WoolWeenies Club

[OakLeaf]

I shrank my favorite Dohm hat. I accidentally threw it into the warm water wash.

[PinkPeddles]

The Twelve Principles of WoolWeenies:*

1. We admitted we were powerless over wool.

2. Came to believe that wool could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of wool as we understood it.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our wardrobe.

5. Admitted to WoolWeenies, to ourselves, and to another TE members the exact nature of our wool needs.

6. Were entirely ready to have wool remove all our defects of layering.

7. Humbly asked wool to remove our polyester odor annoyances.

8. Made a list of all wool items we had ripped, and became willing to mend them all.

9. Made direct mends to such wool items wherever possible, except when to do so would fray them further.

10. Continued to take wardobe inventory and when we were running low promptly bought more wool.

11. Sought through websearches and discounts to improve our conscious contact with wool, as we understood it, seeking only knowledge of wool's will for us and the budget to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of wearing wool, we tried to carry this message to other woolweenies, and to wear wool in all our activities.




*(with apologies and a respectful nod to AA...)

This list might be the most amazing thing ever created. I already have sent it to the printer to show to all of my girlfriends when we meet up for our ride in the morning. WoolWeenies Reign Supreme!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

This list might be the most amazing thing ever created. I already have sent it to the printer to show to all of my girlfriends when we meet up for our ride in the morning. WoolWeenies Reign Supreme!

Wow, glad to know folks are still reading it...thanks!

(wearing lots of WOOL right this very minute!) lol!

[Cataboo]

A friend of mine gave me this massage bar from Lush, that covered me in sparkles. Which was somewhat irritating, but I tried it. It then covered the clothes I was wearing in sparkles....

Then it covered all the clothes that were being washed with the clothes I was wearing with sparkles.

I'm not going to mention how much wool was in that load, wool which doesn't go into the dryer and so the sparkles stay on.

And something in the load leached red or pink (washed on cold), which then dyed my natural bone and brown icebreaker sweater pink and brown. Which I'd be horrified by, but really, the pink and brown looks better than the bone and brown ever did.

Possibly someone else should do my laundry for me.

[Crankin]

I've always said sparkles multiply like those Little People from the Fisher-Price Play Mobil sets.
Anyway, my question sort of has to do with wool, but not entirely. I thought this might be the right place to ask, though.
Since the advent of the x country ski season, I have been having issues feeling damp during my skis. And you don't want to be damp when it's 15 degrees out. I vary my base layers between Craft LS base layers, which are tight and often cause me to overheat on the bike, or Smart Wool very thin base layers. My mid layer is either fleece or wool. I have a Go-Lite jacket that is great. I can't do a wool base layer with a wool mid layer. I am having enough trouble with wool lately, causing itching, even the merino sports stuff I have. That doesn't seem to be as bad as the merino "regular" sweaters I have, which don't seem so merino-like to me.
I did an experiment Monday, wearing a wool base layer and a fleece mid layer. It was really cold out and I still felt damp, even with the wool. The base layer was not wet when I got home, but I didn't notice much of a difference. Putting it politely, I sweat. A lot. But, I hate being cold in the beginning of a ski and I think i might be overdressing... especially the mid layer. Should I bite the bullet and try a thinner mid layer, or can someone recommend a better base layer? I have found that on the bike, I have been needing less clothing in the cold, but at a certain point, I felt chilled when I tried dressing the way I see others dress (when it got in the 30's), mostly due to the sweating issue. I can't even wear my sunglasses when I ski, as I sweat so much, they fog up instantly. I've tried everything for that, too.
Help.

[PamNY]

This list might be the most amazing thing ever created. I already have sent it to the printer to show to all of my girlfriends when we meet up for our ride in the morning. WoolWeenies Reign Supreme!

And to think I was debating not buying the wool tights that are on sale at an offprice store near me. This list saved me from a grievous error.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Crankin,
Normally I'd recommend wearing ONLY wool layers to increase the ventilation, but you are irritated by the wool against your skin, so this is a dilemma.
Wool breathes, which cuts down on the sweating and dampness, yet wool still keeps you warm whether it's damp or dry.

