WoolWeenies Club

[Trek420]

Down with high tech fabrics . Yeah, wool does feel really good.

[KnottedYet]

Lisa!!!! You are a GODDESS!!!!!! A *goddess*, I tell you!

Trek - I knew you liked it. We'll get you wearing wool soon. We'll start you on Duofold (cotton next to your skin) then advance you to wool longsleeve shirts, then t-shirts; and soon, the big one... wool boxers!

Wool underwear, the sign of a true woolweenie! (umm, that doesn't quite sound right, but we know what I mean!)

[Trek420]

I see, Duofold is the entry drug, then it's all downhill from there till I hit bottom only to be found in a gutter somewhere having lost my house, family and job all in search of more and better wool.

At first there were the excuses, oh, I'll only wear wool on the weekends, or only after very special rides. Soon you'd be making excuses for me "Trek will finish that project, she'll get to work on time, she just needs more wool after a weekend of riding".

Thanks to the higher-power as we know it there is wool-anon for the family and friends of WoolWeenies

*very respectful nod to AA and Alanon

[KnottedYet]

Psssst... Hey, Trek. C'mere. I gotta nice black Duofold henley that oughta fit ya. Has that authentic "broken in" look. Cotton interior layer, 40% wool in the outer layer. Nice and cozy for those chilly December San Francisco nights. Clean, and it's the real goods. C'mon, what could it hurt? I'll let cha have it, first one's on me, eh? Hey, we're friends, right? Would I steer ya wrong?

[DebW]

I see, Duofold is the entry drug, then it's all downhill from there till I hit bottom only to be found in a gutter somewhere having lost my house, family and job all in search of more and better wool.

That's the beauty of wool. You can be homeless in a gutter in rain and snow and 40 mph winds, but you'll still be warm.

My name is DebW, and my wool addiction started in the winter of 1974-75 before the advent of synthetic fabrics. If you wanted to winter hike then, you needed wool. And being a poor student, my winter hiking wardrobe consisted of navy surplus wool pants (luckily I got the ones with the zipper instead of the 13 buttons), two army surplus wool shirts, wool balaclava, and ragg wool socks. When I could afford it, I bought some Stil-longs long underwear pants - wonderful quality soft wool. Also owned wool fishnet long underwear. My fav woolies ever are boiled-wool Dachstein mittens - almost completely windproof. For biking there was ProTogs, of which I still have a long-sleeved T-shirt with only a few moth holes. Currently all my socks are Smartwool. I own Smartwool boxers, two long-sleeved wool bike jerseys, and I have a collection of wool shirts from Goodwill, one a Pendleton. Too cheap to buy Smartwool shirts for now.

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

Yes, I owe a lot to wool. Here's the story of how wool saved my life (OK, I'm exaggerating but only a little). The first day of a winter overnight hike we had to cross a stream about 30 yards wide. There were step stones maybe only a little underwater and it wasn't too icy. I was standing a little ways from shore helping other people across, then handed my camera to someone and started across myself. Slipped on a rock, lost my balance, and sat in the water. Stood up quickly but was wet from the waist down. Crossed the stream. Took off boots, poured out water, squeezed out socks, put socks and boots back on. Boots were all rubber (Army K-boots) with sealed insulation, so feet were fine. Continued hiking in wet wool pants with polypro longjohns underneath, temp maybe 25F. Within 10 minutes the polypro felt dry and warm. The wool pants continued to keep me warm but they held water and got somewhat frozen, providing good wind protection. At camp I removed the wool pants, with longjohns still dry underneath. Put on fuzzy camp pants and windpants and was happy. Left the wool pants hanging in a tree over night. The funny thing was, they froze stiff in a really funny position and I couldn't get them on the next day. I had to beat them against a tree to make them fit into my pack. I hiked that day in longjohns and windpants, which was quite fine.

[Xrayted]

hehehe, Lisa, I'm sittin' here laughing my azz off and can't possibly explain that one to my S.O. Somehow, that just makes it even funnier.

I see, Duofold is the entry drug, then it's all downhill from there till I hit bottom only to be found in a gutter somewhere having lost my house, family and job all in search of more and better wool.

