DeForest Lake Designs

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DeForest Lake Designs DeForest Lake Designs creates handmade wool mittens from sweaters, lines them with fleece and adorns them with buttons or appliques.

Mittens are sold online at www.DeForestLakeDesigns.com or at holiday shows. DeForest Lake mittens are made by hand, by me. It starts with hunting for the most suitable sweaters – ones looking for a second chance. Like a rescue pet, they come home, have a good bath, a fluffing and grooming. They are then ready for a new happy life! I carefully cut my mitten patterns to get the most use of each sweater with the least waste from both the sweaters and new fleece lining. All pieces are then sewn together. Like having a new pet, we look at each other, and the finished mittens tell me what their appliques and new names should be. I cut the applique pieces from fleece to create images and hand stitch them to give the mittens their story. All mittens are 100% wool, except as noted, and are lined with new poly fleece. Also, unless noted, all mittens are an average size for women. Many hours are spent to get to the finished product. I hope you enjoy wearing them as much as I do making them! Valerie
DeForest Lake Designs

Deforest Lake Designs is an a vendor at the Salisbury Artisan Market today!
10/10/2026

Deforest Lake Designs is an a vendor at the Salisbury Artisan Market today!

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of a cardigan sweater that needed to be mittens. I made three pairs of mittens from th...
02/22/2026

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of a cardigan sweater that needed to be mittens. I made three pairs of mittens from this cardigan with purple, pink and gray palms. These Multi Fiber Purple Pink mittens are part mohair, silk, acrylic, rayon & poly on the fronts, 100% wool palms and new, gray fleece linings. You can browse these and my other mitten designs in my online shop at https://deforestlakedesigns.com/shop/

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of a cashmere hoodie sweater that I was going to make into mittens after I soaked it in...
02/21/2026

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of a cashmere hoodie sweater that I was going to make into mittens after I soaked it in water with some hair conditioner to relax the fibers. It did not come back to normal in size, but it did grow a bit. These Chartreuse Diagonal Cable #367 mittens are a very bright neon chartreuse with diagonal cable and turquoise, new fleece lining. I made a second pair of mittens from this hoodie sweater, and they have a vertical cable & purple, new fleece lining. They are posted separately in my online Shop as Chartreuse Vertical Cable #366.
You can browse these and my other mitten designs in my online shop at https://deforestlakedesigns.com/shop/

Happy Groundhog's Day!What happened to the January thaw? Lots of snow here in CT, but it is beautiful. One day recently ...
02/02/2026

Happy Groundhog's Day!
What happened to the January thaw? Lots of snow here in CT, but it is beautiful. One day recently when I could get out, I did a marathon of thrift store shopping in lower Fairfield County for sweaters, scarves and a couple of boiled wool jackets. that will be repurposed for mittens. Here are photos of a couple of the sweaters I found. The neon chartreuse sweater is a vibrant color suitable for wearing if you worked at an airport or at a school bus stop! It was a very shrunken hoodie made of wool & cashmere. I was able to stretch it a bit after soaking overnight in water and a dollop of hair conditioner. I stretched it as it dried. The purple floral mixed fiber cardigan needs a new life, so there will be mittens posted soon on my website and this FB Page.
Stay warm,
Valerie

Wednesday, Dec 17th is the deadline to mail packages by USPS Ground Advantage and First Class Mail for delivery by Chris...
12/17/2025

Wednesday, Dec 17th is the deadline to mail packages by USPS Ground Advantage and First Class Mail for delivery by Christmas. We will make every effort to package every mitten order before the Post Office closes at 5 PM. Also, remember to add your own name to the bottom of your shopping list! Check out the Giraffe mittens in my online store at https://deforestlakedesigns.com/

Sometimes, I'll be in the mood to sew an applique on mittens. Instead of starting from scratch and spending 4 hours mak...
12/16/2025

Sometimes, I'll be in the mood to sew an applique on mittens. Instead of starting from scratch and spending 4 hours making the mittens before I can begin the applique work, I will select a mitten from my non-appliqued inventory to be my "canvass." In this case, I had made three pairs of mittens from a purple L.L. Bean wool sweater and lined them with new, white fleece. One pair had sold, so I decided to stitch a polar bear and pines on another pair. You can browse these and my other mitten designs in my online shop at https://deforestlakedesigns.com/

Red cable wool mittens with fleece applique of a bear peeking out from the pines. The mittens are lined with new fleece...
12/15/2025

Red cable wool mittens with fleece applique of a bear peeking out from the pines. The mittens are lined with new fleece. You can browse these and my other mitten designs in my online shop at https://deforestlakedesigns.com/shop/

Yesterday , I was a vendor at the Salisbury Handmade artisan show in northwestern CT. I sold more than a dozen pairs of ...
12/14/2025

Yesterday , I was a vendor at the Salisbury Handmade artisan show in northwestern CT. I sold more than a dozen pairs of mittens. I loved that 4 past customers visited my booth to show me the DeForest Lake Designs mittens that they bought years ago.

You can browse the mittens in my online store at www.deforestlakedesigns.com and click on “Let’s Shop.”

Stay warm,
Valerie

Today, I added 30 pairs of mittens to my online Shop. You can browse my latest designs at www.deforestlakedesigns.com a...
12/11/2025

Today, I added 30 pairs of mittens to my online Shop. You can browse my latest designs at www.deforestlakedesigns.com and then click on “Let’s Shop”.

Happy Holiday Season! Hope you all are well and in the thick of preparing for the month ahead. We have been busy as you ...
11/28/2025

Happy Holiday Season! Hope you all are well and in the thick of preparing for the month ahead. We have been busy as you are, too. In October, we were an artisan vendor in the 2-day outdoor Salisbury CT Handmade Fall Show at the White Hart Inn and had a great show. It’s always a really lovely event, and such nice people attend – both as shoppers and as artisans. We will set-up again at the White Hart Inn on Saturday December 13th for an indoor holiday show with the Salisbury Artisans from 10 AM to 5 PM. Come see us if you are in the area. In the meantime, I’m still sewing. Visit the Deforest Lake Designs website to see the mittens that I have been making for this season. www.deforestlakedesigns.com
Keep warm,
Valerie

Address

Bethel, CT
06801

Telephone

+12032411658

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