NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

(A gift of) Upcycled mittens

by

Since we celebrated the holidays with Ryan’s family last weekend, I have several quick-to-make gifts to share before Christmas this year.

I know Christmas is only a few days away. But, I promise you that my homemade gifts are quick gifts. I may have even made these items within 24 hours of gifting them. (I’m a last-minute personality.)

This is probably my favorite thing I’ve made so far. These upcycled wool mittens were given to my sister-in-law to keep her fingers toasty this winter.

They are 100 percent upcycled – from the sweater (that belonged to me and was originally a Liz Claiborne thrifted number) to the inner fleece (which hailed from an off-white fleece blanket from Goodwill).

Here’s the sweater in 2009. It makes much better mittens.

I was able to get two and a half pairs of mittens from the sweater. And I have a few other sweaters that I’ve already cut for mittens. So, several others will be getting a pair of these puppies. But, they will all look quite different based on the sweater.

The first pair took me about 2 hours, with the help of my friend Stephanie. I think the others will go quicker. It’s a fairly simple process, with the cuff coming from the sleeve cuffs of the sweater.

I also put this green cowl together for my sister-in-law, to go with the mittens. This is cowl #7 I’ve made this winter. They really make great gifts and are really speedy.

So, there’s one two of my handmade gifts this Christmas.

What do you think?

Comments

  1. Those are both great. I love the strips. My dad recently shrunk a wool sweater of his….so I’m getting new mittens and a new pillow.

  10. Will you post a how-to at some point for the mittens?? I have a white sweater with a stain that I just can’t bear to throw away because I love it so much!

  17. I need to come down and take crafty lessons from you. I’m pretty sure those mittens would take me 2 days and they wouldn’t end up looking like that. I fail at crafty. But I really want to learn!! Also love the cowl. I keep telling myself I’m going to try making one….but I haven’t. (Again with the fail)

  19. How adorable! That sweater made a great mitten fabric! And you are a crocheting fiend! Everybody’s going to love their gifts from you 🙂