This old sweater is a pair of wrist warmers

This is my favourite kind of upcycling: something has become unusable (seriously shrunken sweater), another thing is actually needed (wristwarmers for my son) and it all results in an easy project with great result (imho)!
I cut the sleeves from the sweater and made holes for the thumbs, sewing round the holes so that there wouldn't be any unravelling. The sweater had already felted a bit, but I wanted the wristwarmers firmer, so I put them  into the washing machine on a high temperature. They came out super warm and nice. And quite cool too, if I may say so :-)

Here you can see how much more the wristwarmers have shrunk:

 cool!

A small cape in autumn colours

The pattern for this cape you can find in the Dutch magazine "Simply Breien" (nr 1van 2012). I really enjoyed knitting it, in the round. That has a lot to do with the yarn I used : Rowan Hemp Tweed. It is a blend of 75% wool and 25 % hemp, feels lovely and soft and has a natural and tweedy look. And the colours are gorgeous! I bought the yarn at the Stitchery in Lewes on one of our holidays in the UK, as always looking for local yarn shops.
This cape is simply great to wear on autumn walks!

Duttons for Buttons

Some years ago, I visited Harrogate in Yorkshire (UK). There is this wonderful shop, Duttons for Buttons. What a treasure cove, or in their own words : "For haberdashery & lace & spare-time & needles & thread & ribbons & rainy days knitting with friends & wool & needlewordk & making stuff with the kids & just about every needlecraft thing you'll ever need…" Along with some beautiful and unusual buttons, I bought the shop's environmentally friendly souvenir bag. I
customized it, as is the idea, with lots of buttons from my button box. It took a while to sew them all on, but for what's now my favourite tote, it was totally worth it!