Quest for the perfect tea cosy.

If you had to list the criteria for the perfect tea cosy what would be included?

Here is a pattern from Spin.Off magaizne, to help get your creative thoughts flowing. The yellow one above is from Hindolbittern's photos and the Christmas pudding is from Plum Pudding's photostream.

Please help us with our quest by leaving your recommendations, links, patterns etc in the comments section...
must have an exposed handle for easy pouring,
must include a pom-pom...
oh, there's so much to consider... and I do love a list.

getting about

While getting about on Flickr I came across this set of Kaffe Fassett Quilt images from the Toronto Textile Museum 2005 created by tsaiware.

The Bootie rampage continues.... you can see my two new additions here.

while we're on the topic...

Miss Woolly's lovely friend, Michelle, sent in this link for local designer Emilie Clare. She has a wonderful story about treasures left to her by her nana, Olive. Emilie Clare's studio is in Melbourne where she sits rugged up in bright red ugg boots and sorts out wool, buttons and yarn. Her website is gorgeous and she also has an Etsy Shop for you to peruse or it you like a bit of live interaction pop down to one of her stockists; Pussy Cat Black, Mill&Mia, Kids in Berlin...or if you happen to be in Townsville (carl?) Blue Bell.

Looking for Buttons?

Repot Depot is having a button sale. all buttons are 20% off till this Friday the 29th of December. Check out their wonderful fabrics while you're there too.

Bootie Rampage

(sorry the images aren't fantastic, it's a little embarrassing considering the high quality images displayed elsewhere...I'm blaming the camera)

I seem to be on a Bootie making rampage at the moment. Possibly because three of my friends have popped out babies in the last few weeks (is it my imagination or is the baby bootie list getting longer by the day, births must definitely be up?). Thanks to this pattern by Heather Baily Emilia and Oliver now have very warm toes. I have another three or is it five pairs to make and a pair to pop in the post today, they are off to NZ.
You can also take a look at some of the other Bootie designs here at the Bitty Bootie Flickr Group.
Oh wow, I've only just seen this tutorial, also by Heather. Yo-Yo's here I come.

The sidebar just magically appeared. Now that is a relief. To be honest I had almost given up on ever seeing it by our side again. What a great day ....and I'm still in my PJ's.

Too cute! I just receieved this photo from Polly in London. It's a photo of Emilia sporting her Bootie. Now I'm really hooked on these things (the Bootie's.... Mum don't get too excited).

New Friends

Miss Woolly made a new friend today and boy is she a Crafty Lady. Mirre lives in Baarn, The Netherlands. Take a look at her blog here and Flickr. No doubt you'll be as inspired as we were by the magnitude of Mirre's wonderful creations.

The Ultimate Cubby House

Take a look at these cool Cubby Houses made by Free Spirit Spheres. They are fully decked out inside and built using concepts borrowed heavily from sailboat construction and rigging practices. The wooden spheres are built much like a cedar strip canoe or kayak.