I ordered a pair of mitten/gloves – the kind where there’s fingerless gloves inside mitten tops which flip over the gloves. But what makes these mittens so funky that I’m telling you about them is: Retractable Thumbs!
The idea for thumb flaps was given to me by a customer after trying to use a pen while wearing her new convertible gloves.
With a flick of your finger you can open the thumb flap and use a pen without removing your gloves. Or pop both thumb flaps and you can text away on your cell!!
As someone who spends a good amount of time typing with her thumbs, I’m so excited about these gloves, it’s ridiculous. And since I know so many of you are thumb typers, too, I figured warm thumb typing would be a gift that keeps on giving. Or, gvng.
I’m savoring a lot of time on Etsy lately shopping for gifts, and it’s dangerous fun. Fun because, well, crap, there’s Snarky Cards and Snarky Cross Stitch (I’m a big fan of “Fuck Cancer.”) and dangerous because, crap, now I’m not going to get anything done today.
Cool. Now if anyone finds them not knit and waterproof, let me know.
Heh, I have a pair of gloves I chewed a little hole in, on the tip of the pointer finger, so I could use the touch screen on my iPod while wearing them. This seems a bit more practical. 🙂
Hey Deb is on my Etsy team! Go Deb!
Thumb flaps: great idea or greatest idea? I’m totes adding some to the pair I’m going to knit for myself. (Although Etsy is awesome—I just feel guilty spending money on stuff that I could make for myself.)
I love Etsy. I’ve already bought a few gifts including an adorable hat and a really beautiful scarf. If you need ideas for book lovers you can check out my Etsy shop: http://hideabook.etsy.com
I’ve bought lots of Christmas presents via Etsy this year and every one of them has been beyond awesome. I wish I’d seen those glove/mitten things before I bought something else for my sis. She’d really like those.
I’m accompanying a friend to the Twilight opening night in our town (I swear, I’m just being a good friend! I’ve never read the books! I won’t swoon or scream at the screen!) and I found the perfect earrings to wear on Etsy – little deep red apple-looking beads held by a shimmery wire. Love it and waste tons of time there, myself.
Heh—I started knitting a similar pair last night after walking home with freezing hands because I was trying to catch up on emails via the iPhone. So glad to see that I’m not a crazy person—just a really cold one.
I just love the Snarky Cards! good times paging through and chortling. ^_^
The “fuck cancer” stuff is great. I bought some gear for an aunt who was fighting the shit. Funny, fun, fun, fun.
Agreed, Kathy. One of my coworkers made “Fuck Cancer” buttons when her fiance’s brother died, and I love seeing the reaction of people in stores and on the street. Some give her raised eyebrow looks, but often the most conservative-appearing people will stop her and gush about the button. It’s truly cool.
Want. Gloves.
I got a pair of those thumb-flippable mittens a few years back. They’re a great idea, but the thumbs don’t like to stay flipped closed, and it’s nearly impossible to flip them closed if they come open while you’ve got both gloves on. The pair i have, however, are so wonderful—rainbow, and lined with bright yellow fleece in the hand parts and the mitten flap—that I’m sort of glad it’s cold enough to get them out again.
The Snarky Cross Stitch—I’m hoping that person has permission to sell those, because every one of those are Subversive Cross Stitch patterns and are identical to that site’s samples down to the glass-less gold frames they’re in. I mean, the same exact frame on each one.
I’m assuming that the store did get permission, of course (though the identical photos are weird, I admit)—but for anyone else who noticed this, as a crafty type myself who’s considered making things to sell, be aware that buying a pattern does NOT give you the rights to sell what you make with that pattern. Always ask the pattern maker if you can sell what you make. Most small pattern makers will be happy to negotiate rights with you.
http://subversivecrossstitch.com/kits/fuckcancer.html
Aha, I had not clicked far enough through the Etsy store.
“Julie Jackson at Subversive Cross Stitch was lovely enough to allow me to use her patters.
*note* frame in photo not necessarily the frame your gift will arrive in. “
And there we are! Happy ending. She does indeed have permission. Huzzah! (I hate when things like that go badly.)
Cute…but I will contend that these are the best mittens eva:
http://www.smittens.biz/Smittens/What_are_Smittens.html
Mittens for lovers!
I tried to give them to my then boyfriend last year for Christmas, but he said he would cut off his arms if he found them anywhere near his hands. Sigh, no romance.
Now lined with fleece I would like. Even totally made out of fleece.
I am not big on a lot of knitted stuff- that’s just me. My bff knits like crazy and finally found something I do love- dishcloths. They are soo much better than any sponge or store bought cloth. and quick cnd cheap to make.
My mom bought them for me several years ago at a little shop that mostly sells sweaters imported from some South American collective. They had all kinds of gloves and mittens and things, some lined and some not.
The lined in fleece is really important, I’ve found, as winters can get pretty bitter up here (I’m in upstate New York and we’ve suddenly transitioned, this week, from 60-degree Indian Summer to 25 and snowing). But the thumb cap part isn’t fleece-lined, so I still get chilly even when I’m not txting.
Still, it’s better than taking everything off to txt or play with my iPod—brrr!
My little sister had a similar pair. A close friend of hers, while she was an undergrad at Cornell (in Ithaca, NY, so think steep hills, ice storms, and bitter winds!), had a pair without the thumb cover. He learned how to light a Bic lighter without his thumbs. Not an easy trick!!
You who can knit mittens have my total respect. Everything I crochet had better be designed to have right-angles and be flat.
I did get one of those cool hat-looms, and made everything from doll hats to a big horking dark gray toque for my husband.
Mittens? No, mon, not me.
Those mitts are for sale all over Canada. We have them in leather, wool, microfleece, name it we can get it. Most of them are lined with “thinsulate” which keeps the heat in.
Right now there are four pairs by my front door.
Speaking of cool gift ideas, I found one that will work for the DH, the MIL, my mom and the sitter…all in one.
Photo mosaics
Now if they show up half as cool as they look online…
I think I may have to get a pair – the magical words “custom made” are what got me. I bought mittens like this once…and the half gloves completely covered my pinkie and left at most my nail exposed on the other fingers. The thumb was a hole instead of a flap, but the whole was above where my thumb reached too.
Nothing like having adult width hands with kids length fingers. I mostly end up with the really cheap stretchy gloves they make for kids, so actually having a pair of these that fit me? -swoon-
There is something wonderfully prosaic about giving gifts from Etsy. What a fabulous idea.
You must be farther upstate than I am. We just have the bitter cold, mom has all the snow in the Syr/Oswego area. Better them than us!!
If I looked here, I could probably find them. Do you know the brand names on the ones with the thinsulate lining? I wonder what a google search would turn up.
going hunting.