PowerSwitch

[Bandidoz]

For keeping my feet warm I like to use these; they're lovely!
http://www.sockshop.co.uk/products/bridgedale_all_mountain_winter_activity_socks_for_/index.html
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Olduvai Theory (Updated) (Reviewed)
Easter Island - a warning from history : http://dieoff.org/page145.htm

[Kentucky Fried Panda]

I got 16 pairs of wool socks from a wholesaler, they're not pretty, but for £20 they'll last me a long time... I should have bought more though, probably won't see a deal like that again.
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amat victoria curam

[emordnilap]

[featherstick]

Share the supplier, Emord. Now that I'm 42, and the first glimmerings of the early approaches of the first foothills of early middle age are dimly perceptible in the far-off distance*, a pair of flannel pjs sounds mighty attractive.


*Hat-tip to Frank Muir.
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"Tea's a good drink - keeps you going"

[emordnilap]

[vtsnowedin]

The Yankee point of view:
I grew up wearing denim (cotton ) jeans winter and summer with cotton (Fruit of the Loom) thermal long underwear under them in the winter. It is true that cotton is useless when wet. You learn to stay dry or to come inside when wet and change into dry clothes. Occasionally there was a pair of flannel lined jeans to add an extra layer of protection. Socks were army seconds from the local mill that were and still are a wool polyester combination. Get them wet and you took off the rubber boot and dumped the water out then removed and wrung out the socks and put them and the boots back on. Try to sit on a log or other dry place while doing this to not get your butt wet.
Hunting ,which I started at twelve, you wore and old and at first a bit big wool red plaid hunting coat from Johnson woolen mills over thermal T shirt and a cotton flannel shirt and perhaps a sweatshirt if it was below zero F . Boots were the best you had and eventually progressed to Canadian Sorrels which are rubber bottomed leather topped with a half inch thick wool felt liner in them. They are good to minus 30 if you don't have to stand still in the wind too long. I started out wearing jeans hunting but soon learned the problem with wet cotton and as you can be more then a mile from home or camp moved up to full Logger pants 100% wool again from Johnson woolen mills. Those go for $90 a pair today if you can find them. Even if you are wearing cotton thermal underwear under these pants and get soaked the heavy wool of the pants will save your butt.
As good as wool underwear is it is very expensive and it does itch until you get used to it. I don't bother with it. At home in the winter I can lounge around in whatever I like as SWMBO is a bit cold blooded and likes the house 75 ish and gives me that accusing look if I have let the fire fail to keep her toasty. At night I charge the furnace with the appropriate amount of wood for the weather then crawl into our bed under two blankets and a handmade quilt that she made.
I find a loving brunette the best winter warmth.

[RenewableCandy]

There's a shop in town called Boyes who sell very nice warm pjs for £7 a pair. When they did that last year, quite a few pairs ended up here at Chateau Renewable.

I think a lot of the problems people have with wearing wool are to do with what it's treated, or washed, in, rather than the texture of the fabric itself.
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Soyez réaliste. Demandez l'impossible.
Stories
The Price of Time

[adam2]

Post deleted. It was a recommendation for goods that are no longer available.
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"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"

[emordnilap]

[Little John]

I make my own clothes. Or, at least, some of them. In the past, I have always bought natural fibres such as cotton or cotton wool mix. However, I have been thinking a lot about it recently and it would not surprise me if wool and/or cotton are as likely to have as much hydrocarbon energy embodied in their production as is contained in partially man made fibres like poly-cotton; such is the nature of modern farming and mass production.

Secondly, poly cotton lasts a hell of a lot longer than cotton and so, again, this needs to be factored into the total carbon footprint of said fabrics.

Been green aint easy.

[kenneal - lagger]

There is also the problem with wool and cotton with the amount of pesticide in the material, organophosphate sheep dips in the case of wool and Roundup in the case of cotton. both have been found to cause skin irritation in some people. Obviously not a problem if you can get organic produce.
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As Steve Keen puts it: “Capital without energy is a statue; labour without energy is a corpse.� Economics ignores this which is why economics is broken.

[biffvernon]

One problem with polyester fibre is that every time you wash it, microfibres float off, down the drain and eventually reach the oceans where they are ingested by the plankton, who then get a tummy ache.
Stick to natural fibres.

Father Christmas brought my daughter some fingerless gloves made from merino wool, opossum and silk. Maybe a bit of a niche product and the transport from New Zealand will have added to its carbon footprint.
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http://biffvernon.blogspot.co.uk/

[adam2]

The environmental costs of natural versus synthetic fibres can be argued either way, and in view of the many variables I doubt that any reliable conclusion can be reached.

However it seems that polycotton is very inferior to all cotton as regards user comfort for underwear.
I would always favour cotton long underwear for cool or cold DRY conditions, such as indoors to save fuel or for outdoor activities when shelter is nearby.
Cotton is unsuitable for emergency conditions in which the user may get wet as it looses its insulating properties if wet.
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"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"

[Little John]

Notwithstanding the short term effects of polyester in the environment, polyester takes a few decades to break down. Climate change, on the other hand, also has a rather significant impact on the rest of life. One that is measured in millennia, if not longer, not decades.

Therefore, the question of whether to use polyester or use wool/cotton comes down to a comparison of which form of mass manufactured product (and please don't wank on about organic wool/cotton, because this is not going to clothe 7 billion people) contributes more to climate change? Polyester or Wool/cotton? Do you know the answer to that question?

[adam2]