Introducing Wool Mittens

Outdoors Articles » Winter-sports » Introducing Wool Mittens

The clothing accessory that is used to cover the hands is what we call gloves. Gloves are of different kinds, some have sheaths for individual fingers including the thumb and some have a single sheath for the fingers and one for the thumb. Mittens generally only have one opening including the thumb and cover the hand entirely.

There are gloves that are designed to be a "hybrid "glove, which is basically a cross between the glove and mitten. Gloves are used to protect the hands from the cold or when doing dangerous work such as handling toxic chemicals. Gloves are also used for protection against germs such as the ones used in hospitals or biological laboratories.

Gloves can be made by a wide range of materials depending on the need of the user. They can be made from textiles as diverse as cloth, rubber, neoprene rubber, leather; wool etc. gloves that are worn by health care professionals are usually made from latex which will be different than the type worn by construction workers which could be made from either neoprene or cloth.

Gloves have been used for centuries and there is proof of it being used since ancient Greek Roman and Chinese times. They had both gloves and mittens and it was mainly used against the cold or worn for fighting in battles. Some time later, during the 13th century to be precise gloves in Europe started to become a fashion accessory. Those early gloves were made out silk and extended all the way to the elbow.

Gloves that cover the hands but do not have separate entrances for the fingers are called mittens. Mittens are generally made out of wool. The thumb will have its own compartment. This is what distinguishes mittens from gloves. The use of mittens dates back at least a 1000 years and wool mittens are popular with men and women and children.