Whatever you can do to increase ventilation will keep you drier. I think it's the damp sweatiness that is making you feel cold. Increase the air circulation and you will feel warmer even if you are not adding layers. Thus, in theory at least, if you remove one of the ventilation-stopping layers, or substitute wool for it, you will hopefully stay drier and thus feel warmer. I feel warm and dry when i wear only minimal layers of just wool- even when I feel the cool breeze coming through the wool fabric i don't feel chilled- and for me that's pretty amazing.
Maybe a layer of silk base layer next to your skin, and then soft merino layers or felted wool jacket on top of it?
That's all I can think of, sorry!

P.S. Cataboo- still chuckling over the sparkle/glitter debacle. Yikes!

[Crankin]

Increasing the ventilation makes sense. I think I am going to try and use only the Smart wool base layers for this week and see, as well as stick to thinner mid layers. I was wearing a very plush Terry fleece jersey as my mid layer when I experimented with the wool base on Monday. I think that one is just too thick and it promotes sweating. My jacket has sleeves that come off, so I could unzip a little, using the detachable sleeves like pit zips. That helps when cycling. I just get freaked out by hypothermia... probably listened too well when I went for my AMC leadership training. I am not shivering, but there's a lot of varying levels of exertion when I ski, which seems to affect me in the sweating department more than when I ride. And, there's, more stopping, at least for me, since I use a waist pack for my water, as I hated skiing with a Camelbak (and the fact that even the winter hose on that froze). And, it's when I am stopped, even for just a minute or so, that I feel damp. I also just ordered a merino hat. Right now I wear a fleece hat when it's 20+ and a wool hat with a fleece lining when it's below that, which keeps me warm, but that hat is really heavy.
Will report back after next weekend.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I get about 10 times hotter and sweatier when I snowshoe than when I bike in the cold. I'm moving a lot more and there's less generated wind!
I find polarfleece to be warm and soft, but I also think it makes me sweatier- I can't feel the air circulating through it like I can with wool, even when the thicknesses seem similar.

[jessmarimba]

Sort of wool-related but also sewing related:

I bought a merino dress at the thrift store today. It's a thin sweater/thicker-than-shirts knit. The length is kind of dorky for me and the dress could stand to be 3-4 inches shorter. I figured I'd take the chance b/c it was only $5, but does anyone know if it can really be cut and hemmed? I have no problem binding off the bottom with something...but I've never tried a project like this with a sweater material before.

[Cataboo]

I'd second Bleecker street girl on increasing ventilation and trying a silk or silkweight baselayer.

What sort of bra are you wearing? I switched to merino wool sports bras because almost every other sports bra I was using left me feeling cold & clammy around the chest after a ride in the cold. So the cold & clammy is concentrated around your breasts, maybe think about trying different sports bras.

You do sound like you're wearing too much. Just some suggestions - if you're going to put a windproof outercoating - use something that's only windproof in teh front or use something which has huge pitzips. My mammut ultimate hoody literally has the entire jacket unzip down to the waist from the pitzips. I just recently got an outdoor research Reflexa jacket that has the same feature. I think for the most part golite skimps on the pitzips because - it makes the jackets lighter. The other thing you can do is get basically a jacket that is windproof only on the front panel and breaths on the back. I've got an rei one that's softshell front, merino wool back. Marmot has their driclime windshirt (I highly recommend the driclime pants as well). Patagonia has the windtracker jacket, I think it's called. Another option is sort of like what you said - just use a windproof vest. Down vests that are made without any windproof/waterproof fabric are also a pretty good way to ventilate, because wind/air goes right through them.

I have a tendancy to overheat and sweat once I start doing cardio activity, so I really do end up not wearing a ton - maybe a thin merino wool layer with the ibex serrano jersey over it, then my mammut ultimate hoody, and a down vest to go on and off if needed. Thin wool hat(like a liner hat), I will put on over gloves, but if I'm working, I'll end up taking those off and using my manzella glove liners. Pants, I really like the ibex alpstars or some of the ibex softshell/wool mixtures. I tend to put on a pair of cloudveil walk dont run boxers (run don't walk?) and tall socks.

