During the 1960s while working in Newfoundland, Helen Devereux came across this pair of knitted trigger mittens or “tumgluttons” on a deserted piece of land. She picked them up and kept them for over 40 years before offering them to the Textile Museum of Canada.
Sheep were raised in many parts of Newfoundland, and women often spun wool and knitted garments, including this type of mittens for their families. They are a cross between a mitt and a glove, constructed with a separate compartment for the index finger in addition to the usual thumb and remaining fingers. They were used by men while fishing or sealing, and allowed the movement of a glove with much of the warmth of a mitt. A man would wear out a pair in a single winter, so very few have survived.