacket with jeans, easily one of myfavorite clothing combinations.

Three reasons why.

Number one, it's flexible.

You can dress it up, you can dress it down.

Depending on the sports jacket depending onthe jeans, you can take off the jacket and simply it's going to look good.

Two, it's a step above average.

It's not like wearing a suit it's not likewearing a tuxedo.

This is something that you know people willlook at it and it's just slightly better.

They don't know why, but you look like theman in charge.

And finally, number three, sports jackets,they build up the shoulders they slim up the waistline they just make you look strongerand more masculine.

In today's video, gents, how to wear a sportsjacket with jeans and look amazing.

Tip number one to wearing a sports jacketwith jeans is to wear the right sports jacket.

So, you don't want to wear a jacket that isactually part of a suit.

If you have one suit and it's navy blue andyou think that I can wear this jacket with my jeans and look great, don't do that becauseyou want to have your suit your go-to suit ready when you need it.

And if you wear them as separates, what canhappen is they can start to discolor, you can stain it and you end up ruining your suit.

Just don't do that, go buy another jacket.

Now, with all clothing, I always talk aboutfit, function, and fabric.

That's your style pyramid.

So, first of the fit, if it doesn't fit you,don't wear it.

You know I'll link to infographics in thedescription where I talk about the fit of jackets, but first pay attention to the shoulders.

It needs to fit you right in the shoulderpoints.

Then, look at the sleeve length, you can actuallyget this adjusted, you can actually get the sleeves even slimmed up.

Look at the jacket length, it can be a littlebit longer if you're a tall man, a little bit shorter if you are shorter than average,but in general you want to make sure that it just barely covers your buttocks.

And then, you want to look at the overallfit in the chest and the torso area.

This can times often be adjusted especiallyif you've nailed it in the shoulders.

Now, there are other things to pay attentionto.

I've talked about the actual function of thejacket and that means the style all those other aspects.

You want to pay attention to proportions,you want to pay attention to, you know, the pockets right here.

These are going to be, you know, if you'vegot a ticket pocket like I do on this, that's going to make it a little bit more casual.

You want to look at the lapels, you want tobe looking for notch lapels.

You can also look for sport lapels.

Those are going to have a little bit of atab over here because they are meant to be closed up.

The point being make sure the look of thejacket is going to be on a sports jacket more sporty more casual.

Now, let's look at the fabric.

Guys, a wide variety.

I highly advice men first look at blues.

So many different variations of blue.

Obviously, I've not a navy blue here.

You can't see it exactly, but it's got a smallbird's eye pattern in this if you were to get up close, but many different variationsout there.

You've probably seen me wear this, it's atan.

It actually has a little bit of white witha dark brown with a lighter brown, but from a distance it looks like a tan.

Now, this gold one which many of you guyshave seen me wear, I love it.

This is actually, again, has a repeating patterns.

When it comes to patterns, normally you don'twant to look for stripes.

Stripes you would see in a suit they usuallymeans business, but you can see sometimes a check, you can see a little bit thickeror heavier of a fabric, that's cool as well.

But, pay attention, again, to the fit, tothe function, to the fabric.

Let's move on to the jeans.

All right, gentlemen.

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Tip number two to wearing a sports jacketwith jeans.

Select the right jeans.

That sounds simple, right? Guys, I still see so many men messing thisup and they do this because they wear jeans that are way too light in color or they weardistressed jeans, they wear jeans with holes in them.

Understand that if you're going to wear themwith a sports jacket, they need to actually be a little bit dressier.

So, you want to go with dark well-fitted jeans.

Don't go skinny don't go loose, you want togo with a straight cut.

You want to go maybe with a slim cut.

But, those are, you know, you don't want togo super skinny on that, it just doesn't match the profile.

Now, when it comes to the fabric, again, youwant to go for a heavier weight denim something that usually I prefer the indigo.

I think that's going to match just a widerange, it's going to go with all of the blue various types of sports jackets.

Now, you can easily break it up by bringingin a tan, by bringing in that gold some of those maybe an olive green, that's still goingto look great with the indigo blue.

Now, you can go with grays, you can go witha dark gray you can go with a black you can go even with a maroon.

I've seen that work really well.

You can go with khaki jeans.

All of these I think are going to be thirdor fourth choices after you've got one to two pairs of really good dark blue jeans.

