Keeping snug and warm

One of the benefits of winter has to be the extra layers that we get to wear. Yes, I know it can be a pain when you're stood at the front door piling on the gloves and scarves, but outer layers of clothing do give some scope for an extra bit of flair.

I've always loved capes and cloaks (although with the latter I have to battle with my urges to have a cloak that goes completely down to the floor - completely impractical in wet weather as it just soaks up the water from the ground!) so as last autumn approached I set myself the task of coming up with my own cape pattern, which I planned to make from warm fleece. The result was a lovely soft green cape, complete with hood for that little bit of extra wow:

After wearing it a few times and establishing that there weren't many tweaks I wanted to make to the design, I've since made a second one, the outer layer in black fleece which increases the amount of outfits it can be worn over but with an eye-catching spotted lining to brighten it up.

And in the intervening time I'd managed to find some beautiful fastenings for future use:

Only thing is, this one's not for me - it's up for sale for someone else to enjoy!