Sweater Mittens: Recycling for Warmth

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

The idea of repurposing a sweater for a pair of mittens may seem unusual but take one look at the beautiful handmade mittens from Linda’s Repurposed Sweater Mittens and you will covet the products.

Linda Gadwah of Plymouth, New Hampshire has always been a creative crafter, a certain type of person who sees the possibilities and creativity in everyday things such as a colorful sweater. Linda enjoys making things.

Thus, when her daughter bought a pair of sweater mittens eight years ago, Linda was intrigued. “It was when the mittens had first come into existence,” she recalls. “I loved them, and I was determined to learn to make them.” 

Linda took the mittens apart in order to study how they were made, and although it took some observing, she eventually figured out how they were made from a sweater. With trial and error, Linda began to make sweater mittens.

She stresses that the mittens are ideal for those people who are taking a walk on a cold autumn or winter’s afternoon and are very attracted to the patterns of colorful sweaters.

Having done many sewing projects in the past, figuring out how to make the sweater mittens was a bit easier for Linda. She says the best and longest lasting sweater mittens are made from a highly durable sweater such as one from LL Bean or a handknit sweater. These sweaters are well made and will stand up to being cut and put back together into a mitten. 

“I don’t use sweaters that are too bulky,” Linda says, “because they are hard on my sewing machine. I have always done simple sewing projects in the past, and I liked to crotchet.”

Linda haunts thrift shops to find the right (and most durable) sweaters for her mittens, and she is particular about using wool sweaters. “I try to come home from thrift shops with good, patterned sweaters. I always wash the sweaters first because they shrink a bit. I can get three pairs of mittens from a sweater, and I use the cuffs off the sweater’s sleeves and waistband for pairs of mittens.”

Linda explains that a pattern consists of three pieces and that her finished mittens have a polished, boutique-type look. Her mitten colors match and she adds the embellishment of a button on each pair of mittens, which is her signature visual. “My sweaters mittens don’t unravel, and I want them to last,” she stresses.

After Linda took apart some sweater mittens and learned how to make them, she had many pairs of mittens but had to ask herself, “Now what?” What could she do with all the sweater mittens that she had made?

Luckily, the public loved Linda’s mittens and clamored to order and purchase them. Linda says she’s made thousands of sweater mittens and she decided to take them to Off the Hanger in Plymouth to see if she could sell them. The reception was great, and this gave her confidence to continue and to also seek out other locations where she could sell her sweater mittens.

The unusual sweater mittens were unique and made from beautiful sweaters and were an eye-catching and immediate hit with customers. As she sought out more locations to sell the mittens, Linda says her confidence only grew. The business is seasonal and in her best winter, Linda sold 40 dozen pair of sweater mittens.

She says as with many things, it has become more difficult to find sweaters in secondhand stores for her mittens, but she enjoys the hunt to find the best sweaters she can possibly locate for the mittens. 

Linda describes the sweater mittens as having two layers: the outer layer is wool taken from a thrift store sweater. The inner layer is fleece. “I buy new fleece,” she explains, “and I have fun picking out just the right button for the mitten’s sleeve. I buy buttons off eBay; I like to buy metal buttons because they look ‘antiquey’.”

The process from start to finish of making a sweater mitten is first going to a thrift shop and finding a sweater in the pattern and color or colors that Linda likes. She always washes the sweater first, so it shrinks a bit. Then she sews the mittens together and finishes them with a metal button.

One of the nice things about Linda’s sweater mittens are the memory mittens she sometimes makes. She had a sweater that once belonged to her mother, and the year before her mom died, Linda made three pairs of mittens for family members from the sweater. The idea caught on and others have asked Linda to make mittens from a beloved family member’s sweater.

The mittens come in one size only and Linda makes them just for women. She admits she could expand her list to include other sizes and men’s mittens as well, but she is comfortable with the work load she already has.

Now retired from a career in insurance, Linda enjoys making the sweater mittens, but wants to have time for other things once springtime arrives. “And it has certainly become challenging finding good wool sweaters; I like to use wool,” she stresses. “LL Bean makes good wool sweaters and I like Nordic patterns, but I can use a variety of colors for the mitten’s lining.”

In the summers, Linda begins to sew mittens for September sales, and on into the late fall and winter. People love the mittens for keeping their hands warm when they take a walk on a cold day.

She says Bernie Sanders iconic political figure with his warm mittens certainly brought back the popularity of mittens and gave things a boost as well!

If the mittens need washing, she says you can simply hand wash them and lay them flat to dry or wash them and put them in the dryer instead. Either way will get the mittens clean.

It takes Linda about an hour to make a pair of sweater mittens, and with the shortage of wool sweaters, she sometimes uses wool jackets to make a pair of mittens. “I just love to find a patterned sweater, and I love to make a sweater into mittens,” she adds.

One event Linda and her family look forward to is the Rumney Old Home Day, where she sells her sweater mittens. She loves to see people’s reactions to the sweater mittens, and it offers her a good location to sell mittens. Because the Old Home Day takes place in August, the upcoming cooler weather is on everyone’s minds, and it offers a great place to sell mittens.

Planning for the future, Linda has started to make sweater pillows. “I made some pillows with sweaters, and I took them to the Country Store at the Tanger Outlet. They loved them!”

With a future goal to make a dozen mittens a week, Linda is always ready for her next big adventure. 

Those who want to purchase Linda’s sweater mittens can find products at Moulton Farm in Meredith; Squam Marketplace in Holderness; Off the Hanger on Main Street in Plymouth; the Common Man in Plymouth and Claremont and the Sugar Shack in Thornton. To contact Linda, email lgadwah@hotmail.com.