Felted slippers

There is this old newspaper cutting I always kept : a pattern to make slippers from knitted squares. It reminds me of the slippers my grandmother once made me. And so it's my turn to make these. I used wash+filz-it by Schachenmayr. After the knitting and the sewing, I put the slippers in the washing machine and they felted nicely into these cosy friends for my feet : another happy thing!
I found a similar pattern in 'Knitted & crocheted slippers', by Alison Howard, p.14.

Razja, my wizard of the tundra

Needle-felting is something I really love. It's sculpting with wool. And wool is so nice to work with, pure, forgiving, soft. Don't always like the needles that much though... When you get into this hobby, you're bound to yell once in a while...
This wizard originated without me knowing what he would become. His image, looks and personality became clearer and clearer : powerful, vain, righteous, though slightly arrogant, constantly in a bit of a bad mood, but a good soul on the whole.
In his hands he holds a magic crystal, how about that?
He wears majestic bright colours (Oh yes, he is vain!), his clothes are warm, his cape is ornamental and lacy, with little pearls (I painstakingly sewed on). And let's not forget to mention the moustache...!
I do feel protected now!

The bucket bag

This summer, on different trips, I worked on my 'travelcrochet' : the crochet bucket bag, a pattern by Martha Stewart crafts. Here you should be able to download the free pattern : http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/crochet-bucket-bag-l10191b.html
I love the simple, honest look of this bag. I used fine merino aran pure Falkland wool and the grey stripes and handle are made with biolana organic wool. I added a simple big wooden button and a crocheted chain, with tassle. That chain gets wound round the button, this way the bag is kept closed when I put it down.
It was a fun and easy project to work on and the wool felt nice : light and fluffy. I like the outcome, I think it will make a great project-bag.

Mittens revisited

I have knitted this pattern twice. The first time I knitted the mittens for myself in self-striping acrylic (nice and soft, good quality acrylic, from my stash, once bought who knows where and when...). It was my first project on double-pointed needles, and turned out okay in the end (after having to start all over again about 4 times...). The second pair of mittens was a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law. Here I used a 100 % wool yarn, in 2 shades of purple, I bought at Swaledale Woollens in Muker. I had the immense pleasure of visiting this shop in Yorkshire in 2012, while we were on holiday there. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, go and visit this shop. It is beautifully located in this wonderful Yorkshire landscape and they sell the most wonderful honest, local and pure wool.
Knitting with this wool from Yorkshire was absolute bliss!
The pattern is printed in 'Fast and fun knits', p.58.