Wonderfully Warm Wool

When we freeze, we tense up. Is that why people living in warmer southern countries
seem to be so much more relaxed than their brothers and sisters up north…? A good
way to prevent us from spending the whole cold season – basically half the year – in
a constant state of crispation, is to dress up warmly. It seems like an elementary
fact, but it’s often neglected. As I myself am quite a frozen person I long ago realised
that I much prefer to wear the right materials and to put on an extra layer, even if
elegance has to be put aside, than to living in a cold, tensed state.
The main issue is to keep heat in and moisture out; you want to stay warm and dry.
Belonging to the “cotton generation”, I lately rediscovered the wonderfully warm wool.
For winter sports wool is perfect. First of all it retains (body) heat, and secondly
it doesn’t soak up and keep your transpiration, like cotton does. Instead wool absorbs
moisture vapour from your skin and releases it out into the drier air, so you don’t
remain wet. Having a layer of wool next to my body I don’t freeze when I make a pause
during my snowshoeing, as I would have done wearing a cotton T-shirt, that retains
humidity and quickly gets cold.
For outdoor activities the layer principle is king, and nowadays (almost) all my layers,
except the outer, wind-stopping one, are made of wool. Slowly but surely I have replaced
cotton or synthetic sweaters, cardigans, tops and even underwear with woollen ones.
The only clothing item I haven’t yet found in wool are trousers 😉 Any tips on where
to look for woollen trousers?
In the evenings, when I cuddle up on the couch, a soft woollen plaid warms me until the
fire in the chimney has developed fully, and today, everything I knit is made of wool –
except for potholders!

Knittomania