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Author Topic: Baby it's cold outside  (Read 7019 times)

marka

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Moray, NE Scotland
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Re: Baby it's cold outside
« Reply #15 on: February 04, 2015, 12:38:19 pm »
 We recently got some long sleeved army surplus norwegian tops from ebay and they are much better than just a normal long sleeved top - so good we went and bought some more.

Also in the army surplus line, you can get fleecy tank crew overalls, however after having bought a set and deciding that they look like a telly tubby suit I havent worn them yet - not that Im fashion conscious or anything just that the kids would have a field day taking the mickey !!

Castlemilk Moorit sheep and Belted Galloway cattle, plus other hangers on.

Backinwellies

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  • Joined Sep 2012
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Re: Baby it's cold outside
« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2015, 01:45:05 pm »
As a fellow cold sufferer I find the important things are to keep  ankles, wrists and neck warm ..... leg warmers don't add to thickness of socks,  top with long cuffed sleeves and  polar buff  are all important. 

Shop at army surplus as suggested or proper outdoor activity shop such as Cotswold outdoors.

  Helly Hanson merino base layers for extra cold are great .... no sweat and can be worn several days without smelling!

Oh and for cold feet I recommend liner walking socks which wick water away under 4 season walking socks ... boots must not be too tight.   

Lastly ensure the first job she does outside is an active one .... gets circulation going sawing or chopping wood is good .... and fires up that woodburner!!!
Linda

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Treud na Mara

  • Joined Mar 2014
  • East Clyh, Caithness
  • Living the dream in Caithness
Re: Baby it's cold outside
« Reply #17 on: February 04, 2015, 07:09:04 pm »
I got some fleece lined waterproof trousers in Cotton Traders sale - about £17.50 as I recall. Originally they were intended for rugby match watching as I go with my Dad who is in a wheelchair. He is an ex-player and doesn't seem to feel the cold but I make him wear thermal long johns under his trousers and put a rug over his knees.
However I have been living in them on the croft. I think they work particularly well as they are a couple of sizes larger than my normal. My size was sold out and it was more important to get long enough ones than sleek fitting  :innocent: Some of the best gloves I've had were army surplus officers' gloves which are leather with neoprene lining. OH originally got them from eBay for doing work weeks with Trees for Life, so doing tree planting, fencing, fence removal and small scale felling. That was nearly nine years ago and my favourite pair are still going. Their only drawback is that they are not waterproof. For wet - another serendipitous find was a pair of ski gloves in a Go Outdoors sale. Too thick for fine work - but cosy.
Another tip is to scour charity shops in posher areas for wool and even cashmere pullovers.
With 1 Angora and now 6 pygmy goats, Jacob & Icelandic sheep, chooks, a cat and my very own Duracell bunny aka BH !

Bramblecot

  • Joined Jul 2008
Re: Baby it's cold outside
« Reply #18 on: February 04, 2015, 08:08:05 pm »
Night duty, outside, standing guard :cold: :cold: :cold: To survive - thermal long johns and long sleeved vest     (preferably wear 2 sets under outer clothing), thick socks and thick-soled boots, fleece or wool scarf, hat.  Practice tap-dancing.  Sorted :thumbsup:

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: Baby it's cold outside
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2015, 07:03:49 pm »
In the coldest weather or when I'm camped out in the lambing shed for hours on end I wear a one piece foundation garment under my fleece and body warmer in the form of a Musto thermal cat suit ( must have come from a rather large cat!) It's blue and looks a little like a wet suit. Its thermal properties are great but its greatest feature is the curved zip at the back ( known as the cat flap) which allows me to answer the call of nature without taking all my various layers off.


I have worn it every winter for about the last 27 years so they may not even make them anymore. But if they do they will probably cost about £40 I think.


I havent worn a coat yet this winter though let alone thermals but then your reading a post from someone who lets the chickens out wearing only her Jamas all year round so I may just be a little less sensitive than your OH!   

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Baby it's cold outside
« Reply #20 on: February 16, 2015, 10:13:29 am »
I found the cold the hardest thing about being up here.  I came from Exmoor, which isn't a warm place in winter, but I really had no idea what proper cold can be like.  (And of course anyone from Iceland reading this is thinking, "She still doesn't." ;))

After much trial and error I have found the key things are:

  • forget polyester 'fleece' (*) and other so-called revolutionary manmade materials, what you need is wool (and/or alpaca)
  • the single most important key to not getting cold is to not get cold.  Not a tautology - stay warm indoors; have a hot water bottle behind or under you when you're sat reading or knitting or whatever, warm your clothes before you put them on, get changed when warm in a warm place; keep the wellies somewhere warm so they're dry and warm when you put them on, ditto hat, gloves, scarf and coat(s).  The other side of this coin is to not get sweaty in clothes that don't breathe - another reason for using wool ;)
  • it really is better to have several thin layers than one thick one - at least two of the layers should be wool (or wool/alpaca) and personally I have no truck with manmade materials no matter how 'hi-tech' (*) - IMO natural fibres are best.  So my next-to-skin layers are cotton or silk or wool.(*)
  • I use the most woolly (as in are made of wool) tights I can find under a thin pair of jogging/leisure pants under an outer thicker trackie bottoms - and am plotting to make my own handspun handknitted wool overtrousers for the really cold weather
  • the most important bits for keeping warm (because you are starting warm now, right? ;)) are hat, neck, hands and feet.  And in my case, because I get chilblains there  :o, backside!

(*) the exception to forgetting polyester 'fleece' is the Polar Buff.  I haven't found anything better for around the neck and over the nose if you still want to be able to breathe and work!  Although I am sure if someone ever does make something similar from fine wool it will do at least as good a job.
And the other 'hi-tech' manmade I don't dis is that I will happily wear Coolmax socks under a wool pair

Someone mentioned boiler suits for small people - farmers' sons (and daughters) hereabouts wear boiler suits like Dad's, so if Mrs Womble is small, the kiddies' sizes may be the place to look ;)

Sometimes it is a balance between being a roly poly Michelin man and being able to move and work - so then I concentrate on being warm before I start, only putting on warm (ie., pre-warmed) layers, and making sure I wear a good woolly hat, something in my neck (usually the Polar Buff), plenty of wool layers inside the wellies (Bamas are brilliant if you don't have handspun handknitted socks and welly-liner slippers), at least two layers on my legs, a good thick layer down over my backside and upper thighs (men's jumpers are longer if you don't make your own ;)), a wind-cheat layer (I have a wonderful Toggi body warmer that is thin and light as a feather but stops the wind - I wear this under my outermost layer) and my never-have-to-take-em-off two-layer woolly gloves.  (Which you can't buy ones as brilliant as the ones I make myself, but you can get gloves which are fingerless gloves with a flippy-back mitt-top, which are the next best thing perhaps.)

And other things that help include having the right food for cold weather.  Porage for breakfast, a hearty soup for lunch, that sort of thing.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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