I have previously blogged the boots  that I made for Mark and alluded to the fact that I had made some for myself for the One Year One Outfit challenge.

They look rather Rastafarian with those felty fringes, but I really like them.

They are knitted, then the fringes woven in with a crochet hook. They get partially felted in the washing machine, but have to be pulled out before the fringes get too matted. The feet are then felted by hand. This took quite a long time and quite a bit of effort and then I finished up with one foot larger than the other.

I took them camping with me and applied the car polisher technique and voila! I have two boots the same size. The best thing about these boots? They were made with leftover wool from my jumper, so I feel as though they were free, which I’m sure meets one of the sustainability requirements of the challenge.

I have had to hide the boots as visitors to the house keep asking if I can make them a pair – er, not likely. However, Mark has asked for a pair, and, given that he loves his slippers so much, I have bought some wool and am currently busy knitting him a pair.

The other serendipitous event is that I found these in a charity shop

For $1! Yes, this is a felting mat and needle, still in the original packaging. To say that I was overjoyed is an understatement – I may well have squeaked!

I immediately got out the squares made on my recent camping trip with the car polisher, and played about turning one of them into a pocket with a sculptural feel.

First I folded one of the edges, and then I tried shaping it by putting in a dart

The shape is quite interesting, and everyone who sees it is reminded of a bra cup! In fact I considered making some underwear for the One Year One Outfit challenge, but decided it was a step too far.

All that is left is to have a go at felting it on to the skirt.

In a nutshell: Felted boots are the Moonkoosa boot pattern by Tiny Owl Knits, found on Ravelry here. These are equivalent to the white ones. I note that their fringing isn’t as wild as mine!

The pocket was felted using the car polisher and then finished by dry felting with my new Clover kit.