WoolWeenies Club

[Triskeliongirl]

I just wanted to post one more tid-bit on the organic sweater. As I packed it up to send back I did notice the label said 'hand-knit' so it really is a nice piece for someone who lives in a cold place looking for a chunky warm generously cut piece. While it didn't suit my needs, it is a very nice sweater.

Advice on bases please. I ordered a bunch of mid-weight stuff, but now I am worried it will be too warm for layering where I live. But, I like to be able to take off my outer layer and not have it be see through. My kates are OK, but how are the ibex woolies, or the icebreaker 150 or 200 tops?

[Brandy]

I'm stuck on wool as well right now. I've been riding in Woolistic Body Base base layers and a Woolistic wool jersey. Keeping me nice and cozy!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Triskell- I think you will do very well with combining your thistle and your black shak with your black and your green Kates in various ways. You will get a lot of mileage out of just those two type items. Both are also elegant enough to wear alone.

As to needing a fresh base layer daily...we are all different, but I would like to mention something that I discovered several years ago and like very much:
http://www.luckyvitamin.com/086449300093.html
This "crystal" spray deodorant is really wonderful. It has no odor at all, and seems like plain water. What it actually is is a solution of mineral salts in water. It does NOT have aluminum salts, but has other mineral salts like perhaps magnesium salts, etc that are harmless. How it works is that it creates a PH environment on your skin that the underarm bacteria cannot thrive in. Odor happens when those bacteria multiply over the day. The mineral salts create a pH that the bacteria have a hard time breeding in. So in a way this deodorant works the very same way as the wool does- creating an underarm environment where bacteria will not thrive and multiply much.
I really like this stuff and it is much more natural than most commercial deodorants. It leaves no residue and does not have any perfumes at all.
It also comes in a crystal salt "rock" form that you wet and glide on, but I like the little pump spray myself. (non-aerosol of course, so doesn't hurt the environment)

[Triskeliongirl]

Well thanks for the tip Lisa! Do you usually mail order it, or do you find it in health food type stores?

My skin is very sensitive so I usually avoid underarm deodorants, but something like this may do the trick for me, and save me on washing out my bases so frequently!

But, please, answer my question on how see through the other 'light bases' are like the woolies or LW ribbed shirt if I decide to exchange my middies for lighter ones.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well thanks for the tip Lisa! Do you usually mail order it, or do you find it in health food type stores?

I buy mine at our local health food store. But i do see it is cheaper on the link I sent, but I don't know about shipping. It doesn't go bad, so if you liked it I suppose you could order like 6 bottles online and save a bunch that way.

But, please, answer my question on how see through the other 'light bases' are like the woolies or LW ribbed shirt if I decide to exchange my middies for lighter ones.

I can only answer about the ones I know.
I once bought a very lightweight base layer on sale from Ibex in a "maize" pale yellow color. I found it to be way too see through to wear alone, even with a light colored bra. It would be ok as a base layer under stuff.
I have the Ibex "woolies" base layers in black and in a melon color. The melon is a bit too see through to wear alone, but the black is no problem to wear alone at all. Same thing with my Smartwool microweight base layers- the blacks are fine alone, the light colors are just a bit too see through for my liking to wear alone.
I think that even though they are the same weight, that both the Ibex and SW lightweight base layers are more open weave than the Kate, which I did try on the other day. Maybe they are supposed to "breathe" more with an open weave since they are marketed as base layers, whereas the Kate is a "shirt". The Kate seems more silky and closed weaved even though it's lightweight too.
I wear my black Ibex and SW lightweight base layers alone all the time, no see-through problems. So sticking with a dark color might help there.

[Dianyla]

But, please, answer my question on how see through the other 'light bases' are like the woolies or LW ribbed shirt if I decide to exchange my middies for lighter ones.

All of my various lightweight base layers (e.g. Icebreaker 150 weight, and the lightest Smartwool and Ibex categories) are somewhat transparent. For example, if you wear a white sportsbra under a black base layer, it will gleam through. It's rarely a problem because I rarely wear these layers by themselves, but occasionally on a very hot summer day I'll wear one and just make sure I've got a flesh-toned bra underneath. Normally the thinnest layer I'll wear standalone (nothing over or under) is a midweight wool, in summertime.

Someone asked about pilling a few posts back - Icebreaker recommend throwing a pair of hard denim jeans into the washer with your woollens. I tried this out and it does actually work to remove light fluffing that's starting to pill. Hard mature formed pills must be shaved off, as with any other garment.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

All of my various lightweight base layers (e.g. Icebreaker 150 weight, and the lightest Smartwool and Ibex categories) are somewhat transparent. For example, if you wear a white sportsbra under a black base layer, it will gleam through. It's rarely a problem because I rarely wear these layers by themselves, but occasionally on a very hot summer day I'll wear one and just make sure I've got a flesh-toned bra underneath.

This makes sense. I usually wear black bras anyway, unless I'm wearing really light colored tops. And I always would wear black bras under my black base layers, so there is no "gleam through" at all that way.
Gleam on!

[Triskeliongirl]

WOW, all I can say is that if yesterdays ibex package was a letdown, today’s FAR EXCEEDED expectations. This is what arrived and this is what I think about it (all pieces on sale in outlet section of ibex site):

1. Mulberry Ribbies Crew: http://www.ibexwear.com/shop/Product...t=Ribbies-Crew

This piece looks more casual in the picture than it really is. Its weight is substantial, can easily wear it alone as a rather elegant sweater top. The color is very rich and it goes beautifully with my charcoal grey wool suit and it’s a keeper for my DC professional meeting. The color also goes well with my thistle and black shaks. It looks nothing like long underwear.

