This morning, the Old Sturbridge Village weekly newsletter contained a quirky article involving, of all things, mitten symbolism. Rather than paraphrase, I’m posting it verbatim.
Slang and figures of speech change over time and from place to place. The phrase “sending someone the mitten” meant to break up with them or to reject a proposal. The Old Sturbridge Village Museum Collection contains an assortment of mittens, including the unique, miniature mitten shown below. As you can see, it measures only 1 ½ inches long! According to the donor, this mitten was sent by Admah Edgecombe of Bethel, ME to her fiancé, Charles Poole of Woburn, MA to break off their engagement. Despite this, they later married in 1857 and had three children. Whether or not this story is true, the mitten demonstrates incredible knitting technique, especially in the thumb gusset construction.
I’ve been knitting and felting many pairs of mittens this winter. What have you been working on?
Dances with Wools 
Reblogged this on Janet's Thread 2 and commented:
Anyone have any spare mittens?
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Love the little mitten! I wonder if it was knit with roving, and that’s why the cuff is fluffy.
I was there in 2014, and was pleased to notice the general store had needle protectors, just like I had in my own knitting bag to keep the stitches on the needles. Of course, theirs were prettier than mine!
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I have not come across the phrase “sending someone the mitten”. This might be that mittens are not worn here very often for our winters seldom call for such protection from the cold. This is nonetheless a fascinating story! I am knitting squares to make blankets for two of my grandchildren 🙂
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