Now, lighter blues, I don't think work aswell, but one thing to avoid with your jeans don't go with anything with a lot of flashing,you know, sequence on it or anything like that.

It just doesn't fit.

Again, with the level of, you know, again,we're not formal, but we definitely aren't casual with this.

This is going to be a little bit more businesscasual and that's what we're shooting for with this combination.

Tip number three.

Bring in the right types of shoes.

So, what you want to avoid are shoes thatare too formal; patent leather, most black formal shoes.

We're talking Balmoral oxfords.

They are a little bit too dressy for this.

In fact, many laced shoes the only ones maybebrogues maybe derbys, you can try to be bring in, but I like to go for loafers I like togo for a monk-strap.

I really like for you to try to bring in adress boot.

I think this is a great time mixing it withthe casualness of the jeans and to bring in something like this just beautiful.

This is the time to wear the dress boot, awide variety of brands out there.

Maybe you want to bring in a Chelsea, youcan do that.

Look at dark browns, look at light browns,look at oxbloods.

Those are going to be your go-to shoes.

Now, some of you guys prefer black.

The issue with black is it's almost too formal.

It's a little bit too harsh of a contrast.

Tip number four.

Wear the right shirts.

So, t-shirts, I think are a little bit toocasual for most people in most situations.

But, maybe if you're the CEO of a tech company,you are in great shape you just simply like this combination and you know how to pullit off, you're confident, go for it.

But I think most guys are going to be servedby bringing in a collar.

I think it just looks better in general.

Now, you can do this and still be casual,bringing in a polo maybe a short sleeve or a long sleeve.

Some guys are against the short sleeve, Ithink in hot weather you can still put it off.

You can go for a casual button-down maybein denim or chambray or a color that, you know, maybe has a little bit of pattern toit.

Be careful though once it has brighter colorsor patterns, it's going to be a lot harder to match with a little bit more of the formalityof the sports jacket.

So, I like to keep it usually a solid or acolor that has a small pattern that can't be seen from a distance and looks like maybeoxford fabric or something like that.

But, at that point we're getting into dressshirts and I think this is where it still works.

Yes, you can wear the dress shirts with jeansby slipping the sports jacket over it.

I think for most guys simply looking at whiteslooking at small repeating patterns, whites with blues light blues medium blues, you caneven bring in some darker colors.

Again, whenever you bring in darker colorsyou bring in a lot of patterns.

Technically those are no longer dress shirts,but they're still called dress shirts.

The point being you've got the color and you'remaking sure at this point that the colors are going to go together.

Now, if you've got some patterns in your jacketdon't worry as long as the patterns don't exactly match up you'll be able to pull itoff.

So, you could have stripes in your shirt,you could have a glen check in your jacke, that is perfectly fine.

In fact, you can wear a pocket square whichbrings me to point number five, we're talking small details and accessories.

Pocket squares, we're talking neckties, youcan pull off both of those.

I really like at this point that you bringin a casual necktie, maybe a knitted maybe a wool or something that has, you know, anon-silk version.

I think that this is the perfect time to bringin those.

Some guys are going to talk about bolos.

Not really my style, but maybe if you're inNew Mexico you could pull it off.

Now, pocket squares.

This is where you should have a lot of fun.

I like small different patterns like paisleys,I like dots.

This is where I have a lot of fun in the pocketsquare, but make sure to wear a pocket square even if it's just a simple square presidentialfold.

Other small accessories to pay attention to;your watch, bracelets, rings, perhaps even your glasses.

Put a little bit of fun with them maybe bringin different styles, bring in different colors.

The great thing about the sports jacket withthe jean combination is that you are dressed slightly above everyone else out there.

So, it's one of those outfits that you canhave fun with other things you can show your creative side, you can bring in color andat the same time you're going to be dressed better and more stylish than the vast majorityof people out there.

All right, gentlemen so now it's your turn.

I want to hear from you down the commentswhat did I miss, what would you have added to this video to make it better? Let me know down there.

I go in the comments I engage with you guys,I love hearing from you.

And don't forget, go check out our sponsor,The 5th.

I'm going to link to them down in the description.

Let me know what particular style what particulartype of watch, what range you would love to have sent to you because I've got some extrasI'd love to send them your way.

