The History of Womens Mittens

The Thousand Year Old Mittens

The oldest mittens discovered by archeologists have been found in the Latvia and are thought to be at least 1,000 years old. Because of the cold weather experienced in Northern Europe, knitting womens mittens and mittens for the rest of the family was a useful, fun and functional past time.

Although the main purpose of mittens is to keep the hands warm, they were also worn in the summer fastened under the waistband as a decorative adornment. For many centuries they were a prized gift and were thought to possess magical powers.

Today too Latvian mittens are part of the standard winter wear with the originality, tradition and warmth necessary to protect against the harsh winter elements. Many times these mittens are the source of many compliments, and a great conversation starter.

Latvian tradition required that all young women fill up a hope chest before marriage. One of the most important items to be placed in these hope chests were mittens, and sometimes the more lavish hope chests would have hundreds of pairs of hand made knitted womens mittens.

Mittens were also given to the in-laws along with others who helped organize the wedding. These mittens had special meaning, and were symbolic of where the newly wed couple would live by being knit in different patterns and with different designs. Each mitten had to be knitted in a unique and different pattern otherwise the young maidens participating in the wedding might be laughed at.

Therefore each mitten had its own unique and interesting story, and brought with it a special wish from the person knitting it. Most of the patterns used in these womens mittens came from Latvian traditions which included icons of deities and gods.

For example some of the mittens would include the symbol for the sun – Saule. Saule was the goddess of the sun and symbolized fertility. Saule was thought to live on the top of a mountain and would fly across the sky in a chariot. At night she would sail across the sea. Sometimes Saule would be imagined to be a red apple as it set in the West.

Another symbol commonly used was the cross, or Krusts. It is thought that this is the oldest symbol of all cultures, and is believed to guard, bless and bring happiness to the wearer. As a result many womens mittens were knitted with this symbol prominent amongst the decorations.

Norwegian Mittens:

Another country with a rich tradition of womens mittens is Norway. For hundreds of years the women of Norway have knitted mittens, but around 1850 Marit Emstad started a small revolution in knitting. During the summer she worked as a shepherd and would often carry a bolt of yarn around as she performed her tasks.

After some thought she decided that it would be OK to knit with two different colored yarns instead of the standard one color. As a result many great patterns were created, and the idea of knitting with more than one color of yarn caught on. Soon other women created their own style.

Norwegian women today create womens mittens in incredible detail using a variety of needles and yarns. In fact, knitting of mittens has become so popular that there are even websites for (http://www.menwhoknit.com/community/?q=node/358 ) Men Who Knit which promote and inspire the art of knitting amongst men.

In order to make proper mittens it required felt, and the best felt comes from the Northern Short Tailed Sheep family. These animals were raised by nomad tribes from the steppes of Mongolia, and came West when the Huns invaded the Slavic regions of Europe. Eventually knowledge about felt and where it came from migrated up to Finland and into neighboring Scandinavian countries thereby providing the necessary raw materials for them to make felt mittens.

Early North American Mittens

In some early texts there are references to the manufacture of “ladies” silk womens mittens in Needham, Massachusetts in the 200 year period between 1700 and 1900.

During the years of polar exploration many of the explorers wore mittens patterned after the mittens, leggings and jackets made by the Eskimos. They found these items of clothing to enable them to endure the bitter cold of the polar region. Many of these mittens were lined with fur, and were very long often times coming up to the elbow of the wearer.

In some more interesting and modern news, it seems that a very famous flyer, Charles Lindbergh, wore mittens while working as a mail route pilot. There are, in fact, some images of gloves that the Lindberghs donated to the American Museum of Natural History and that are now on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

There has been some research done to see if these gloves were, indeed, worn by Lindbergh during his flying career.

It is interesting to note that women and children seem more inclined to wear mittens than men, probably because of the expected flexibility of gloves men seem to require. But womens mittens are still in vogue, and when the weather gets cold out they come.

Today, many women who knit and crochet find mittens a suitable subject for their efforts, and carry on the traditions brought forth by the women of Scandinavia and providing for a great variety of color and pattern for womens mittens today.

While I have recently been learning how to crochet, I have knitted for a long time, although I have not taken up mittens as of yet. For the most part I crochet and knit hats for children, ranging from small lovely hats for infants as well as hats for older children.

My granddaughter and grandson love to play in the woods around our home, and when they go out in the winter they dress in their snow suits and mittens. They find the mittens keep their hands warmer than gloves, and if secured properly their hands remain warm and they can play outside in the snow for a fair bit of time.

Recently I have learned of some very special mittens with a unique feature. These beautiful mittens are lined with Thinsulate™ and are made out of fleece. They are shaped like a bear’s paw, and are very warm to wear. In addition, they make a fashion statement because I am always being asked by other women were on earth I found them.

These womens mittens are the warmest, cutest and neatest mittens I have ever had in my life, and carry on the long tradition started centuries ago in Latvia when the first mittens were made.