Press Start to Begin, Lost Mitten

Introducing Lost Mitten, an immensely popular Etsy shop in which you can find these Kawaii Cute Lucky Cat and Seal - Maneki Neko (at left) and not to leave out Afro Ken Dog San-X Buttons - Set of 4 Pinback One Inch Buttons from Japanese Kawaii. "Since the 1970s, cuteness (可愛さ, kawais a?) has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms." (From Wikipedia.)Cuteness is extremely popular in Japan, and obviously Lost Mitten's Kawaii pinback buttons are certainly adorable.

I have found reference in earlier blogs in the 90-Day Challenge to the perler bead items, of which there were portable notepads, coaster sets, cassette card holders, blocks featuring Nintendo's Super Mario characters, and more. However, sales have been brisk and these have all flown out of Lost Mitten's shop. I can imagine Lauren, the owner, is hard at work creating more of these unique and delightful creations.


Lauren and her fiance, Paul (lucky for them) are both enthusiastic gamers living in Ontario, Canada, and her shop reflects this passion with themed items from the various games everywhere. Whether it's anime or Wii or DS, the characters are reflected in original designs by Lauren in this shop. There are also buttons made in Chiyogami Yuzen and Japanese Washi Paper to wear on your sweaters and scarves. Chiyogami comes from the Japanese root words Chio which means thousand generations and gami which is paper. These designs were created in the Edo period as woodblock prints reflecting the beautiful kimono patterns in Japanese culture. And, how cute is it that these buttons, and all the others in the shop are attached to a card shaped like a mitten!

It's a natural that there are also crocheted and knitted items in this shop. There are nifty, long scarves and a warm looking poncho. Lost Mitten can be found at http://lostmitten.etsy.com/ or on her website and blog at http://blog.lostmitten.org/

In a shop called Lost Mitten, there are no mittens. I don't know what the story behind this is. Maybe their mittens are, afterall, actually lost?

Anyway I hope you will browse Lauren's shop and check out her blog, and enjoy what you discover about games and buttons and while you're there sometime, look for the lost mittens.