Water bottle cozies

The coffee machine at work broke this summer. This wouldn't have been much of a problem, except that I relied on it to supply me with ice cold, filtrated water as well. With no replacement in sight and the tap water there pretty much undrinkable, I had to solve the problem myself. So I started freezing a half full bottle of water at home and bringing it to work.
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Now, this worked just fine, but I noticed a couple of things I knew I could find a solution to.
First: A bottle of ice water is, well, cold. No surprise there. Which made my fingers cold, which made my patients jump and twitch when I touched them, which, in turn, made taking x-rays of them a little bit tricky.
Second: If I left the bottle on a desk somewhere and didn't come back to it for an hour or so, it would collect quite an impressive puddle of condensed water. Which was merely inconvenient when the water dripped down my uniform making it half transparent, but really quite dangerous when the water gravitated towards electrical stuff (and that stuff's pretty much everywhere in a radiology ward).
Third: On hot days, there just wouldn't be enough ice to last the shift, even if I froze the bottle nearly full.
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The bottle cozy not only keeps the water cold for longer, but is also nice to the touch and completely eliminates condensation. I brought it along on a canoe trip this summer, and enjoyed ice cold lake water the whole day, to the slight envy of my friend. I made her and her husband one each for christmas. :) Also, my cousin got one, but I seem to have forgotten to photograph it... Not a very exciting object, I suppose. I've got two myself, one for the 0,7 litre Imsdal bottle, and one for the 0,5 litre bottle.
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How to make them, you ask? Well, it goes like this. Find a medium to thick yarn of 100% new wool, a hook that's one size smaller than recommended for the yarn. Make a tight spiral for the base, and just stop increasing when you start the wall. The cozy should be slightly wider and taller than your bottle (that's a precise technical measurement term, that). Hand felt in soapy water until snug (testing the fit regularly) and allow to dry on the bottle (refilling the bottle with warm water now and then speeds up that process). Ta-da, enjoy ice cold water anywhere. :) Ravelry links one, two, and three.
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Soap on a rope

Soap on a rope - soap and bath sponge all in one! It's really a kid's craft... Isn't it? Well, that's never scared me off before. :P And to complete my childlike crafting experience, I gave them to my dad. Congrats dad, I bet you're proud of your little girl now. ;) They were just a little joke really, a gag gift that went with the bath robe he wanted for christmas.
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These are really old-fashioned, stone hard bars of soap. I tied some string around each to make a handle of sorts. Then the whole thing was covered in three thin layers of wool roving in alternating directions, and then wet-felted in my sink. It was a bit harder than anticipated to attatch the yellow wool to the green, but it stuck pretty well in the end. I'm sure there are plenty of tips from people who have done this a few times - a Google search for "soap on a rope tutorial" should probably give you loads of good links. I just winged it, as I sometimes usually do...

Felted slippers for Kristin

There's one thing I know Kristin needs, and that's felted slippers! So with all the slippers I've felted lately I figured it was only natural to continue the trend for her birthday. The colour choice was mostly decided by the fact that I need more leftovers to complete the wrist warmers currently occupying my dpns... (Here's to full disclosure!) But I had a feeling she'd like them, so that's a win win. :) Details on my Ravelry page as per usual.
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ETA: I forgot to show you the knitter's gift tag/washing label I made to go with the slippers! I've made some of these before too. Love them!

Colourful slippers

Ahem... guess what? More slippers! :P Now, to be fair, I did warn you that I had made quite a few of these for christmas this year... ;) I suppose I could have put them all in one huge post, but the first one seemed so long that the rest needed to have their own time in the spotlight. These two pairs are the last you'll see in a long time, I promise.

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Above: The lovely, smooth outside. Below: The cool, funky inside. The slippers are completely reversible, so the recipients can choose which side they want to show off!
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After six pairs of grey slippers I decided it was high time to bring in some bright colours! This first pair was made for my sister in law and I think the colours fit her well. They are quite dominant in her paper crafting anyway... :P The second one is for my grandmother, who finally got something other than chocolate from me at christmas! (What do you give to grandmothers anyway?) I hope she finds these useful.

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Details on my Ravelry page as usual (purple slippers and cool green slippers).

Two at once felted slippers

Tired of slippers yet? :P

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Having knit five pairs of grey slippers I had leftover yarn in five different shades of grey. Knitting a pair for myself seemed a logical thing to do! Knitting both slippers at the same time was an elegant solution to the problem of potentially running out of yarn so the second slipper wouldn't look the same as the first. It was a bit tricky at first, but when I got the hang of it it was just a matter of keeping the strands from getting in a big tangle and everything else worked like a charm.

