You might remember all my adventures in making mittens from fulled wool sweaters. I’ve pared down my wool collections to just cashmere (and some other wools to use under the suede palms) and come up with a few more pairs of cashmere mittens for this year’s craft shows. These mittens are made with suede palms (over the top of a piece of wool – someone asked me at a craft show about this, so I thought I’d clarify it here) and soft cashmere. They are decorated with bits of pretty fabric and buttons and are cuffed with ribbed strips of wool.
Having said that, this first pair is not cashmere, but another type of wool. I had this fabric cut out last year and never got around to finishing sewing the mittens. But, since argyle mittens were so popular a couple years ago, I finished this pair this fall and it was the first pair sold at my first craft show this year. I love the bright purple among the blacks and grays of the argyle pattern. And of course I love red with purple, so red cuffs it had to be!
I’m not crazy about neutral “colours,” but the fabric was soft cashmere, so….I dressed up this next pair of mittens with jade green suede and buttons plus pink batik for the applique decoration. Then I decided to name the colour, “Nova Scotia Atlantic Coast Sand” because it reminds me of the sand at Lawrencetown Beach.
I LOVE THIS RED CASHMERE!!!!!!! Sorry not sorry for yelling that…anyway, this gorgeous shade of red had to be paired with a turquoise cotton fabric scrap that featured red roses. Because turquoise and red go well together. And because I had glossy red buttons to put to use. And because I love red. This pair was bought pretty quickly, too.
And here is another neutral cashmere pair with colourful additions of blue cuff, green fabric oval, and pink buttons to jazz it all up. I named the neutral colour “Nova Scotia South Shore Sand.” Partly because neutral colours bore me, and partly to stir my creativity. 😀 I do like the overall mitten, though, with the colours added! And, CASHMERE!
Ah, I do love pink and brown together, esp. if the brown isn’t very neutral looking to me! And of course I had to add big pink flowers from one of my mod flower vintage sheets. The pink buttons and brown suede palms complete this pretty pair!
Neutral again…but I don’t mind gray because the right shades of gray look sooo pretty with clear colours! I applied jade green suede palms to this pair, along with the orange batik decoration. The maroon ribbed cuffs keep this pair snug on the hands.
Oooooo, purple lavender and green together! The green cuffs are cashmere as well! My redhead sister has always loved purple and green together. She freaked out when she saw this pair on Facebook. My Bostonian-transplanted-to-California aunt made fun of me for even needing mittens, but that is another story. 😀 Pearlescent buttons complete the look of these. Oh, and this pair was sold, too.
Finally, I love this green, blue, and orange pair! The colours just all seem to be in the same tone range, and they work together. I especially liked the gray-blue glossy buttons that go with the cuff colour.
From my thrifted suede collection, I cut out palms for 32 more pairs of mittens. I found a very soft and warm fleece blanket to use for more mitten linings, and I have lots of cashmere and ribbed cuffs left. So, there will be more mitten-making in my future.
Hope to see you at the NS Art & Craft Sale on the first weekend of November! I think this is my favourite show to participate in.
