Knitting one-of-a-kind gloves warms the hands and the heart
Michelle Strehl didn色视频下载檛 wait long for her first customer. While on winter break in 2013, the UAF student decided to knit gloves for people like herself whose hands have unique shapes.
Three days later, she met a bank manager while visiting family in Oregon.
色视频下载淚 shake his hand and he turns it over and he色视频下载檚 like, 色视频下载極h, it looks like we have something in common.色视频下载 It was the same two fingers that I have trouble on. So I made him a pair of gloves,色视频下载 she recalled. 色视频下载淗e was my first customer, and then it just sort of grew from there.色视频下载
Strehl, who graduated with a degree in in May 2015, created Mitts That Fit as a start-up business. She and other knitters have produced more than 50 pairs of customized gloves, and she has plans now to reorganize and greatly expand the enterprise as a nonprofit corporation.
色视频下载淚 think it could be a lot bigger than it is now,色视频下载 she said during an interview in April.
Strehl credits her uncle, Michael Kelly, for the idea. She was knitting her first-ever pair of gloves two years ago when her uncle made a blunt observation.
色视频下载淚 was knitting two extra fingers that I didn色视频下载檛 need and he was like, 色视频下载榃hy?色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪 Strehl said.
A few weeks later, Strehl finished her first customized gloves without the two fingers. She was ecstatic. 色视频下载溕悠迪略貥Oh my gosh, these are so cool,色视频下载櫳悠迪略貦色视频下载 she remembered thinking. 色视频下载淚 can do things without these extra fingers flopping around.色视频下载
Kelly suggested she knit more for other people.
色视频下载淚 was like, 色视频下载榊es, that would be so much fun,色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪 she said.
An accident when Strehl was 4 years old reshaped her right hand and took the two larger fingers.
Her father ran an arcade business and had a pickup with a lift gate to move the game machines.
色视频下载淚 was standing there with my hands in my pockets riding up with a game so we could push it into the back of the truck, and my jacket caught and got pulled into the gears,色视频下载 Strehl said. 色视频下载淧eople say you forget those horrific times. I remember every second.色视频下载
While she hated the physical and mental trials that the injury created for her and her family, today she believes they made her a more compassionate person and a harder worker.
Now that Strehl has graduated from UAF, she plans to put those talents to work in her new business. She is working at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge this summer and expects to have more time for Mitts That Fit in the fall. Conveniently, that色视频下载檚 when demand for gloves increases.
Strehl色视频下载檚 longtime friend, Claire Ashmead, will continue to work with her. Ashmead also graduated from UAF with a foreign languages degree in May and has moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 mostly done electronically,色视频下载 Ashmead said of communications with customers and between knitters, 色视频下载渟o being in the same place is not a requirement at all.色视频下载
Strehl and Ashmead met as children in Fairbanks through a network of people involved with teaching in the Waldorf School色视频下载檚 style. The method emphasizes working with one色视频下载檚 hands, so the curriculum in first grade introduces knitting.
Producing a custom glove for a person with a unique hand who lives on the other side of the Earth requires an ability to see and create unusual, three-dimensional shapes, Strehl and Ashmead said. Orders to Mitts That Fit come with photographs, drawings and sometimes long written descriptions.
色视频下载淵ou have to be able to see this and knit something from it. We色视频下载檙e not going to be able to give you 色视频下载榢nit three, pearl three.色视频下载 There色视频下载檚 really no pattern that we can actually follow,色视频下载 Strehl said.
色视频下载淭hat色视频下载檚 the whole point,色视频下载 Ashmead added.
While knitting a recent pair of gloves, Ashmead said, 色视频下载淚 had to just kind of try something and was like, 色视频下载楾hat doesn色视频下载檛 work,色视频下载 so I色视频下载檇 take it out and try it again.色视频下载
色视频下载淚t can get really frustrating like that,色视频下载 Strehl added.
The rewards justify the frustration.
色视频下载淢ost of our customers are children. So their parents will order for them, and we get the coolest stories back from them,色视频下载 Strehl said.
Some customers, like Strehl, have been injured. Others have Poland syndrome, where one hand might be smaller than the other and sometimes missing digits. Others have ectrodactyly, which often causes clefts and missing digits.
色视频下载淲e色视频下载檝e seen some incredibly unique hands,色视频下载 Strehl said.
Strehl decided to remake her fledgling business as a nonprofit operation after she offered to knit gloves for free beginning in February. Orders spiked. She realized that many people around the world couldn色视频下载檛 afford her gloves, even at the very modest prices she had set.
色视频下载淎fter that I was just like, 色视频下载榊ou know what, if I need to get a job to support this, that色视频下载檚 fine,色视频下载 because I色视频下载檇 rather be able to help these people who are probably going through a really hard time,色视频下载 she said.
That doesn色视频下载檛 mean she wants to keep her idea small. She has been studying nonprofit business operations and looking at ways to expand.
色视频下载淲e had several yarn companies approach us already, saying once you色视频下载檝e got your 501(c)(3) [nonprofit tax-deductible status], come talk to us, we色视频下载檒l give you donations, we色视频下载檒l back you guys,色视频下载 she said.
Social media has drawn interest and orders from around the world.
色视频下载淲e have a lot of people who follow us randomly from the Australia area. I色视频下载檓 not sure how that happened, but there is a large group of them,色视频下载 Strehl said.
See more about Mitts That Fit online at or follow the business on Facebook, .