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As for all these slippers, the inside is fascinating... I can't quite decide which I like better. The inside also shows much better that two threads of different grey shades are used at the same time.
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Grey slippers for Marianne

This is a pair of slippers that became too small to fit into the size and colour coordinated set I made for our cabin, and became a christmas gift for my cousin instead. She has described some truly ice cold mornings on their ground floor this winter... Hopefully these will help. ;)

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Just as the others, the inside is funky and cool while the outside is smooth and soft. The slippers are reversible and she can choose freely which side she prefers!

Felted slippers set

I've made felted slippers as christmas gifts before, and this year I've knit up a whole bunch of a new variety! It all started when my mother asked for a set of thinner felted slippers for our cabin, and I started the hunt for a suitable recipe. Having tested this DROPS recipe I decided that the recipe was rubbish but the yarn/needle combination brilliant. So I went ahead with the yarn and used the recipe that these ordinary socks are made with and it worked great! It was just a matter of adjusting the stitch count a little according to the measurements I took before and after felting of the first test pair.

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Instead of ending with ribbing as the socks do, the slippers end just above the ankle, with a short cuff with a split in the front. The cuff can be worn folded up or down as desired.

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This set consists of four slippers in different sizes. The darkest pair are the largest, and they become smaller as the colour lightens. Every pair is knit from grey DROPS Alpaca, two different shades of grey at once for each pair. Blending two colours brings a little colour variety and life to what could otherwise be a solid block of grey.

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As an added bonus, the slippers are fully reversible. The inside reveals a really funky, chunky structure that some may prefer over the smooth outside - I know I think it's really cool. :)

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New on my needles - two slippers at once!

No, I'm not knitting a giant bra. ;) Or an old-fashioned-shaped bonnet. This is my first attempt at knitting two slippers at once! I have leftover Alpaca in five shades of gray, and knitting two at once is a way of ensuring that I don't use so much of each colour on the first slipper that I haven't got enough to make the second slipper look the same.
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Challenge #1: One of the two circular needles needed for knitting this way, is only 40 cm long, so the stitches just barely stay on, and it curls unpredictably when knitting.
Challenge #2: I knit each slipper using two strands at once, so I have to keep track of four strands of yarn at all times.
Challenge #3: As all my yarn is leftover from previous projects, I only have one skein of each colour, so I have to draw yarn from both the inside and the outside of the skeins at once!
Challenge #4 (and this is the kicker): I've never knit two slippers at once, and my only guide to how, is a picture I saw somewhere, ages ago. So I don't really know how!
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A recipe for disaster? Maybe. But that just usually makes me more determined to get it right. :)

Easy winter mitts

A while back I made these and I suddenly realised that I haven't blogged them yet. This was a simple little project from an easily memorised Pickles recipe, made with some leftover yarn. They have been slightly felted - I actually made another pair first, that came out absolutely tiny! They are seriously warm, so we'd better get a winter like last year's if I'm ever going to use them... ;) Details are, as usual, on my Ravelry page.

Felted robins tutorial

Tweet tweet! I'm not tweeting electronically just yet, but here are some of the felted variety. Robins are gorgeous birds! Their round red bellies are so easily recognisable and a lovely touch of colour during the relatively monochromatic winter months.
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These felted robins have become something of a winter tradition of mine. I love them! Since they feel more like a winter decoration than a christmas themed one, I bring them out of hiding some time in October/November, and keep them up until all the snow has come and gone, long into the new year.

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Several robins have flown away to my family members as little gifts the last two years. Even my brother spontaneously declared that he loved them and would like a little flock of robins for his appartment. Well, I couldn't deny him his wish, could I? ;) Away they went, all of them, and I started gathering a new flock for myself.
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This time I thought I'd make a little tutorial for you. I originally made mine from a material set from Panduro Hobby, but all the nescessary materials are available in hobby stores. Needle felting is incredibly easy, just hold the wool and stab repeatedly with the felting needle. The needle has notches that pull the wool fibers in and when you pull it back out they leave the wool fibres behind. Just one thing though. Be very very careful with your fingers, that needle is incredibly sharp!! Go on, ask me how I know. ;)

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ETA: I've been asked for more details on how the technique works. To start the robin you hold the red wool on top of the styrofoam ball. Stab the felting needle through the wool into the ball - this will bring wool fibres into the ball and make the wool stick to it. Keep poking the needle through the wool and into the ball until all the wool is well entangled around the whole styrofoam ball, and starts to resemble regular felt. You'll see the transformation from fluffy wool fibres to the dense red layer happen right before your eyes. No glue is needed! The wool sticks to both the styrofoam and itself. In fact, the styrofoam ball isn't actually necessary because the wool felts to itself, but it gives you a shape to start with, and therefor saves a LOT of time and wool. It probably takes a couple of hundred stabs on this first step, so have a little patience. When I got the routine in, it didn't take me more than fifteen minutes or so to complete the entire bird.

