felted slippers & butter tarts

i've spend the last few days making a pair of felted slippers. i've never really worn slippers, but the cabin we're staying in, in northern manitoba has a pretty cold floor. i've been wearing my bog boots (which are incredibly fabulous, if you must know), but i'd like to be able to slip them on and use them outside! instead of trying to keep them dry for inside only. 

i spent forever trying to find the perfect slipper pattern and finally realized, if they are going to keep my feet warm i don't really care what they look like (that’s not all true)! there are just so many patterns that it becomes overwhelming! i ended up finding my pattern, "family of slippers" on ravelry but i'm not really fond of how the toe turned out. the toe is made by decreasing until you have 20 stitches on two needles then you close the toe with a kitchener stitch. it worked out how it was supposed to, i just think it looks too angled. i thought that they might “even” themselves out when i felted them, but they didn't really change at all. so, well see, i might get them wet again and see if i can make the toes rounder, or they may come out over time. but they're warm and that what counts!

we're slowly getting settled into our little place here, its feeling more and more like home by the day. i went for a ski the other afternoon, in the dwindling sun - incredibly gorgeous! i've never had a to think about wind before, but out here you break a trail and the next day half of it is all blown over. gone. nothing left whatsoever. pretty crazy really. the lake has about 1.5 feet of snow on it, so breaking a new trail every time, as nice as it would be to be far from the skidoo trail, is pretty time consuming. the crust is just thick enough that you almost don't break through, but you do. so i've been sticking to the main trail, going out to the point, to the ice fishing holes where i turn around and head home.

i made butter tarts the other afternoon while travis was down at williams. it was about -35 and he may have been happy going out on the lake at that temp but i was just as happy to stay inside, listen to cbc via itunes and bake! :) this recipe super canadian as it is, calls maple syrup and is pretty deadly! i doubled it, making half with pecans, and the others with raisins. pretty darn fabulous!

maple butter tarts

3/4 cup  packed brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

pecans

raisins

enough pastry for 12 tarts.

mix first five ingredients in a bowl. roll pastry out on a lightly floured board, and cut with 4 inch round cutter. shape tart pastry in muffin pan. put about 1 T of pecans and/or raisins into each tart and fill with above mixture (about 1/4 cup). bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. eat 2 and hide the rest. :)