Прощай молодость

Pamenate tokius batus "Прощай молодость" ?:) Aš turiu! 
Aplankiusi nemažai batsiuvių, pagaliau radau bendrą kalbą su vienu tikru savo amato meistru. Hm, daugumai pasirodė kad visgi papraščiau yra lipdyti atšokusius padus ir keisti kulniukus, o ne vargti rankomis siūnant padus prie veltinių. Tiesa, padų pasirinkimas mūsuose skurdus, tad kolkas tokie, kokius pasiūlė ir labai tvarkingai prisiuvo mano klumpaitėms batsiuvys. 
Todėl ir pavadinimas toks, na bet... tai tik dar viena iš daugybės mano pradžių :)))

Rubber soles 

Boiled wool

Boiled wool projects are my new interest. I wanted to make booties with a high top, but the firm wool felt didn't satisfy me. Feltmakers in Lithuania like to use the knitted tops for their felted slippers, here is one I which admire: Onstail by Ramune. Few days ago I was looking for a beautiful warm items for a treasury list and almost all of them were Lithuanian. I don't know if our taste coincides or Lithuanian feltmakers really are the best:) 
So, a thought came to my mind, that I can use knitted boot tops, but before adding them to the clogs, I can felt them. Knit is too loose, but felting makes it soft and wind resistant. I've bought 100% wool yarn of natural colors (made of the same kinds of wool, which I use for my felt clogs):

I remembered a lessonby Liecel Tverli Scully , knitted a big 100% wool leg warmers and tried to felt them in my washing machine, which is automatic and cannot be opened during the process... I will not show what I got out from there at the end of washing :)))... Don't do it, the process of fulling should be under you control! Then I found the tips for boiled wool . I've tried that too:

My husband came out angry from his office looking for the source of the terrible smell... Ok, I dropped the experiments and felted the knits by hand.  While felting, knitted leggings shrink twice. I am satisfied by the results:

The leg warmers appeared to be so comfortable, that I couldn't take them off after taking pictures:) They look nice with the shoes as well as with the clogs, so I decided not to sew them to the clogs, but leave as woolen leg warmers :

Felted wool boots

There are a several ways to felt the wool. Usually I am using wet felting method - I lay loose wool fibers, wet them and rub. This time I combined this and another method - it is called boiled wool felt. Wool must be knitted and then felted using boiling water. I've added boiled wool tops on my felted clogs and voila, I get slipper-boots!

Felted boots white-blue

Grey felted boots

And me:)

P. S.
While taking photos of these shoes, I was making plans about the soles for outdoor wearing. The reason for this is...:

Do you love sheepskin boots? These are also made of sheep, but those sheep are still alive!

Baltic Amber

Today it is the first anniversary of my WoolenClogs shop! I am glad that my  wool felted clogs (mostly made of Lithuanian sheep wool) reached my customers in all over the world:) They were shipped to Europe, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil etc. I wish a warm wearing to all my customers!

I have just finished the second pair of the clogs with Baltic amber. Amber is often titled the “Lithuanian gold” – it is something uniquely Lithuanian. And natural :) I like how it harmonizes with the wool.
White felted clogs with an amber  - we have made them together with my sister Eigile. She is on vacation from her school now. We had a real crafters workshop at my house:)
The brown felted clogs imitate carved wooden clogs. "Carvings" are traditional Lithuanian ornaments.  

Žiema ant nosies / Winter is coming soon

The first snow showed up yesterday. Time to prepare for the Winter!


It is very important to keep your feet warm, the best way to do that is to wear organic wool felt shoes . I made them of just sheared and carded rough Lithuanian sheep wool. They are very warm and massages the feet. An ankle of the shoes is knitted from the merino wool (also Lithuanian), which I spinned with my antique spinning wheel 

I've mentioned the first snow - here it is:

Snow covered my rose garden... My kids were making a snowman today:))) Beautiful Winter, but I will miss my roses and warmth. Thinking of that, I have made a wool felt wrist warmers which reminds of a pink rose petals. Batt for these warmers I made with my drum carder. I've mixed pink and white shades of different fibers. 50% softest merino wool, about 40% silk and a bit of ramie and bamboo fibers. Wrist warmers are warm, very thin, light and soft like a rose petals:

Now all my thoughts are going to concentrate on... Upcoming Christmas rush! Like a year ago, I will help Santa Clause to make warm wishes come true:) Here are the first signs - these warm beauties are preparing to fly to Japan:

TM Woolen Clogs

Prekiniai ženklai buvo pradėti naudoti viduramžiais, kai iš amatininkų bei pirklių gildijų narių buvo reikalaujama pažymėti savas prekes. Tokiu būdu buvo supaprastinta gamybos bei prekybos apskaita, nekokybiškų prekių kontrolė. (wikipedija - nesolidus bet patogus šaltinis).
Aš savo klumpaitėms ženklą gavau iš draugės dailininkės mainais į veltinukes jos mergytei. Idealus, a? :)


Kalbant apie gildijas - Lietuvos veltinio amatininkų gildiją įsteigėme vasarą, įregistruota buvo prieš 5 dienas. Kalbėti pradėjome su pamišusiomis dėl šio rankdarbio moterimis jau senokai, pagaliau tai tapo kūnu:) Žavingos protingos merginos susirinko, dauguma įsivėlusios į šį reikalą beaugindamos vaikus, gavusios atokvėpį nuo įprastų darbų. Kirba noras pagarbinti Lietuvą suteikiančią tokią progą mamoms. Kada nors susikaupsiu tokiam rašymui.

O dabar mano veltos klumpės, ir šių metų naujienos ir pernykštės senienos:

Atgal į senovę / Back to the antiquity

Senovėje žmonės irgi veltinius veldavo, tiesą sakant veltinis - viena seniausių tekstilės rūšių. Visai netikėtai išsiaiškinau, kad senoviški metodai yra ypač efektyvūs veliant neapdorotą šiurkščią lietuvišką vilną. Kloti vilną pirtyje ant plautų - labai patogu, tašytis galima į valias, vietoje dabar įprasto bambukinio kilimėlio storą klojimą itin greitai padeda suvelti kočėlai, formuoti medinis plaktukas.
Į šį reikalą įvėliau savo šeimos moteris - mamos pirtyje su jauniausia sesute Eigile vėlėme sesės Jurgos sodyboje išaugintų avelių vilną:) Rudenėjant pasiilgau lietuviškos vilnelės, o tokia sava ji dar mielesnė. Masažiukas pėdoms, taip reikalingas vėstant orams.



In ancient times, people also felted wool. Frankly felt is one of the oldest kinds of the textiles. I found out that ancient methods are very effective felting Lithuanian raw rough wool. Laying the wool in sauna is very comfortable, instead of the usual bamboo mat it is very useful to use mangle and a wooden hammer - they helpes to form thick felt.

This time I involved my family women into this woolen thing - in my mothers sauna my youngest sister Eigile and I were felting local sheep wool, which was reared in my sisters Jurga homestead :) It is getting colder and lithuanian wool is so great for foot massage. 
Love this naturality? Striht from the sheep,on your feet:) You can order such natural handmade felted clogs in my Etsy shop