It’s cold here (well, it is December!) and the gloves are on. Experience tells me that the lovely new gloves will be lost, mislaid, kicked under the sofa or left in the car (or even worse the school cloakroom) and I’m fed up of it. It costs a surprising amount for a little set of Peppa Pig or Avengers hat, scarf and gloves and I refuse to fork out for any more this winter. (I know, I could have knitted or crocheted them but, well, I just haven’t!)
MrCraft and I talked about this and recalled our childhoods, when back in the 80s our parents definitely wouldn’t have paid out for more gloves as money, on the whole, was fairly tight. (Not to mention that our gloves were most probably made by our grandma’s, who wouldn’t have been impressed!) We both remembered having mittens on strings and decided that it worked exceptionally well. (If you can forget about the hazards associated with little boys removing their gloves from their coats and lassooing their friends!)
I bought some elastic for a grand total of 80p and attached both children’s gloves to a carefully measured length before threading them through the sleeves of their coats. My daughter (who is going through the independent but incompetent phase and refuses help but gets her knickers in a knot when it goes wrong) was most impressed and has been parading around the house in her coat and mittens. My son was a little befuddled about why I was doing this to his brand new gloves, but has accepted it is for the best.
Have you ever seen the lost property box in a primary school? It’s like a graveyard for gloves, none of which have a friend. My children may look like a 1980s throwback with their elasticated gloves but at least we may still have both of them until the end of winter!
Do you have any tips or tricks (I cannot bring myself to use the term ‘life hacks’) from your childhood which you still use today? And did you have your gloves on strings? Feel free to share your awesome hints!
We make baby mittens…with strings attached. Makes total sense to me x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, so glad I’m not alone with this! x
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re not, people ask for them x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, another gloves on elastic here. When they get older, it’s one pair or blue hands. They soon learn…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent! I’m hoping that they will learn to keep track of their things, eventually…
LikeLiked by 1 person
This brought back memories. I can’t think why I didn’t do it when my kids were young.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve not seen a child with gloves on elastic in 10 years of teaching, but I have had to deal with several irate parents who wanted to know where their child’s (un named!) gloves were. Maybe they should just come already on elastic?
LikeLike
Great , practical idea 🙂
Would do it to my son’s gloves now but at 17 I think he thinks he is responsible enough…:)!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, let’s hope so. If not it’s 20p a metre in Boyes 😂 x
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I was very young I remember having these. When I got older I refused to wear gloves because I didn’t like them. I mean that’s what long sleeves and pockets are for right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, that’s true. Now I’m older I like gloves as I kind of hope they’ll stop me getting old lady hands 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve acquiesced to fingerless gloves now. I still don’t like the clumsy feeling of my fingers being covered though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have the ones with flip tops as I often end up teaching in reception class and need to work outdoors and be able to write! I do love mine, I was cross when I lost one. Maybe I need elastic too?
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had mittens on chain-stitched crocheted strings that were anchored to the coat loop in the back of the coat. So when my kids were a lot younger, I did the same and never had to worry about them going missing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a great idea, but hardly anyone does it now and I’ve no idea why!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m old-fashioned and refuse to apologize for it 🙂 What will be interesting is to see what our kids do when they become parents!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It will be interesting! I think some of my ideas are old fashioned. I love to see my kids in hand knitted clothes but I do worry what other people think (too much!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thankfully we live where people are more concerned with warmth and safety than fashion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had my mittens on strings (well… they were on wool – the same wool as the mittens were knitted from) and both daughters No.1 and No.2 in turn had there mittens/gloves on strings too. I sewed those in – just like you have, and for the exact same reasons you have too. I got sick and tired of only one mitten/glove coming home the same day they were worn, new!
Good for you Mrs. C.
More power to Mums who do it themselves, and for the reasons of saving money and sanity! (and trips to the shops for more mittens).
~ Cobs. x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mrs Cobs, good to hear I’m not alone!
LikeLiked by 1 person
adorable and I did use those as a child.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent, I’m loving the fact that they aren’t totally unheard of! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
not at all-and so convenient! even to wash!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, I’m sure I’ll need to do that soon enough too!
LikeLike
I remember that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love it, makes you wonder why people stopped doing it!
LikeLike
In the 1980s in America you could buy elastic cords with clips attached to them to sew into the gloves and mittens or even find gloves and mittens with them already attached. I remember being called a “freak” at school for having these when I was about 6 in 1982 but my mittens that my mother probably knitted in two days didn’t turn up missing! Weird, this post made me dream about it last night so here I am letting you know you’re on the right track but don’t dare call it old-fashioned. It must become modern fashion some time (please GAWD).
LikeLiked by 1 person
For all I know my kids could be setting a trend! Shame others mocked you, it’s a perfectly sensible idea. Thanks for the reassurance. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, I definitely remember doing this. Best idea ever! I bought Jude a new coat from asda last year which he’s yet to fit into, but it came with matching mittens attached to the sleeves by poppers. That’ll be interesting as he hates wearing mittens.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had an M and S one last year with mitts attached, it was really handy! (Pun not intended 😂)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Clearly common sense, I used to buy my kids several pairs the same in the hope that they would always have a pair , this is much more sensible!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They still have both gloves a month on so I’m calling it a win too! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely a winner !
LikeLiked by 1 person