Mittens in August

It's not very often that you need mittens in August--which is why they don't carry them in stores around this time of year. However, we needed mittens for Sophia this past Saturday for our ascent up Mt. Washington: New Hampshire's tallest peak (and the tallest east of the Mississippi). At 6,288 feet you can imagine that the weather "up there" is very different than the weather "down here." The forecast predicted temperatures in the 30's with possible windchill bringing it down into the 20's. That is cold! We needed mittens for Sophia, and not those "don't-scratch-your-face" mitts, something real, something warm.

So I cut the sleeves off an old fleece and sewed up the cuff to create a thumbless mitten. I used the straps off and old tank top to create a leash for the mittens, then appliqued two hearts on with a blanket stitch. The results were pretty cute and very warm. They kept Sophia's little fingers from the biting wind.

I didn't take pictures at the start because the project was purely practical and I didn't expect the results to be very good. But these pictures will give you the idea of the process.

I cut the sleeve off a fleece jacket, then cut the cuff off:

The cuff looked something like this (didn't get the actual picture). I estimated how wide I needed the opening to be then began sewing about the pin mark. I stitched a wide arc (mitten shaped).

I cut the straps off this tank top to use as the leash:

Then cut heart shapes from the rest of the tank top:
I appliqued the hearts on to the mittens with lime green embroidery thread. I would recommend appliqueing the hearts before sewing the mittens (getting the needle in and out of those tiny mittens was not easy).

And here they are in use on the mountain (I had yet to applique the hearts on).

-Sarah

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