Sweaters in the USA 'n' Jumpers in the UK!
*Note Before reading my mindless tripe, I obviously have a wool bias, so keep that in mind. I’m a novice bushcrafter/woodsman, but I have spent considerable time in the cold weather.
For the sake of
brevity, buy a nice 100% wool sweater, and you won’t be sorry. It’s a great addition to the surplus blanket that you already have. As time goes by, you can always add to your kit.
If you have trouble reading rather wordy threads, I implore you to stop at this point. You’ve been forewarned.
Large bulky wool sweaters with chunky knits make fabulous outerwear when covered with a light protective shell. I vary mine by knit as the weather dictates. Tight weave, lose weave, tight weave so it creates pockets of trapped dead airspace, which I’ve found to be the key to insulating myself.
I do not believe in relying on one item, ie, a wool blanket to keep me warm. I use a system so if one’s compromised, the others are still fine. The blanket is nothing more than added insurance to an already good system.
It’s hard to find military gear in sizes beyond medium, so most of my sweaters are civilian. Be wary of military surplus sweaters. They're often not 100% wool, and they frequently have their tags missing or the label has had the print laundered off. At least with civilian gear, it's usually labeled properly. If there is no label to back up how the garment feels, I will not purchase it.
Here's a sample of my civilian & military sweaters/jumpers. Keep in mind that I purchased this and more over a span of 20 years. *Note the varying weave from drawer to drawer.
The huge knit traps air. Clunky knits are nice because if I get too warm I can unzip/button my outer shell, and the wind gets in, circulates well, and cools me rather quickly. J.G. Glover sweater in photo.
A word of warning, never wear loosely knit sweaters as outerwear while going through the bush. The thorns, brush, and branches will tear them apart. They’re fine for camp in a clearing or on a trail unfettered by encroaching brush, but in the bush they need a protective outer shell. Bush battle scars.
Military surplus wool jeep sweaters aren’t too bad, but they have a rather snug fit, so I wear them as a middle layer. The knit’s not too tight, so it creates a lot of medium sized air pockets.
Military surplus Italian San Marco wool sweater has a weave that’s fairly tight. These are rather form fitting as well, but not too tight.
I have a couple of alpaca sweaters as well. They seem just as warm as wool, but are significantly lighter.
If you’re not going to be generating much perspiration and your activities are in dry weather, a wool sweater is
probably good enough to bulk up your cold weather gear. However, I find, as a
cyclist, and
sometimes woodsman/bushcrafter that wool doesn’t work at all for me unless it makes up my entire wardrobe. Once cotton, nylon, or poly undergarments are wet, the wool sweater will not keep
me warm, so I use wool right down to my skin.
In addition to what I’ve previously shown in photos. I wear the following undergarments according to the weather and activity level I’m going to engage in.
Wool underwear/knickers with Mora for scale:
Wool long johns:
I’m not a big fan of WoolPower because they’re only 60% wool. I will use them since I have two pairs in the 200 gram weight and one pair of 400 gram. They don’t like anything hot. I’ve burned quite a few holes in them, and they’re rather expensive! It was an impulse buy, and I didn’t read the fine print. I assumed that they were 100% wool.
Here you can see the terrycloth knit:
All the above undergarments/knickers are very thin, but extremely warm, and with exception to the WoolPower long johns, they’re all 100% wool.
Why I don't like WoolPower garments. In the following photo, one can see the results of what a tiny hot cinder that fell off my cigarette did. The cinder was pin head sized, yet look at the hole. The 100% merino woolskins beneath weren't affected. *Book of matches for scale.
My final shell layer will depend upon weather and activity. The three on the left are Gore-Tex shells followed by my genuine article Navy surplus pea coat, and several 100% Melton wool greatcoats from various military factions throughout Europe. In the second photo, note how long the greatcoats are. Some of them are 57 inches from the top of the collar to the hem of the skirt. These are great for blocking wind off my legs as they fall almost to the tops of my 10-inch boots. I can sit wherever I want without worry of conduction sucking the heat out of me or getting a wet bum.
Some of my wool over trousers as well:
That gear keeps me warm, and I can layer according to what the situation warrants. Hence a wool blanket is only an addition to my gear.
The best part of wool sweaters is that in everyday life, they’re more versatile than a wool blanket because I can wear them in the real world wherever I go, and they won’t generate quizzical stares like donning a wool blanket as though it’s a serape or something… That’s my dollar and two cents.
If you got this far, I hope it’s given you some ideas and thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Cheap&Squeaky