Increasing the ventilation makes sense. I think I am going to try and use only the Smart wool base layers for this week and see, as well as stick to thinner mid layers. I was wearing a very plush Terry fleece jersey as my mid layer when I experimented with the wool base on Monday. I think that one is just too thick and it promotes sweating. My jacket has sleeves that come off, so I could unzip a little, using the detachable sleeves like pit zips. That helps when cycling. I just get freaked out by hypothermia... probably listened too well when I went for my AMC leadership training. I am not shivering, but there's a lot of varying levels of exertion when I ski, which seems to affect me in the sweating department more than when I ride. And, there's, more stopping, at least for me, since I use a waist pack for my water, as I hated skiing with a Camelbak (and the fact that even the winter hose on that froze). And, it's when I am stopped, even for just a minute or so, that I feel damp. I also just ordered a merino hat. Right now I wear a fleece hat when it's 20+ and a wool hat with a fleece lining when it's below that, which keeps me warm, but that hat is really heavy.
Will report back after next weekend.

[OakLeaf]

Crankin, I think I'm much like you minus the wool sensitivity, and unfortunately I don't have much good advice ...

It's a very thin line for me between freezing to the point where I will never warm up no matter the exertion, vs. drenched with sweat. In fact, I don't think there is a line ... if I'm not so cold that my performance is impaired, my fingers and toes are numb, and I'm risking a pulled muscle,... then I'm sweating.

+1 on the ventilation, +1 on having wind block only in front, and I'd say if at all possible, have an extra layer (especially hat and gloves) that you can put on whenever you stop. Hat seems to be the best way for me to add a major temperature regulator that I can easily pull off and stow in a pocket - especially if I'm doing something *other* than cycling which involves removing and re-adjusting my helmet.

Presence or absence of hat seems to be good for a difference of at least 10°F ambient, maybe as much as 20°.

[rubywagon]

I have turned my mother into a wool weenie. I have been telling her for months about the awesomeness of merino wool, so today she picked out a nice Smartwool 1/4 zip top. In the car, on the way home, she kept rubbing the wool and saying, "Oooh that is so nice and soft. It isn't itchy at all. I am so excited."

And +1 on the ventilation.

[OakLeaf]

I have turned my mother into a wool weenie. I have been telling her for months about the awesomeness of merino wool, so today she picked out a nice Smartwool 1/4 zip top. In the car, on the way home, she kept rubbing the wool and saying, "Oooh that is so nice and soft. It isn't itchy at all. I am so excited."

I was extolling the virtues to my yoga teacher the other day. I'll probably wear my Ibex Balance cami next class and let her feel the fabric, then she'll be hooked too.

[Cataboo]

I almost feel guilty when I make a wool convert, because it is such an expensive habit to have. I've made at least 3 this year.

I recently went on a kayak camping trip in the everglades - the day after we got back, I got an email from one of the girls that went with about what an expensive person to know I was, because she'd gone to costco to get the rechargeable batteries I had, bought all the snacks in costco I'd brought on the trip, bought the patagonia nano puff jacket that I had, and had bought some merino wool.

I was biking with a lady at Bike Virginia who was telling me how these ridiculous people at REI told her to buy wool cycling socks, and who would be stupid enough to buy something like that? Kmerzad and I bought immediately pointed to our feet. So we were mocked for being sheep and just listening to whatever the guy in REI told us to buy. A few days later in the morning, she was chilly so I loaned her my ibex solano jersey... About 10 mins later, she said "well, I'm not getting socks, but I might need a wool jersey like this" She emails me everytime she buys something wool now and I helped her buy smartwool hiking socks a couple weeks ago

I went to the rally to restore sanity with a friend of mine, who very much is a shop at nordstroms or macy's and buy $600 designer purses and clothing person. If was going to be cold, so she borrowed an icebreaker sweater from me. I very nearly didn't get the sweater back, and have been helping her buy wool since. Her bf laughed at her till she bought him some wool socks.