Winter night snow

St.Petersburg, lovely winter night.

Scarves '13

Some scarves, as promised... various colours and textures, but one thing in common: they're all made from raw wool and raw wild silk (only one's got dyed silk in it, the second down). I tried to keep them as eco-friendly as possible, and I have to say: it feels good! :-)

My brand new Curly Cowls

YES! My new collection, "Snugly and natural", is now live on Etsy! :-) Here's part of it -- curly cowls and bactus scarves. Another bunch of photos (part 2) coming soon. All this items are made in an eco-friendly way: they haven't been dyed and were felted using the smallest possible amount of water; as for the soap, I used the fragrance and colour free olive oil soap which I really love. It has a wonderful effect on wool. Besides, it's really good for my skin (because I usually felt without rubber gloves).
It took me a while to get things started, then get them all done, I faced some difficulties organizing a proper workplace in my new home... so much so that this collection finally saw the light of day only in May.
However, even though summer is around the corner and three months of roasting in the sun are ahead of us, I never stop making warm things and keep preparing for the winter in advance :-) Moreover, here in England you can never tell what the weather is going to be like in the next couple of hours. And the wind from the sea is always chilly!

P.S. By the way, dear all! I am on Postcrossing.com now and would love to exchange beautiful postcards. http://www.postcrossing.com/user/Andzheevska
I'm open for a direct swap, so if you like sending and receiving postcards, just let me know somewhere in comments or via e-mail. I have many lovely postcards stored up :-) xx

A tiny wee peek into the new collection :-) There it is, my brand new curly bactus scarf in a bathtub, going through the process of final rinse. On the second picture, it had been wrung just before I spread it flat to dry.  

"Woollen Woods" by Canopy Project, Eden Arts

This amazing outdoor exhibition in a beautiful area of Cumbria, up north in UK, has now been opened for around a month. Have a look at all those lovely forest creatures! They are all made of wool; hence they can withstand elements until November, when the exhibition closes. 

Find more views in online gallery here https://canopyart.jux.com/

Photographs by Joanne Leary (Jo Leary Photography).

This owl is my favourite!

Some of my works are exhibited as well, moreover, I even have a small tree of my own, all decorated with felt flowers. Here they are.

I especially like this woollen apple tree. Looks great in this landscape.

...and some more cuties. 

Laura and Cheryl

Some time ago I decided to create a couple of eco cushion covers. My goal was not to make just any old cushion cover, but something special, something that anyone would like to spend a lot of time with when resting at home, whether reading a book or having a nap. I believe I’ve achieved what I wanted thanks to the purity of the materials I’ve chosen.

(And yeah, I gave them names... this is Laura, made from BFL and a variety of silk, flax and hemp fibres).

The creation turned out to be true cushion covers for enjoyment. Being big and 100% wollen, they feel almost like something alive and cuddly. They’re made from undyed British Bluefaced Leicester and super thick Merino wool and decorated with a variety of undyed fibres. Don't fade, naturally moisture resistant. 

(This is Cheryl, made from sturdy chocolate brown Merino and decorated with lovely natural golden seacell fibres).

I like working both with undyed and dyed wool, as each of the materials has 

some certain strong points. For instance, undyed wool gives clothes a very natural rustic look; its texture is smoother and shinier for it's not been damaged with chemicals.

(Above is the pillowcase, or pillow cover, made from undyed British wool and pure undyed fibres... I'll write some more about pillows in the next posting).

However, if you use only pure wool, you don't have a wide enough range of colours. Dyed wool, on the other hand, even though it sometimes feels too dried up when working with it, which doesn't affect the quality of the final product though, has one huge advantage: it offers a whole range of bold colours. For example:

(This is an autumn coloured neckwarmer which was bought by one of my British customers; made from extra fine dyed Italian Merino wool).

Potyomkin (Потёмкин) scarf

I've made this scarf for a Russian friend of mine who's a guitar player. What he wanted was a simply elegant accessory that compliments the musician's style without attracting too much attention to itself, with minimalistic feel to it. I decided to use such subdued colours and add a bit of a shiny texture in order for it to look better on stage. I believe this garment creates a truly enigmatic look.
Russian winter turned out to be really long this year, so the scarf is still in use!

My Christmas Give-away is over

Merry Christmas to you awesome folks! 
My Christmas Lottery is finished by now. Thank you everyone for your participation, it was a lot of fun for all of us, I believe. Thanks for your likes, heartwarming comments and shares, too! 

