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KathyR
Permanent Resident
New Zealand
2969 Posts |
 Posted - 10/15/2003 : 1:37:58 PM
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Please excuse me if you think I am nosy - but really I am just curious! What do you guys wear underneath your sweaters?
The reason I am asking is that so many of you seem to be complaining that wool is itchy. I have never had that problem unless I tried to wear a sweater without a blouse or shirt or something underneath. I often wear a skivvy (don't know what you would call it - like a long-sleeved t-shirt with a polo neck) instead of a shirt when it is cold. It also means that a sweater can be worn longer before it needs washing.
So come - what do you wear underneath your sweater? 
KathyR |
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momrnc
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
443 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 1:43:30 PM
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I wear turtlenecks from October to May, because I'm always cold. So 99% of the time, that what's underneath my sweaters!!
Kathy
"There's amazing strength in a willing hand, there are victories that you've never planned" |
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jmweis
Chatty Knitter
USA
260 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 1:44:05 PM
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Hi Kathy,
What an interesting question!!!
I almost always wear some kind of shirt under my sweaters, usually long sleeved. There are a couple of reasons for this
1.) if it is cold enough to wear a wool sweater, than for me at least, it is cold enough to wear layers.
2.) Rarely do I go through my day without drastic changes in temperature. For example, this morning as I was walking to school it was a bit chilly, but this afternoon it will be warm. I had a sweatshirt on in the morning but I most likely will not this afternoon. Thus, I need the flexibility that having layers provides.
3.) Wool usually itches when it is on my skin, so I wear a undershirt.
Also, I have found that a wool sweater feels much itchier when it is warm outside, but not when it is cold.
Cheers
Jennifer
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addicted2yarn
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
376 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 1:44:49 PM
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I like knitting with wool and it does keep me warm but there is no way I can have wool touching my skin without driving me crazy! I always wear a long sleeve t-shirt under all my wool sweaters. I wonder is it an allergy? The funny part is that knitting with wool doesn't make my hands itch....
-Ellen |
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jade
Permanent Resident
USA
1543 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 1:52:36 PM
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My winter uniform is a light turtleneck, usually cotton but sometimes a fine wool or cashmere, which I wear as a undershirt, topped with a wool sweater. The layers are great in our snowy New England winters, without being heavy.
I don't find wool itchy even on my supersensitive skin. I had eczema as a child and still have occasional outbreaks, but my dermatologist told me it's almost always due to dryness so I slather on tons of moisturizer and that keeps the scratching under control.
Cheryl
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fillyjonk
Permanent Resident
1127 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 1:54:40 PM
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Usually a turtleneck or a long sleeved knit shirt. This is not so much for the "itch" factor (most wool, unless it's really "rustic", doesn't bother me), but so I don't have to wash my sweaters as often. Once in a while I will wear a regular t-shirt under a sweater.
also, because the building I work in varies from Arctic to Tropical from room to room, it's nice to be able to take off the sweater if I start to feel overheated.
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hobbitknitter
Permanent Resident
USA
2284 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 2:26:44 PM
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Kathy- I think we just call them either Turtlenecks, or long-sleeved polos. A sleeveless polo/turtleneck which is made expressly for wearing under sweaters is called a dicky.
Me? Sometimes a short-sleeved pointelle or ribbed tee, but wool doesn't bother me too much so it depends on how cold it is or if the sweater has a V-neck that is, well, too big, lol.
Sarah
S. Eliz.
Keep on knitting on!
See my gallery: www.pagebypage.com/board/index.php(In photo gallery pages, under S for Sarah Elizabeth) |
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Boogie
Permanent Resident
USA
3073 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 3:25:37 PM
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ugh - I cannot stand turtlenecks
I love cardigans so its usually a tshirt or a tank top
Under a regular sweater its usually not much
The itchy wool that I have I usually felt it - but I have some really thick and nice itchy sweaters that I do wear as a jacket type in the winter when I go sledding and I usually have a long sleeve shirt under it.
:)amy
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klfrazier
Permanent Resident
1745 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 3:52:23 PM
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silk long johns - the best thing in the world!
Kristin
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Magnolia
New Pal
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 3:58:17 PM
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| Wool only seems to be really itchy around my neck, so I usually just wear a t-shirt or tank top that comes up a little higher on my neck than the sweater does. |
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Lelani
Permanent Resident
USA
2005 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 5:58:18 PM
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I can sometimes just get away with wearing a camisole slip type thing. However Im in that time of life where Im hot a lot!!! I try to wear a light weight turtleneck sometimes as well then I can take off my sweater if I get to hot. Wool doesnt bother me in term of itching.
