We all remember the Bernie mitten thing, right? Well, a friend (who I don’t think is even a Democrat) suggested I should send him some of my mittens. I felt like he had that covered, but mentioned a joke I’d seen - that he really needs a beanie that 100% doesn’t match anything else to complete the look - and joked that I could send him one.

The friend called my bluff, suggested the Vermont state flower (red clover) as a motif, and found his senate mailing address. Fine, I’ll do it! The person who suggested this was fighting cancer and this was the first time anyone had heard from her in a while; I mean, at this point I kinda had to.

I designed the thing, knit one and put it in the mail to Vermont within a week (mailed January 26). We were hoping for a response or to spot it in a media photo - didn’t get either (yet) but it’s getting cold again so who knows!

Everything used in the original was fair trade, and most of it was scavenged from local folks’ odds and ends stashes - which I figure is in the right Bernie spirit.

This pattern has been available at the local shop where people chipped in with supplies, but we decided to share it online too! I was going to upload it on the the anniversary 1/20, but accidentally created the page while doing some prep work. Oh well, you get a 15-day head start :p

The clover section does require some duplicate-stitch, sorry! Mine was made with 2 sport-weight strands held together, but you could easily make it with worsted yarn. It’s only designed that way because that’s what we found for Fair Trade stash bits.

This pattern is free to use, but please consider making a donation to my local Decorah Community Food Pantry or a food bank in your area (since Bernie supported Vermont food banks with his mitten-related merch). If you’re shopping for yarn rather than using your stash, please consider ordering from my local yarn shop (Blue Heron Knittery in Decorah IA).
Blue Heron on Ravelry
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Blue Heron online

Please wear yours to do some volunteer work!