MITTEN MANIA

As I previously mentioned, there's a project I've been working on that I'm a little obsessed with. A wonderful lady that goes to the same quilt group I attend shared her own mitten project (she brought like 15 to the meeting to show off!). Shortly after that we had a "sew in" day, which is to come work on a yearly group charity quilt or something of your own or to see someone else demo a technique. Right before Thanksgiving she brought extra mitten patterns to sew in day.

They are made of "old" wool sweaters. Once they're washed, they shrink, fusing the fibers together, making it better for cutting apart and sewing . . . and the end result of keeping your hands warm! The insides are lined with fleece.

With the long Thanksgiving weekend, I packed my sewing things to bring along to Great Falls with Mission: Make Lots of Mittens all planned. I checked out the second hand stores for their sweater selection, but didn't find many that were cheap as I wanted them to be. Another quilter suggested checking out the many thrift shops in Great Falls. I think I kinda cleaned them out. Of the 3 I visited, I ended up with about 20 sweaters! I wasn't able to make many that weekend as they need to be washed and dried. I got around to that right when we got back to Bozeman.

Over a week, I'd come home and work a bit on them. One night I spent cutting things apart and matching up the tops to the upper and lower palms and wrist bands. Another night I spent cutting out the fleece linings. A couple nights of sewing the outer shell and linings together. And finally adding the wristbands and having many nice sets of mittens!

The first round of mitten making was just in time for Christmas. I made 12 pairs to begin with and gave away as gifts. Unfortunately in all my crazy cutting and sewing I neglected to take pictures. I've got lots of sweaters left to make more though : )

So, round two begins . . . this time also smaller mittens for kids with the left over pieces that are big enough. I'm still in the matching things together stage and have got them all over the guest bedroom. What am I going to do with all my mittens? No idea really, but I think I'm in mitten love . . .