Resizing leather??

[bertha79.livejournal.com]

OK, I know this isn't a very crafty issue, but I thought if anyone here has worked with leather in a crafty capacity, maybe they'd have some tips for me...if this is an inappropriate question, I won't cry if you remove it :)

Not sure if anyone here has experience with this or not... I just won a pair of J.Crew boots like this on eBay:


These boots are $258 (too rich for me), so I lucked out and found last years style which I like much better (flats instead of heels) for a fraction of the price!

These boots are brand new, and they are not cheap leather. The leather is gorgeous, but very thick and since they are new, not broken in. Most of the knee high boots I have are zip up, but these are pull on....after tugging and tugging to get them on, I finally got my foot into the footbed area, and that part fits perfect...

The problem is that my stupid calfs are apparently a bit too chunky right now (and my legs are one of the few parts of my body that *aren't* a problem area so I was surprised by this) to pull the boot all the way up to the knee where it belongs, so the boot is all scrunched up by the ankle which looks lame....

I *love* these boots...is there anything I can do to stretch them out so they fit around my calf? The circumference of the boot is around 15 inches and it seems like the circumference of my calf at it's widest point is about 16-17 inches...could a leatherworker/cobbler fix this?