When you get to step 3, you simply gather some gray wool and hold it over the now red ball and repeat the process. Stab through the gray wool into the red wool and styrofoam ball and watch the gray wool entangle itself. Use the needle to guide it into the desired shape. After a while you'll actually see an effect from each stab. To make the tail you use the felting needle on just the grey wool for a while, poking through it into thin air, and it will entangle into itself forming a firm clump of wool protruding out from the body.

I hope this clarifies the process!

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So here it goes!

1: Grab your styrofoam ball, mine are ca 3 cm in diameter.

2: Cover styrofoam ball with red carded wool and felt with felting needle.

3: Cover half of the red ball with grey carded wool and felt. Be sure to let some of the felt protrude from the body to make a tail.

4: Make a ball of black carded wool and felt to body in the opposite end from tail.

5: Felt a tiny amount of grey carded wool to both sides of head, to make eyes.

6: Cut a small square of orange felt and attatch to head along the diagonal with felting needle. Attatch black sewing thread to back of head. Done!

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I'm linking up to the Strut Your Stuff link party.

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ETA: I've been featured on Five on Friday at Singing with Birds! Thank you for my 15minutes of fame. :) And thanks to all of you lovely ladies - and gents - leaving comments! I read and enjoy every single one! :D

Also, if you have any questions, just leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as possible right there in the comment section.

New on my needles - Alpaca slippers

DROPS Alpaca yarn in black and greys, ready to be made into slippers. I learned a few things from the test pair I've just finished, and have adjusted my recipe accordingly. In fact, the only thing I've kept from the original recipe is the yarn and needle spesifications! One pair is almost done already and I think they're looking good so far.

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New on my needles - felted slippers in Alpaca

In an effort to find a recipe for slippers that are thinner than the ones I've made before, I've given this DROPS pattern a go. Not too sure if that was a good idea actually. I'm having some trouble with the recipe and I'm not the only one, according to Ravelry. Maybe I can fudge it - the felting process hides many flaws. Provided they shrink enough though - they look huge! Details on my Ravelry page.

Little lilac bowl

With my very last skein of lilac mix yarn, I made a little bowl/basket/catch-all. I don't know what this one will hold exactly, maybe some felted easter eggs...? For the interested, here's the Ravelry link with details about the project.
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Ice cream box cozies!

Anyone else longing for summer? I know I do! Now that the temperature no longer dips below zero at night and the sun has had a real go at melting all the huge piles of snow everywhere, spring fever has hit me. It's been the best winter we've had for years and a part of me is sad to see it go, but I think it also means we'll enjoy this spring and summer even more than usual. :)

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So to prepare for the impending heat wave (well, it could happen??) I've made two cozies for Häagen-Dazs ice cream boxes! No more nasty melted ice cream! And no more frozen fingers. :P Great stashbuster project - and it took exactly one skein to make each cozy. Perfect!. :) The lilac one doesn't quite reach the edge of the ice cream box because of the extreme reaction to the machine wash, but I've decided not to stretch it more - who wants wool fibres to find their way into their ice cream anyway?

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I also made one in my last skein of light green mix. I added one row of slip stitches in a left over strand of dark Eskimo - but that looked better before felting.

Crocheted in Eskimo on 6 mm hook and felted in washing machine. For the details, check out my Ravelry project page!

Fulled red basket

Here's the first installment in my new "felting with Eskimo" series - there are a few more projects like these lined up for next week you see. I've had a whole table full of drying wool baskets the last couple of days! The first project I'd like to share is a basket crocheted in a rust-coloured mix yarn. I used three skeins for this one, so it's a decent size despite shrinking like crazy in the machine. For the details, check out my Ravelry page.
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This particular colour is so difficult to describe! When examined closely, the yarn reveals strands in bright red, blue, green and yellow, and the overall impression is something red-brown-ish... After the machine felting it changed quite dramaticly: the blue fibres are apparently long and have been contained within the stitches, while the red, green and yellow fibres seem to be shorter and therefore sticks out in every direction. The result is a soft red-ish fuzz with little firm bumps in clear blue. I can't stop stearing at it. ;)

A basket of goodies

I've made a vow to myself - to not to buy more yarn until I've used all the yarn I bought on sale last year. Oh dear.
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So I've been knitting and crocheting like crazy lately! It's not always easy to find uses for those last left over single skeins - and I had quite a few of those lying around, in lots of different colours. What you see above is a basket full of various small projects waiting for a turn in the washing machine to be fulled. Yep, I've learned a new word. ;) Apparently, it's not called felting when the wool is spun and knitted first... The term "felted" is reserved for wet felting and needle felting. End of today's lesson. ;)
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Now, if I could just figure out a way to transfer this ability to spend stuff before buying new stuff to my paper crafting addiction too!?