Winners of the Nashoba Valley Knitters Guild mitten contest show off their entries. From left to right are Lynn Cooke (seated), Harvard; Fran Meyer, Littleton; Sheilah Johnson, Leominster; and; Barbara Meyer (seated), Harvard. (Courtesy Photo)
A colorful field of 14 different pairs of mittens was entered for competition at the January meeting of the Nashoba Valley Knitters’ Guild, with five pairs chosen as winners in the same number of categories. There was general agreement among the membership that it was hard to pick just five, said guild President Barbara Meyer. “All were that great,” she said.
The winner of the “most unusual” category was Harvard resident Lynn Cooke, for a pair of colorful elbow-length gauntlet mittens. Meyer herself won in the category of “most colorful,” for a pair of mitered-squares mittens from an unusual yarn. Sheilah Johnson took home the prize for the “most practical” pair of mittens, knitted in a fingerless style. The “most original” designation went to Michele Fahey, who made a pair of frog mittens for her son to match a sweater she knitted last year. “Best in show,” the top prize, went to Fran Meyers for a pair of blue-and-white Scandinavian-style mittens. These same mittens also took home “best in show” from the 2006 Bolton Fair. Winners of the contest received gift certificates to Harvard’s own Fiber Loft or The World in Stitches in Littleton.
