I love wool :)

Until I started knitting seriously a few years ago I knew very little about it.  For the most part I grew up with (and in) synthetics.  I thought wool was scratchy, uncomfortable, difficult to care for and expensive.  I have discovered that wool can be soft, deliciously comfortable, and - if you plan carefully - not terribly expensive at all.  The only caveat that remains is that it does need a bit of careful care if it hasn’t been treated to be washable.  Certainly washable wool is an option, but I don’t prefer it so my remarks all refer to the kind that shrinks and fulls (felts) if you throw it in the washer and dryer.

Almost all of the reason for this paean is because the weather around here has turned cold and raw - more so than usual.  The temperatures have been averaging about 20°F below normal which makes things even nippier than normal for this time of year.  I do understand that if you live in Hawai’i or Honduras or Bali, you’re not likely to be a fan of the warmth of wool.  And I also realize that, chilly as it has gotten in Massachusetts, it’s not Michigan or Alaska.  It’s not even Buffalo :)

Here’s the thing :)  After knitting for several years now, for the first time in my life, I have quite a collection of things made out of wool or wool blends - wool, wool/alpaca, alpaca, wool mohair, wool/angora etc…  And when I go out, I reach for hat and scarf (wool), fingerless gloves (wool/alpaca/rayon), and sometimes shawl (wool and wool/alpaca).  Inevitably, at some point in my journey, I realize that I am warmer now during the cold weather than I have ever been before in my life.

It’s the wool :)

It’s springy and colorful - a delight to the eye and the hand.  It’s magic is slightly misleading in that you may feel that in donning that scarf, you are wrapping your neck in warmth.  You’re not really.  The warmth actually comes from you, your body heat.  The delightful thing about the wool is that it traps and holds your body heat so that it doesn’t disappear into the atmosphere but instead nestles next to your skin where it not only does you some good, but feels utterly wonderful!

Typically, when I think of wool, I think of sheep.  I imagine just about everyone does.  There are other animal fibers that do this amazing trick with body heat - some even better than wool.  Alpaca is a dandy fiber for warmth and mohair is nothing short of amazing.

A couple of years ago, you may recall, I made a mohair blanket.  I was in love with it then, and the feeling has only deepened since.  I even attempted to bring it with me on my last cruise and when my luggage was lost, the thought of losing that blanket was the only thing that made me feel panicky.  The warmth that pound-and-a-half of mohair is able to retain is absolutely astounding and, with a sheet, is able to keep me quite comfortable down to 65°F.  It often gets that cold here because we don’t keep the heat on overnight.  Sometimes it gets even colder.  I have woken up in the morning with the internal temperature in the apartment hovering around 58°F.  Good as it is, the mohair isn’t quite up to that.

So, earlier this year, I made another blanket - this one out of wools and wool blends.  It’s much heavier that the mohair - probably runs to 6 or 7 pounds - but it is also nice and warm.  It’s not, to my surprise as warm on its own as the mohair, but it’s nice :)  And together, one on top of the other, they seem to be proof against even temperatures down in the fifties.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I am anything but a yarn snob.  I use most materials without discrimination depending on what I want to make.  Acrylic, cotton, wool - they all have their place and I’d be the last person to say any of them should be dismissed out of hand.  If sturdy is what you’re looking for, acrylic can be amazing.  For coolness and breathability, cotton or linen are great options.  But for warmth, wool, animals fibers are so the way to go.

And you can engineer it!  For a little comfort, a lace or fingering weight yarn crafted into a scarf or a light shawl works beautifully.  For specific things, heads, hands, feet - oh god, is there anything so blessed to frozen toes as wool socks? - there are hats, hoods, mittens, fingerless mitts, gloves, leg warmers, anklets and socks, all of which can be made in a variety of weights depending on the degree of warmth you wish them to encourage.

And you don’t even have to plug it in!