WoolWeenies Club

[Crankin]

I haven't tried them with the shoes yet, but when I tried to pull the tabs on the waist, it totally bunched up and looked awful.
Trisk, I think we are just used to cold more! Generally, when I am wearing wool dress pants, I would just be walking from my car into a building. If it's really cold or I have to walk, I will put my long underwear on. I actually thought the Alpstars would be more "wool" looking on the outside.
Yea, I am really short. But, I will try them on with the shoes and report back.

[Crankin]

I tried them on with all of my boots; while they weren't dragging on the floor, when I went to do the velcro tighter at the bottom, there was so much extra material that they were ballooning out. Not good. It's too bad because I really liked the way the top fit. But for $166.00, they should be perfect. I am going to contact Jonesware about custom wool pants.
Thanks!
OK, an update, instead of another post from me! I ordered the Jones Ware hiking pants. They're 107.00 and for 10.00 extra they customize the inseam and waist. Perfect for me. I ordered the x smalls and had them do a 28.5 inseam instead of 29.5 and made the waist 25-26 instead of 24-25. The smalls would have been too big, so this is perfect.

[Triskeliongirl]

Well I am glad you found something you like. I did not spend as much as you on them ($147) but obviously they fit me better and I feel I need them more than you (I am wearing them again today w my woolies under, I was so cold yesterday w my wool dress pants).

ENJOY the Jonesware pant. The custom fit sounds perfect for you!

I know I've said it before, but our major problem are interiors. The last few days have been in the 30-40s, and they were blowing cold air conditioned air on us at work. I can't get my home much warmer than 50 when its in the 30s outside w my gas radiators, and then when we go outside we have 20-30 mph winds (and I need to stand there waiting for my husband to pick me up on days its too cold to ride and we car pool)............ But I am now so used to how to dress for this that I go crazy when I go to boston and feel the interiors are overheated.

Crankin, as an aside, I know you guys have snow coming in. Should I worry my kids will have a hard time getting out of Logan on Saturday? I timed us to all land within 10 minutes of each other in Lisbon, but that assumes no flight delays.

[Crankin]

Trisk, we are supposed to have a big storm Friday, with some "snow showers" on Saturday, although Saturday looks mostly clear. I would be mildly concerned. What time does their plane leave? International flights usually leave here at 6PM or so; if it's then, they will be fine.
Just wondering, why does your house only get up to 50? Are you purposely trying to keep it cool to save energy or is it something else? I agree with the AC thing in public buildings, though. I mean, I can't live without it when it's hot, but living in AZ had me used to keeping the house at 82 (well when it's 110 out that is cool). We keep our house at 78 in the summer and a lot of my friends come here and say they are hot. People here seem to keep their houses at 70 and even lower in public buildings.
Out heat is set at 68 and it goes down to 58 after 11 PM to 4 AM. Sometimes I am cold at that temperature in the winter, but I will put on another layer if I have to. I couldn't stand having my house be 50; my hands would be cold. I guess generally, though when people go to work here, they do not wear long underwear or layers, although they may put on a heavier wool sweater, etc. I do remember being in Portland, Maine, though and noticing a lot of wool and thermal tights and other winter stuff being sold in the summer, getting ready for winter. These things were out among the "pricey" skirts and tops in a lot of the boutiques I went in.

[OakLeaf]

Ha... I just got two long sleeve medium weight Ibex T's for the gym. It's crazy when it's 75 degrees and humid outside. I keep hinting to the owner that he needs to put a lock on the thermostat, but so far no dice. There are a couple of individuals who set the thermostat in the aerobics room at 55° (no I'm not exaggerating... and who only knows the temperature of the air coming out of the vents in the low ceiling).

[Triskeliongirl]

Crankin- my kids flights aren't scheduled to leave until 10pm on sat., so hopefully they'll be OK. Thanks for interpreting the weather forecast for me!

You asked why our house is only ~50 degrees inside. The problem is we live in a historic neighborhhood (for real, its on the national historic registry) in a home that was built 100 years ago. Charming, yes, always practical, no! It does not have central heat and air, and whenever we have tried to get an estimate for it to be installed the contractors never even complete making the estimate (it will not be easy in other words). Each room has an individual air conditioner and a gas radiator. The good news is you only heat or cool the rooms you are using, when you are using them, so energy costs and consumption are low. Most of the time, we have mild winters, and if its 50 outside we can get the inside temp as high as we'd want. But when it drops to the 40s and even 30s, which does happen just not every day, they are just not strong enough to get us much above 50. So, I wear my woolies, alpstar pant, an ibex midweight base, shak and fleece, and sit under a blanket when indoors. Last night it was so cold I just climbed under my down comforter in my bed after dinner and went to sleep (it was one of those *very unusual* days in the 30s).

Work is another matter. Why they insist on running the air conditioning on 30 degree days I simply do not understand, so I need the same layers indoors, minus the fleece. I have ibex short sleeve polos and even tank tops to wear under blouses in summer, cuz it is so freakingly over-air conditioned. And I have an ibex ecru boucle sweater I keep in my office to wear in summer even when it might be 105 deg outside!

So, now you see why I am so confused when I travel. Here there is often not that big a diff between our indoor and outdoor temps, so all I will add when I go outside is a goretex shell to block the wind, and a hat and gloves, even when its really cold out (although yesterday I tested my down sweater and hmmmmm, what a good purchase).

Portugal will be worse, the only source of heat in my in-laws home is a wood stove. Again, it works cuz its usually mild, but still winters run in the 40-50s with no central heating.......... So we will be sleeping in bedrooms with no heat at all.

[Crankin]

Well, I guess that's the down side of having an historic home. We looked at a few of those, too, before we bought this house 3 years ago. In the end, we decided that there was too much work involved with renovations, etc. Little did we know how much we would spend on this house! But, the heating/AC have had minimal problems. At times, though, I wish we were living in the historic district, because it is FLAT... my driveway is already iced over, from a little 2 inches of snow and some drizzle. It's not enough for the plow guy to come. Oh well.
Have a good time in Portugal. I taught in a system that had mostly Portuguese students (or Brazilian) and it looks so pretty from the pictures. My friends did a cycling trip there a couple of years ago. The hills looked challenging!

[Cataboo]

Icebreaker body fit 260 crew is on sac right now for $32 (60% off)