Mukluks.

Four years ago, I was going on a winter trip to Norway. We expected pretty cold weather, and I saw it as a great opportunity to make, and test a pair of furry mukluk type moccasins, as a camp shoe.

It turned out we had a lot of cold weather, and the mukluks were absolutely perfect for those cold and dry conditions. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera.

I call them mukluks, but actually they're more of a cross breed between a puckered woodland moccasin and a mukluk. Basically I made the foot part after the woodland moccasin pattern, and added a long canvas leg, like you'd see on some types of mukluk.

I got the idea, from the book, "Wildwood wisdom" by Ellsworth Jaeger. First published in 1945, this book contains tons of ideas and simple how to's, simply illustrated. I would have loved to have this book when I was 12 years old. Though written in somewhat childish, I think this book is as relevant to adults as kids.

The main foot piece, is cut from a piece as such, 2" wider than your foot. I added some extra to make sure I had enough space, because I used lamb, with pretty thick wool.

The instep is attached on each side, in order to control its position and make sure the crimping is done evenly around the foot. The trick, when crimping, is to make twice as long a stitch on the sole part, as on the instep.

The legs are made of canvas, rubbed in beeswax. Then, they're simply sewn onto the foot. The leg has a draw string above the knee, and a lace attached at the back, just above the calf. This keeps them in place, when moving around.