Are you watching the inauguration? Did you happen to see Senator Bernie Sanders wearing a pair of knit mittens? Because we did, and we’re obsessed with their very adorable backstory.
First, just look at Bernie arriving at Joe Biden’s inauguration with his mittens:
BuzzFeed reporter Ruby Cramer tweeted that Bernie’s mittens were made by a Vermont teacher named Jen Ellis, who made them for the Jewish senator over two years ago, and is surprised to see that he still wears them.
Bernie’s mittens are made by Jen Ellis, a teacher from Essex Junction, Vt. She gave them to him 2+ years ago and was surprised when he began wearing them on the campaign trail. They are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles. pic.twitter.com/ErLr29lY2t
— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) January 20, 2021
good morning to bernie's mittens especially pic.twitter.com/dxmkFvg9N1
— rachel syme (@rachsyme) January 20, 2021
The pose. The mittens. The social distance. pic.twitter.com/kwHH7AzZY8
— Vulture (@vulture) January 20, 2021
Ellis tweeted a picture of all the mittens she made — from repurposed wool sweaters, lined with recycled fleece! — with the very adorable hashtag #BerniesMittens:
I made Bernie’s mittens as a gift a couple years ago. They are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece (made from recycled plastic bottles). #BerniesMittens pic.twitter.com/lTXFJvVy9V
— Jen Ellis (@vtawesomeness) January 21, 2020
So how did the mittens make their way to Bernie? Ellis makes mittens at craft fairs and gives them to her friends. Bernie’s daughter-in-law Liza runs Ellis’ daughter’s daycare, so one holiday, Ellis made mittens for Bernie. “I just put in a little note that was like, ‘I believe in you, I’ve always believed in you and I hope you run again,'” Ellis said in January 2020. “And now he is running again, and he apparently is wearing the mittens that I made for him!”
The mittens first went viral last January at the Women’s March in New Hampshire. As Sasha Goldstein reported in Seven Days, “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is known for his frumpy and unkempt attire. His latest sartorial choice, mittens he wore during the Women’s March on Saturday in Portsmouth, N.H., certainly made an impression. The oversize mittens, called ‘oven mitts’ by some, went viral online and soon had their own @BerniesMittens Twitter account.”
Yes, really:
We love you too!! #Inauguration2021
— BerniesMittens (@BerniesMittens) January 20, 2021
And now, a series of very good tweets about Bernie and his mittens:
In Jewish yoga this pose is: waiting for my wife at Loehmann's pic.twitter.com/Qik7wsZ0ad
— Chandra Steele (@ChanSteele) January 20, 2021
my poppy in the auditorium of my school as we do our "grandparents and special friends day" songs wanting to leave early so we don't have to beat out the rest of these shmucks for a seat at the deli pic.twitter.com/Lxr94O0Znz
— Rebecca Caplan (@NotThatReba) January 20, 2021
Out on the town having the time of my life with a bunch of friends pic.twitter.com/Qu7UpVTKgQ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 20, 2021
Every US inauguration gets the fashion icon it deserves. pic.twitter.com/VZE4mKUw6R
— Rahawa Haile (@RahawaHaile) January 20, 2021
me when it's time to go to events again after over a year getting used to not doing a single thing pic.twitter.com/gnShZz1vNr
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) January 20, 2021
when you're at a shiva for a guy you didn't like pic.twitter.com/Qy5vOQdiqM
— Kairotic Neutral (@AriBrostoff) January 20, 2021
“are you wearing the in-“
“the inauguration day mittens? yeah, i am” pic.twitter.com/dHEEDGD6Aj— Leah Stodart (@notleah) January 20, 2021
We love you very much, Bernie’s mittens.