I can see wearing it in san antonio layered under my shak inside my underheated house on a cold day, and alone in my well heated office on a cold day.

Small fit well, just like the shak and kate.

2. Knee warmers:
http://www.ibexwear.com/shop/Product...t=Knee-Warmers

I simply cannot believe these are the quality they are for $20. I bought and returned so many leg warmers cuz the thigh band was too loose and/or they were too long (in unisex small). These fit better than anything else I’ve tried (unisex small), and are so well made, they have a mix of lycra and wool, substantial weight. While called knee warmers they fit long enough on me that with tall sox I could cover my entire leg if I wanted to. They are a tiny bit loose (perhaps an xsmall would have fit even better but that wasn’t an option) but hopefully they’ll stay in place when I ride. I can really see packing these on a tour when one is trying to keep pieces to a minimum.

3. Arm warmers:
http://www.ibexwear.com/shop/Product...t=Knee-Warmers

Another impeccable product. I almost didn’t order them cuz I do have PI arm warmers but they were on sale for a great price and they match the leg warmers so I thought I’d give them a try. My only hesitation is that the PI armwarmers are XS and these only S, so while the band feels OK, its not super snug so I hope they don’t fall down. Unlike my PI arm warmers, they really gave me the impression of adding sleeves to a short sleeve jersey. By that I mean rather than being skin tight to my wrist, some air (but just a little) can get in at the wrist, so I expect they’ll ventilate better. They are also quite long, they go all the way to my armpit, but that’s OK as long as they don’t end up falling down. If they do, you’ll see them for sale here after Ibex has sold out of their on sale ones!

So for me, these are all keepers along my shaks and kates.

Tomorrow, the icebreaker order comes, and the LL bean order is due on Monday, but I may end up sending the rest back just cuz I am starting to have enough stuff. I am also realizing that the mid weight bases may simply be too substantial for where I live, but I can see possibly keeping one more top if I really it, and possibly a set of icebreaker long janes/zip T for skiing, at least I’ll get to size myself in these other brands and inspect quality firsthand. My inclination is to stick with ibex though, since no one has yet reported pilling except of the switchback which they admitted had a defective weave. I’ve heard a lot of reports of pilling now on the icebreaker.

Last night I picked up some Express lycra tights w a coupon I had to add another bottom layer, as my daughter thinks I’ll overheat indoors with midweight long underwear on under my lined wool pants.

[KnottedYet]

As to needing a fresh base layer daily...we are all different, but I would like to mention something that I discovered several years ago and like very much:
http://www.luckyvitamin.com/086449300093.html
This "crystal" spray deodorant is really wonderful. It has no odor at all, and seems like plain water. What it actually is is a solution of mineral salts in water. It does NOT have aluminum salts, but has other mineral salts like perhaps magnesium salts, etc that are harmless. How it works is that it creates a PH environment on your skin that the underarm bacteria cannot thrive in. Odor happens when those bacteria multiply over the day. The mineral salts create a pH that the bacteria have a hard time breeding in. So in a way this deodorant works the very same way as the wool does- creating an underarm environment where bacteria will not thrive and multiply much.
I really like this stuff and it is much more natural than most commercial deodorants. It leaves no residue and does not have any perfumes at all.
It also comes in a crystal salt "rock" form that you wet and glide on, but I like the little pump spray myself. (non-aerosol of course, so doesn't hurt the environment)

All aluminum compounds (including alum, which is in the Crystal products) make me itch like a crazed flea-ridden beast. And I'm a major stinky-sweat monster. My friend's mom taught me a trick that works well and doesn't make me itch. (I think she did it out of self preservation!) Use a regular ol' stick deodorant, dip it in baking soda, and then put it on. The little bit of baking soda does the same thing as Crystal deodorant, with out the itchy alum. Awesome! (cuz I'm really really not fun when I'm stinky)

I've accidentally smeared the deodorant/baking soda mix on just about every wool shirt I own, and it seems to come out just fine in the wash.

Edit: the Crystal I tried was the solid alum chunk. I don't know if the alum in water spray that Lisa uses would be less itchy. I haven't tried the spray.

[mimitabby]

and Trisk, you look wonderful, cute even!! congrats on losing all that weight!

[KnottedYet]

Trisk, I just looked at your pics! Wow, you look great! Congratulations, and yes, you get all new woolie clothes for a job well done!

[Triskeliongirl]

Thanks guys.......... I thought everyone knew already from the other thread, but I guess everyone doesn't read everything. Yeh, its been *very expensive* to replace my wardrobe. But what feels good is that I know I am not going to gain the weight back cuz this time I really did finally fix the underlying problem. When I talk about my weight normalizing I really mean it quite literally. Did I diet and exercise? Sure, but I have always dieted and exercised, and still gained weight cuz my hormones were out of balance. As long as I restrict carbs, my apetite and bodies needs mesh, so as long as I listen to my body, and exercise just moderate restraint, the weight came off and is staying off pretty easily.

And, what would I do without wool?? All I can say is that it looks a heck of a lot better than my old insulating material!!!

The hard part now will be deciding which of the pieces that are still to come get to stay and which have to go back. But at least I am getting a handle on what I like with the pieces I've got already. Its so amazing to me how soft the Kate is, the 17.5 micron wool really does feel amazing on my skin, so I am really glad I snagged those pieces. The ribbie is definitely not as smooth, but oh so pretty and oh so warm.... It will be interesting to see how the Icebreaker and LLbean compare.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Mimi wrote:

and Trisk, you look wonderful, cute even!! congrats on losing all that weight!

Major cute!

[sandra]

Major cute!

what?