The three of them breathed a sigh of relief— it was good that she permitted them to help.
Lin Lan continued, “In the future, when sisters-in-law are making the shoes, do give me a heads up because I want to learn it as well.”
She didn’t want to owe them too much a favour if she were to rely on their services all the time, especially when it came to manual work that easily tired one out and required time. Using money to buy three pairs of shoes couldn’t compare to one handmade pair, so it was even more precious.
The three of them agreed and would let her know next time.
Lin Lan took out some fabric at home and said with a smile, “If any sister-in-law wants to make some soles, feel free to take these with you.”
Originally, she wanted to use her creativity to sew a few cross stitch patterns, but it turned out that it was too difficult for herself.
It would be better to save up on some cloth tickets and money to save her the trouble.
Li Pinguo said with a smile, “Second sister-in-law wants to make them, so she should be the one to use these.”
Second sister-in-law Cao said, “Okay. After I’m done making the outer soles, I’ll make some insoles for your shoes as well.”
Melaleuca soles use hemp rope to cover the soles. The soles required several layers for it to be complete, so it was a very laborious task to cover the soles with them.
However, the shoe would be very comfortable to wear.
“Okay, thank you second sister-in-law,” Lin Lan smiled.
The three exchanged glances, achieving their goal and decided against staying too long so as not to annoy Lin Lan. They figured that in the future, if they have nothing much to do, they would come over and build up a relationship between them.
Before they left, another wave of women came, who also came by with the excuse that they wanted to sew jackets and make shoes. They even said that they wanted to weave baskets and mats as well.
When Lin Lan heard the word basket, she thought of going back to her mother’s house. She wondered if she should find some time to return home.
There was no shortage of baskets at home, but she would have to buy two new straw mats.
Sorghum was the type that would typically be used.
The sorghum stalks were left to soak overnight in the river before they were picked up and peeled open. The pulp would be scraped off and softened with a rice bowl.
Naturally, this kind of mat was not as good as the bamboo mats in the south. However, the straw mats here were made by convenient materials and were relatively cheap, so it was commonly used by the locals.
Generally, when it was time to take a break between farming or in the winter where crops wouldn’t grow, men would concentrate their time on making mats. In fact, most would earn work points for making seats for the team.
Commune members could buy from the team or they could save up some sorghum straw for their own use.
Lin Lan didn’t get any mats after the family split. The two mats in the house were broken and could no longer be used.
Hence, she wanted to buy two new ones.
Her father was capable of making them as well, but the winter season had not yet started. Since she wouldn’t be able to buy them back at her mother’s place, she might as well buy some from her own village.
Lin Lan was not interested in weaving baskets, so she only asked the woman who made the mats, “Can you make it according to the kang’s size? If you look at my kang, one is big and the other one is small, so the usual size is not enough.”
The woman smiled and said, “Of course, it’s all made up of straw anyways.”