Warm Winter Woolens

We've had quite the rude reminder - with temps in the mid 30s and wind and rain - that summer is over, fall is really here and hard behind that will be winter.  Ick.  I hate winter.  Oh, I like the pretty snow at Christmas and a sunny day with snow on the ground and frosted trees can be beautiful, but I've never been able to withstand cold well so I dread the long, dark cold season.  From December to late March my usual outside attire is thermal undershirt, wool sweater or heavy sweatshirt, thermal sweat pants, insulated ski pants over the sweats, fleece vest, quilted jacket, heavy insulated winter coat with hood, knit hat (sometimes with a thermal snood under it), 2 pairs of gloves, 2 pairs of socks and thermal Muck brand boots.  And I still get cold unless I'm moving the whole time.  Andy even carries a second pair of gloves for me inside his shirt where they stay warm and halfway through chores when my hands go numb we swap so I can finish.  I even get cold in the house when it's a very reasonable 68 degrees.  At 70 I feel pretty good and that's where Andy starts to sweat, so we have a magic 2 degree window where we're both comfy.  Some days, when the temps are low enough and the wind is blowing hard enough it's just not possible to get parts of the house warm enough for me.  Then I wear a shrug and fingerless mitts.  I have some very humble ones that I made myself, but I've been recently blessed by good friends with (as Snapple puts it) Better Stuff!

Amy gifted me with this LaLa Shawl at the Fiber Fest in September.  It's some of my dyed Cotswold lamb and silk called Forget Me Not which I'm currently out of but hope to make more of soon.

Back view

I like to roll the collar area for extra warmth over the back of my neck and it stays on my shoulders well that way, too.

Front, with shawl pin, also from Stone Edge Fibers

Along with the sample baby garments she knit to showcase my Cotswold yarn, Caroline also made a pair of mittens which I neglected to blog about.  Bad Robin.

Worsted weight singles yarn

And before that, our spinning guild held a "hand covering exchange" in which all participants put unspun fiber in a bag, the bags were shuffled, and each person took a bag with the direction to make a pair of mittens/gloves/mitts/muffs/whatever and at the end of the designated time they would be returned to the original owner magically made into something nice.  Wouldn't you know, out of 40-some participants Caroline got my fiber.  We got a sneak peek at our items at a guild meeting, then they were all whisked away to be held until the fiber fest when they would become an awesome guild display.  But when that was over, they became mine, mine, mine!

Backs

Palms

Beautiful things, made by friends.  My heart is already warm.