Hmmm... "in search of more and better wool." Ain't it the truth.

Well, I'm a relative wool newbie, but I learn quickly. Yes, I too have aspirations of rooms filled with smartwool and ibex. Ahhhh, feel the love of smooth, caress-able wool.

[bambu101]

OK, all you WoolWeenies. Am I doomed forever, or destined to follow you all down the righteous path of wooliness? I have sensitive skin, have to buy unscented detergent, etc. and have always itched at the feel of wool or cashmere on my tender skin. Is there hope for my pathetic, wool-free existence? Is this Smartwool stuff really as itch-free as it is claimed to be?

[songlady]

I never had a wool problem til I started coming to this board. You are all the biggest bunch of enablers!!!!

But seriously, Sierratradingpost.com has a beautiful IBEX vest on sale in L/XL for $28, I just had to add it to my collection of Smartwools (thanks steepandcheap ).

[KnottedYet]

Bambu - Duofold (cotton inside, wool outside) or some Woolrichs (poly-fleece-something inside, wool outside) might be just the ticket for you.

In the realm of no-itch, yes; Smartwool, Ibex, and Icebreaker are good stuff. I'd say Ibex is the least itchy. I'm wearing one of their Agate T's right now. Very fine thread, very tiny knit, and very smooth. But I have no wool itch problems. Ibex is a pretty sweet and small company in Vermont. i would bet you could ask them to send you a little patch of one of their finer-gauge fabrics so you could check your sensitivity to it.

www.ibexwear.com

[Grog]

OK, all you WoolWeenies. Am I doomed forever, or destined to follow you all down the righteous path of wooliness? I have sensitive skin, have to buy unscented detergent, etc. and have always itched at the feel of wool or cashmere on my tender skin. Is there hope for my pathetic, wool-free existence? Is this Smartwool stuff really as itch-free as it is claimed to be?

I am very sorry to say that a friend of mine who has a wool problem - not like me: her skin turns red and she itches no matter what - can't wear Smartwool, Bleu Forêt wool-silk socks, or others... Haven't tried Ibex, but I won't waste it on her, it's very unlikely to work.

[mimitabby]

My name is mimi and I am a woolieweenie

My husband has the itch problem too. He wears polyprop wicking teeshirts under his wool.

My love affair with wool happened in the late 70's (in the early 70's anything that i owned that couldn't survive being stuffed into a landromat washing machine once a year went to good will)
I find wool at garage sales, goodwill stores, lands end catalogs, why, wool is everywhere! my favorite "undershirt" is a cashmere sweater i bought for 25 dollars. It is too nubby to be attractive as an outside garment, but it is the perfect thing for a cold windy bike ride.

All of my socks are not smartwool because my older son has given me all of his nice cotton ones (he ONLY wears wool socks, he's the one with expensive tastes that lives in the basement)

However, I have a lot of smartwool and I LOVE IT. I was going to buy smartwool sox for most of my cousins in italy until i found out that they are charged for packages from overseas now!!!!

[ChainsOflove]

Has anyone figured out how to knit a bike jersey? My mother died last winter and I got all her knitting stuff.

[Susan Otcenas]

Our El Fito Knickers have shipped from Ibex....

[Dianyla]

Our El Fito Knickers have shipped from Ibex....

Say, do you think they'll ever make wool knickers in a shorter/petite length? IMO knickers ideally end somewhere in the narrower part of the leg between the knee and the calf muscles. I have a 30-31" inseam and The El Fitos end right at the widest part of my calves, which is both unflattering and slightly pinchy on wide calves...

BTW, I just received the new Ibex Calais short and it's wonderful! The older Ibex wool short (Classica, I think it was?) had an inseam that just went on forever, while the new Calais is a perfect mid-thigh length.

[elk]

Hey you guys who have FZ and HZ shaks.....

I have a brown full zip that I wear all the time...so I bought a half zip (on sale in black...cause i couldn't get a FZ in black)

and I find the FZ is softer and a wee bit stretched....or is it just because I've had it longer?