mittens

[elizabeth_mn]

I had a panicked few days as the snow first fell and I realized I didn't have any mittens for little F.  Too late to knit some, at my glacial pace anyway.   I went to about a billion stores and found nothing.   Mittens for sizes 0-3 months were abundant, as well as 4T and up. But a 12 month size?   Doesn't exist!

I went through about 3 pairs of failures and a far too expensive piece of organic cotton fleece (now in scraps in the trash) before giving up on a mitten with a thumb and trying some simpler ones in some old felted wool.

And here's a thing I have been yearning to say for many of my crafting years:

I made these out of an old sweater I felted in the washing machine.



Yay me for upcycling*!

I sewed a little elastic at the wrist, but otherwise they are pretty untampered-with sweater sleeve cuffs. I used a narrow zig-zag on the sewing machine since the serger was giving me crap, and I think I liked it better that way anyway because I got a narrower seam allowance.



And here they are on my favorite model:



She finds them very entertaining and loves putting them on (with help, of course).  Wanting to keep them on is another matter. . .

*Which is not, btw, "taking garbage and making something useless out of it," contrary to what it says in Regretsy.