Upcycled Mittens



check. this. out.



Last weekend my Mom took a fantastic mitten making class with the extremely talented and witty Mary Jo, from Five Green Acres.  She showed me her mittens-in-progress and I decided on the spot that I needed a pair of my own.

I have actually been coveting the pair that Mary Jo uses in her tutorial photo.  And over the past year I have casually shopped our thrift stores for a sweater that would make a similar pair.  About two months ago I spied a teeny-tiny 100% wool sweater in the children's section.  It used to be a women's medium, before someone accidentally ran it through the washing machine.  For 30 seconds I felt bad about buying something that a child could use to keep warm, but I know that my own kids protest at wearing felted wool, saying it is too stiff and scratchy.  With this in mind I snatched up that sweater, brought it home, (eventually) cut it up and paired it with some polar fleece from my stash = new mittens for me for this winter.

The sweater provided precious little yardage, so maybe I can make one more pair of adult-sized mittens.  Or definitely a kids pair for one of my littles.  Is it time for mother-daughter matchiness?  Maybe.  Or maybe I should head back to the thrift store in search of sweaters big enough to make matching pairs for the whole family!!  Yes!!  That's the ticket. 

The pattern and tutorial are straightforward and easy to follow, even for a beginning sewist.  The only tricky part is sewing the lining to the outer mitten, and like Mary Jo says, just take your time.  Seriously, once you have the materials on-hand (haha) it only takes 1 or 2 evenings of actual cutting and sewing to make a whole pile of mittens.  You also don't need to have felted wool to make these mittens - Mary Jo provides ideas for many different kinds of materials to use for making warm, soft, winter mittens.

What to make your own pair(s)?

Go Here!



Also if you are in the Madison, WI area check out Mary Jo's other classes too!