And, if you're not into that and you justwant to learn more about watches, I'm also going to link to my free eBook on watches.

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Gentlemen, that's it.

Take care.

I'll see you in the next video.

Source: Youtube

How to Care for Leather Boots

Hi, I'm Sam with the Homestead Box , and todaywe're going to talk about leather care.

To get started with today's project, you'regoing to need a soft bristled brush, a small stiff brush, an old sock or an old handkerchief,whatever you have laying around, and some leather care products.

And then I like to have a small kit to keepit all in and you're going to need some water on hand.

So the first thing your going to want to dois take out your boot laces.

This is one of the most important steps becauseto really access where all most of the dirt and grime hangs up you're going to want totake your boot laces out.

Then grab your soft bristled brush and justbrush off any excess dirt you know anything visible that 'll just come off easily.

Make sure to get in these area here.

The next thing, is really important, grabyour stiff bristle brush, and catch all along the laces here.

The stitching, not the laces-- the stitching.

OK.

Now we are going to move on to using someleather care products.

There's a lot of different leather care productsout there.

I chose this brand specifically because theydo not use petroleum based products.

They treat leather care like skin care, andthat is important to me.

So we're going to start with our saddle soap.

I use an old sock where the elastic has gonebad.

I just put it over my hand like a mitt.

Dip it in your water.

Load it with some soap.

And apply it so that your building up a foam,to get all that dirt out of there.

this basically just washes the leather andprovides a little bit of conditioning.

Make sure you get all down in the cracks.

I really like to focus on the toe areas andinside the tongue here because they take a lot of wear and catch a lot of grime.

After this stage, I like to take a little excess water, and just wipe it all down, to take out any excess soap.

Now take the dry part of your sock or rag,and just take off all of that excess water.

Our boot is already looking better.

Now you're going to want to set this in aplace where it can dry.

Now that our boot is dry, we're going to applysome kind of leather salve or oil to treat the leather, re-moisten it and help protectit from water.

We just want to load enough salve or oil toreally coat the boot well.

Really focus on any area that have stitching.

These need a little extra protection.

Don't forget about the inside of the tongue.

Depending on how dry your boot is, will determinehow much leather salve or oil you will need on your boots.

You will notice it starts to take up the salveor oil, and it will start to get a cloudy sheen.

That a good thing.

Once it's done soaking up the oil, we're goingto buff that extra oil away with our soft bristled brush.

That's hard to say.

So you are going to want to take your brush(I like to hold my boots like this, brush in this hand) and move really quickly.

Now if you want to polish your boots, maybethat is another video, but we just want to knock off that cloudy coat.

Now that we've been over boot care, no matterwhat products You choose to use follow the manufacture's instructions, but there's twobasic guidelines I can give you today.

You always want to clean, and then treat your boots.

Cleaning is good.

Treating is good, but you really need to cleanbefore you treat for the best, to get the best performance out of your boots.

Now that we've done boots, don't forget aboutyour belts, sheaths, watch straps, hats, and just any other leather goods you have lyingaround.

Source: Youtube

How to wash your down jacket | e-outdoor.co.uk

Hello I'm Kathryn from e-outdoor.

Co.

Uk, todaywe're going to be taking a look at the best way to wash a down jacket When people do attempt to wash downthe most common mistakes are made in the drying of the jacket rather thanthe washing part.

When down gets wet it forms into clumps and if dried incorrectly willbe ruined, so it's vital that the correct care is given So for today's demonstrationI'm going to be be washing this Men's Nuptse Vestfrom The North Face.

which is, of course, available at e-outdoor.

This has never been washed before, so it's about time we gaveit a good cleaning.

So firstly it's important that the right soapis used, normal soaps and fabric softeners will damage the down's fibres and stop itfunctioning correctly There are specialist washing powdersavailable for down We always recommend this, this is Granny'soriginal Pure Gentle Soap Flakes.

which can be brought at most supermarketsI picked this one from Tesco.

This is a fragrance free soap that doesn't contain anyharsh chemicals.

It is pure soap it wont take take away the feathers natural oilsso it will give it a nice gentle wash.

So I've prep'ed our washing machine by doing a small rinse cycle with nothing in thereand I've also washed out the soap tray, just to make sure that there is no residue from otherlaundry liquids that have been used in the machine before.

