finding the perfect laying system for this weather
Now that winter is, finally (thankfully!) here, and we are enjoying temps around -22 C (-8 F) most days I am finding that I had forgotten the layering lessons from last winter, no doubt, because I never wrote them down. Sure, I know that on warmish winter days I need only my normal full length wool winter coat, and that when it gets really cold I need more than that, but the exact definition of the transition between "warmish winter days" and "really cold" had been forgotten.
I knew that one solution to "really cold" I used last year was to put my huge down coat on over my backpack and normal wool coat (that coat has a pair of heavy over mittens threaded through the sleeves, for putting on over my normal nålbinded gloves). This has an advantage of keeping the water in the camelback pack from freezing, so I can continue to sip water now and then while I walk. I tried this on Thursday, and determined that -22 is NOT really cold, because I hadn't completed the first kilometer of my walk by the time I was sweating, and needed to take off the down coat. I didn't feel for carrying it in my hands, so I wrapped the arms around my neck, and left it to hang as a cloak, which was still too warm, but better than carrying it.
Today I took a shorter walk, but still long enough to determine that today's laying option was better. Today I had been wearing wool tights and a long skirt, so when I went out I pulled on my snow pants over the tights (but under the skirt), put on my normal wool coat, then my fur-lined hood (and linen coif under it, to keep the fur from tickling my neck), and then grabbed the fur sleeve from the same coat I used to make the hood. I pinned a tablet woven band to each end of the sleeve with a long loop between just the right length to hang the sleeve from my neck as a muff (fur side in) to keep my hands warm. This worked much better than the down coat+heavy mittens option of yesterday! for one thing, when I want to take my hands out of the muff to use them, I don't have the big mittens hanging at my wrists getting in the way.
However, I have determined that when I actually sew the fur sleeve into a wool lining to make a pretty muff I should use both sleeves (open them up and then sew them together into a wider tube) so that I can more easily put my arm well into the muff, including the sleeve of the coat. Just what I need, another project idea, as if I don't have plenty of them already...
I knew that one solution to "really cold" I used last year was to put my huge down coat on over my backpack and normal wool coat (that coat has a pair of heavy over mittens threaded through the sleeves, for putting on over my normal nålbinded gloves). This has an advantage of keeping the water in the camelback pack from freezing, so I can continue to sip water now and then while I walk. I tried this on Thursday, and determined that -22 is NOT really cold, because I hadn't completed the first kilometer of my walk by the time I was sweating, and needed to take off the down coat. I didn't feel for carrying it in my hands, so I wrapped the arms around my neck, and left it to hang as a cloak, which was still too warm, but better than carrying it.
Today I took a shorter walk, but still long enough to determine that today's laying option was better. Today I had been wearing wool tights and a long skirt, so when I went out I pulled on my snow pants over the tights (but under the skirt), put on my normal wool coat, then my fur-lined hood (and linen coif under it, to keep the fur from tickling my neck), and then grabbed the fur sleeve from the same coat I used to make the hood. I pinned a tablet woven band to each end of the sleeve with a long loop between just the right length to hang the sleeve from my neck as a muff (fur side in) to keep my hands warm. This worked much better than the down coat+heavy mittens option of yesterday! for one thing, when I want to take my hands out of the muff to use them, I don't have the big mittens hanging at my wrists getting in the way.
However, I have determined that when I actually sew the fur sleeve into a wool lining to make a pretty muff I should use both sleeves (open them up and then sew them together into a wider tube) so that I can more easily put my arm well into the muff, including the sleeve of the coat. Just what I need, another project idea, as if I don't have plenty of them already...