Chester parish sells ‘Bernie Mittens’ Feb. 19-21

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 19-21, the First Universalist Parish of Chester, 211 North St. (Route 103) in Chester, will sell “Bernie Mittens” made by parish members as a fund-raiser for the church.

The sale will take place at the church at from 2 to 5 p.m. on Friday and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Please wear a mask, and parking is available.

The multi-colored, multi-patterned mittens are sewn from re-purposed wool sweaters and jackets in the style of the mittens that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wore at the presidential inauguration. The price is $45.

The mittens have been sewn from scraps of (usually) wool sweaters and coats picked up at thrift stores, lined with fleece that comes mostly from blankets, assembled into multi-colored and multi-patterned, very, very warm mittens.

Several parish members have been sewing these mittens ever since parishioner Liz MacCadie called church board chair Melody Reed excited about the idea of making and selling the mittens: “But we’ve gotta act fast,” MacCadie said. “This is a craze.”

So Reed, along with parishioners Wendy Schwarz and Barbara Windham, watched some YouTube videos, found some material, put on their masks and got to work in the church basement.

They’ve already made several dozen mittens and plan to keep on felting and cutting and sewing until the weekend of the sale.