And before we put the vestthrough the main wash I'm just going to rinse it in the sink.

This isn't an essential step, butI just want to make sure that any nasty bits of dirt on the outside are washed offbefore we put it in the machine.

The amount of soap flakes you need will varydepending on the size of the jacket you're washing as I'm washing a vest I wont needtoo much so I will put a little less than a hand full straight in the tray.

So now the vest and soap is in the machine we need to make sure we select the right settings.

We don't want to be too rough with the down so we need to select a delicate cycle andreduce the spin to 600 rpm.

A good temperature to go for is around 30 and 40 degrees.

I'm goingto go for 30, good for the environment and we don't want to put the down in too muchheat.

So now that's set up lets start it going and put the kettle on So that's the easy bit done, as I said earlier,drying down is when most people make mistakes.

To maintain the jackets warmth it's vitalto ensure the down dries thoroughly and correctly.

The down has now have formed those clumpswe talked about earlier and unless we fluff these clumps upwhile drying the down will not recover it's loft and insulation properties.

It is possible to dry down without a tumble drier, this is done more easily in the summerwhen you can air it outside.

If you are air-drying your jacket, be prepared fora very long process.

To break up the down clumps you will need to shake itout by hand every five to ten minutes for a good few hours.

I'm going to dry the nuptse vest in the tumbledrier, a much simpler method as it will do the shaking for you.

So now it's in the drierI'm going to add two clean tennis balls.

These are a great aid as they bounce all aroundthe drum and beat the clumps in the down, helping break them up and aid the drying.

But of course if you have drier balls then you can use them, tennis balls are simplya cheaper alternative.

So once the vest and tennis balls are in the machine,select a low heat setting and set it for about 20 minutes.

You don't want to leave it intoo long at one consistent heat, so we're going to keep coming back to the vest to checkon it and repeat this process until it's dry.

So now the 20 minutes is upI'm going to take it out and just give it go over by hand.

It helps to lay it flat,and just feel for any clumps that are still in the down when you find them just fluff them out byhand as we did before Once you have done that to the wholeof the jacket shake and put it back in the dryer with the tennis ballsand repeat the 20 minute low heat cycle So as you can see the Nuptse vest is now completelydry and has recovered its loft really well It took a total of 4 runs through the tumble drier andthe washing and drying took about 3 and a half hours.

So it is a very lengthy process but definitely worthit to have a nice clean jacket or vest by the end of it.

If you don't feel confident enough todo this yourself by all means take your jacket toget professionally cleaned.

Source: Youtube

How to Shine and Polish Boots- Dollar Tree Shoe Shine Kit

dollar tree shoe shine kit how to shine and polish boots hi it's AlaskaGranny on a recent trip to the Dollar Tree I found a small shoe shine kit you can see it's small and it comes in a package that is actually quite well made and it has a zip top and it's not just like a zip-top bag it's a thicker vinyl almost like a shower curtain liner so it's pretty nice inside the pouch is a nice big cloth the cloth is more velvety on one side than the other there are two little tins of boot and shoe Polish there's a brown shoe polish and a black shoe polish and they have the twist open and that pushes the lid off there's the brown polish and there's the black polish I want to use this on my favorite cowboy boots you can see they're all scuffed because I love them I wear them all the time and they could use some polishing so the first thing I'm going to do is put down a paper towel so they don't get any icky stuff on my counter then I'm going to take an old microfiber cloth and I'm going to wipe any loose dirt off of my boot now I'm going to take the backside of the cloth for the application and then I'm going to use the velvet side for polishing so I'm going to wrap it around my finger get it nice and tight I'm going to dab it into the polish when you polish your shoes you want to get the Polish around evenly so you want to first dab different spots before you begin then go back and spread it around wow I think my boots already looks better I think it looks better already don't you let me try a second coat I think they're covered pretty well so I'm going to unwrap my cloth and turn it around to the velvety side ok that's the boot I polished and that's the one before so here's a before and after I think it looks much better so for only one dollar I think that the Dollar Tree shoe polish kit is a success time to shine the second boot so check out this shoe polish kit from the Dollar Tree and keep your shoes and boots looking as good as possible I can store it all back in the bag ready for next time learn more at alaskagranny.

Com please subscribe to the AlaskaGranny channel.

Source: Youtube