I do anticipate plenty of new Warm Feet Felt woollen stuff coming out next year; I make lots of sketches and am planning a new collection of vests in the near future. Also, I'm very excited about the possibility of working mainly with the pure British wool from now on! This wool is really top quality.

Meanwhile, let me announce the winners.
The winners of my Christmas'12 Lottery are.... :-)

ELENA ZAKHAREVICH

and

JOTKA JURZAK


Congratulations!!!

Two days left to go!

 Hello there guys! My Christmas Lottery is already half way through. 
I'm very excited to meet you all, and I try to keep an accurate record of all participants names :-)
On December 23rd, 6 pm London time we're going to find out who's the winner. He or she can choose a fantastic, absolutely unique scarf from those 6 scarves on the picture 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=495679867139595&set=a.495679863806262.112244.450776701629912&type=1&relevant_count=1

Those of you who're interested but are not on the record yet -- it's not too late to join in, but hurry, only two days left to go until my Christmas give-away is finished! 
To join, simply leave a comment to the lottery post (link above) and share it with your friends. Merry Christmas to all of you! Cheers!

Julia xx

Here it comes... a GIVE-AWAY from Warm Feet Felt!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! I’m so excited!

The New Year is around the corner. There’s holly on the doors, tinsel on the trees and flickering of candle lights in the windows. So much festivity 

in the air... and, on top of that, I am starting a CHRISTMAS LOTTERY!

The winner will get one of those beautiful scarves FOR FREE (you choose which one!)
Why not get one of those unique garments as a gift for Christmas?

So, if you want to participate, here’re the rules: you share my Facebook post with your friends out there on Facebook

MY FACEBOOK GIVE-AWAY

and leave a comment with your name, so I can put you on record of participants. On December 23rd I will write all your names on tiny sheets of paper and pick the winner randomly. Then I’ll send off the winner's scarf from London via Royal Mail (I ship at my expense).

Go ahead, share and comment!
Julia xx

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WarmFeetFelt

Welcome to Camden Christmas Fair

I'm very pleased to announce that I'm taking part in Camden Christmas Fair in London. The event will take place in The Colonel Fawcett pub ( http://www.thecolonelfawcett.co.uk/ ) situated in 1 Randolph Street, Camden, five minutes walk from Camden Town station. I'm inviting you to pop in and have a look at my goodies on December 2nd, between 3 and 9 pm. This is going to be my first real-life stand, showing off brooches and scarves, mittens and bags :-) 
Londoners, come and say hello! I'll be happy to see you all :-)

"London" vest

After beating around a bush for some time, I had finally decided to make a vest. Yes, it was not an easy decision after being stuck mainly in accessories :-) Making clothes seemed to be an entirely new dimension to me. It was not easy to choose a color either -- first I considered gray, then green... And then the weather started getting colder and colder. 

Spontaneously, having stumbled upon a lovely beige piece of silk in the felting supplies shop, I bought it together with beige wool roving perfectly matching it, kick-starting thus the process of creating this vest. 
I find this color extremely charming! It is so simple and bright, with a slight shade of peach pink to it. The vest appears very minimalistic, without any decor, adorned just with delicate silk lining on the inside.

Fits sizes 44-46 rus (38-40 eur). Made out of superfine Merino wool and 

hand dyed Margilan silk.

The true autumn scarves

Well, September is here and I've made a couple of scarves in indian summer pallette. Although one of them is typically bright orange and rust red, autumn can be not only about the fiery leaves on the trees :-) The second scarf (first on the picture) has subdued, sort of rainy day gamut -- fine purple, olive and bluish green, dark brown; cold heavy sky, fallen leaves, wet soil. It seems to be even more autumn-like than the orange one. But I surely love them both equally!

Happy autumn!

Approximate measurements: 190x15 ---> 74,8"x5,9".

Approximate measurements:195x15 cm ---> 76,7"x5,9".

Foxberry cobweb shawl

I'm very much into cobwebs recently :-)
This one is a tender, delicate foxberry red  large loop scarf..  as thin as felt can be!
Also can be worn as a shawl.
Measures 79x35-40 cm ---> 31,1"x13,7"-15,7".

Something new

The "Butterfly dance" scarf.

196x17-29 cm ---> 77,1"x6,6"-11,4" (the widest part). 

"Foxberry" nunofelted scarf.

Approximate measurements: 172x27 cm ---> 67,7"x10,6" (without the silk fringe); the fringe is approx. 7-13 cm long ---> 2,7"-5,1" long.

Big buttoned "Tricolour" bag/shoulder purse.

Approximate measurements: 35x23 cm ---> 13,7"x9". The cord is approx. 40 cm long ---> 15,7" long.