Sharjah24 – AFP: Jennifer Ellis has never met Bernie Sanders but she is enjoying a taste of his celebrity as the woman behind the mittens that gave the Vermont senator his viral moment at President Joe Biden's inauguration.
Ellis, a 42-year-old elementary school teacher, lived a quiet life in the Vermont town of Essex Junction -- until Wednesday.
She was teaching class online like any other day, as Biden was being sworn in, when her phone started pinging with texts.
Not your typical hand warmers, they are made from repurposed wool sweaters and fleece made from recycled plastic bottles for the inside lining.
The ones Sanders wore are big and thick and in shades of brown and beige. And they have story behind them.
Ellis, a fan of Sanders, sent him a pair of mittens after he lost to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, as a consolation gift.
She learned through a common acquaintance that Sanders liked the mittens.
Last year, as Sanders was running again for president, Ellis learned that he was wearing the mittens -- "people were calling them his oven mitts" -- but had lent them to someone else.
That earned her a buzz of notoriety but it was nothing compared with the fuss since the inauguration, when people saw Sanders wearing the mittens.
And Sanders's overall look -- in a frumpy winter coat, his legs crossed, no glamor whatsoever -- prompted a gush of light-hearted memes.
On Friday, some websites were advertising mittens they said were identical to Ellis's creation, for $85 a pair.
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