Dyed Fin Wool Boots

This is a long planned pair of boots for me.. I brought outdoor soles about 3 years but I've only just gotten around to felting them.  Originally I had no idea WHAT I wanted my outdoor boots to look like, but after making the dyed Fin wool Top Hat a while back I could picture quite clearly what I wanted :)

Resist cut from foam floor underlay - as you can see
I changed my mind about the width of the leg and
had to tape an extra bit on :)  

Using all natural coloured Fin wool.. dark brown, mid brown and white.
Graduating from dark at the bottom to white at the top.

After felting I added cuffs, crocheted from a chunky Shetland yarn
I spun a couple of years back.

Good thing I added extra width around the legs.. these are just right :)

Then came the scary moment..  I LIKED the way they looked in the natural colours, but I'd been dreaming of rich cranberry coloured boots, so forced myself to be bold and surrender them to the dyepot.

I had a hell of a game dyeing them in my big cauldron over the small camp stove..  made worse because it was a windy day and the flame kept getting blown out!  It took 5 hours messing about lighting and relighting before they were cooked.

But I do love the colour :)

Now I have to confess to a really STUPID mistake..  I felted the boots till they fit my feet nicely, WITHout getting the soles out to look at and check the fit. Turns out the soles are actually quite a lot bigger than my feet, even though they are the correct shoe size!  And the boots are that well felted that no matter how hard we try they just can't be stretched..

You can see the gap at the front.. there's the same gape at the back too, they're about 1cm too big!

SO, I have just ordered the same style sole but a size smaller..
I hope they fit.. (link to seller at end of post)

Guess I shall have to felt another pair and make them roomy so I can wear them with very thick socks in the coldest weather :)

I'll update when the new soles arrive..


In case you are looking for this sort of sole, I brought mine along with the cellulose board and waxed thread for stitching them from Etsy seller Rasae in Lithuania, international postage to the UK was pretty quick.