Glove - Mittens

"Mitten" redirects here. For other uses, see Mitten (disambiguation).

Gloves which cover the entire hand but do not have separate finger openings or sheaths are called mittens. Generally, mittens still separate the thumb from the other four fingers. They have different colours and designs. Mittens have a higher thermal efficiency than gloves as they have a small surface area exposed to the cold.

The earliest mittens known to archeologists date to around 1000AD in Latvia. Mittens continue to be part of Latvian national costume today. Wool biodegrades quickly, so it is likely that earlier mittens, possibly in other countries, may have existed but were not preserved. An exception is the specimen found during the excavations of the Early Medieval trading town of Dorestad in the Netherlands. In the harbour area a mitten of wool was discovered dating from the 8th or early 9th century. Many people around the Arctic Circle have used mittens, including other Baltic peoples, Native Americans and Vikings. Mittens are a common sight on Ski slopes, as they not only provide extra warmth but extra protection from injury.

Idiot mittens are two mittens connected by a length of yarn, string or lace, threaded through the sleeves of a coat. This arrangement is typically provided for small children to prevent the mittens becoming discarded and lost; when removed, the mittens simply dangle from the cuffs.

Gunner's Mittens - In the 1930s, special fingerless mittens were introduced that have a flap located in the palm of the mitten so a hunter or soldier could have his finger free to fire his weapon. Originally developed for hunters in the frigid zones of the US and Canada, eventually most military organizations copied them.

Scratch mitts do not separate the thumb, and are designed to prevent babies, who do not yet have fine motor control, from scratching their faces.