Winters growing up in New Brunswick were 10 months long, I know they were. The many exotic yarns and yarn blends were not alive in that era. But at the local grocery store Briggs and Little Yarns were displayed outside the produce section, where as a teenager I worked after school. Briggs and Little Yarn was extremely exotic to me and I imagined the colourful 100% wool colour combinations and projects in my mind.

My mother told the story of my grandmother sitting by the wood stove knitting a bulky warm pair of mittens if one of her kids were headed off to school barehanded. Later for us kids, Mom would commonly pull apart unused or outgrown sweaters and socks to knit mitts for the five of us.

A box of mitts was by the door where my sisters, brother and I would select a pair before heading out into the giant snowdrifts. The mittens were warm but scratchy, sometimes we doubled the layers. Snow stuck to the wool, great to push off toboggans, but not the best for snowballs and snowman construction. The mitts were quickly thrown off, at times not found until spring!

For the wet mitts that found their way back home after school they were dryish by morning where it started again the next day. Wet wool has a distinctive smell but always just as warm as the dry pairs of mittens. They would only be dry for a minute anyway! Unfortunately for my mother, in the spring many pairs were singles.

Not always but for some of our mittens or a problem child, Mom would attach a string connecting one hand-knit mitten to the other through the sleeves of our winter coats.
Here's to warm hands