Lelani |
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Heather
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
456 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 6:29:29 PM
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I'm amazed at how many of you say that wool isn't itchy to you! Lucky you. I always assumed it itched everyone. I never wear a wool sweater without a t-shirt under it. My neck especially is sensitive to wool. I always have to hug a skein of yarn to my neck before I buy it to make a scarf to make sure it won't drive me nuts. But, as Ellen commented, it never bothers my hands to knit with wool.
--Heather
How often I saw where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else... --R.Buckminster Fuller |
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mtchen
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
564 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 7:55:26 PM
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I am pretty sensitive to wool itch, so I wear a thin long-sleeved white or black t-shirt under my sweaters. The only sweaters I can wear without anything underneath are cotton ones.
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vicky by the bay
Permanent Resident
USA
4768 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2003 : 7:59:03 PM
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It doesn't get too cold here in the Bay Area. But I do wear layers due to sudden hot flashes that visit me now more and more often...I can't imagine why!!! I usually have on a colored cotton tee. If it's cold out I wear a mock turtleneck...I don't like real turtlenecks I always feel like I'm choking!
Vicky (Queen O'Yarn archivist-QYA) |
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susnp25
Chatty Knitter
Australia
346 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 12:37:37 AM
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Hi, I have been reading a report by our CSIRO in Australia that is trying to work out where the itchiness comes from that people often say happens when wool rubs on sensitive skin. They have found that its the odd longer thread that does the damage. When the wool is an even micro length and most of the surface touches your skin its usually ok. When the wool is of various lengths even though its a fine looking wool its the little longer ones that irritate in a single spot which then gets you rubbing all over. Its a very interesting study and I will try to give you a lead into it if anyone is interested. They are trying to perfect the wool so it can be spun into even threads and eliminate the "itchiness". I guess the reason that your hands don't get itchy is they are exposed so much to everything that you do they are hardened to the sensation. Its usually the finer skin like the underside of your arm etc that starts the itchy feeling. I couldn't wear it next to my skin and am always amazed when an movie or add shows someone just putting on a jumper over bare skin. I always feel itchy myself and wish they hadn't done it. I like to keep a shirt or turtle neck between my skin and my woolies. Susan
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Muffinski
Warming Up
USA
89 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 02:16:30 AM
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I also have a "uniform" from about October through May. I wear a cotton turtleneck in various colors, topped by a cotton shirt in coordinating colors and then topped with the sweater. These are worn with jeans. I am fortunate enough to we able to wear the jeans to work every day. I love coordinating the colors of the turtlenecks, shirts and sweaters. I am usually on the cold side and Connecticut can tend to get cold. Wearing the turtleneck plus the shirt does help with not having to wash the sweaters quite as often.
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Marg in Mirror
Permanent Resident
Canada
3204 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 08:25:33 AM
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I wear a turtleneck, or a tee-shirt, or a camisole -- depending on the sweater, the weather and/or what I'm doing that day!
-- Marg in Calgary
TLWKOTB
http://knitsonthebus.blogspot.com |
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schoolmama
Permanent Resident
USA
2309 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 09:10:31 AM
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When I wore sweaters up north, I would wear a button up shirt or a t-neck underneath them. Since I live in New Mexico now, I rarely can wear a sweater, but when I do, most of my sweaters are cotton, and I wear them alone unless I am going out when it is windy and cold. Then I put a thin camisole under the sweater to keep the wind from freezing me! Now I think a lot of people do wear sweaters here in the winter, but I have always been a "warm" person and it is worse now that I am getting close to "hot flash" time!! LOL Barb
"OF ALL THE THINGS I HAVE LOST, I MISS MY MIND THE MOST!" |
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nanda
New Pal
5 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 1:23:23 PM
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| my main problem is with mohair. with wool, usually the style supports wearing some kind of long-sleeved tee, but often dressy mohair sweaters do not. wearing a camisole is not enough for me, so i've avoided knitting mohair sweaters. but i love how they look! any solutions for this? |
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KathyR
Permanent Resident
New Zealand
2969 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 1:28:00 PM
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What a lot of answers to my curious/nosy questions!
Susan, what you said about the CSIRO report was interesting. A couple of years ago a friend of mine wrote an article for the Creative Fibre - the national magazine of the Spinners and Weavers Society here in NZ. She called the itchiness the "prickle factor" of wool. Apparently all fleeces have a range of fibre thicknesses, even in the finer fleeces such as merino. Fibres above a certain thickness have the ability to penetrate the skin causing itchiness. (This is why it is recommended that women working in woolsheds wear some sort of tightly woven clothing - to avoid tiny, short fibres of wool from penetrating their skin and entering the bloodstream!  ) Perhaps we should all be wearing something under our woollens!
This is so interesting! Nearly as good as my DD's description of her lastest clothing history seminar - on underwear through the ages.
KathyR |
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Geniap
New Pal
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2003 : 1:56:03 PM
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I've always worn a turtleneck, shirt w/collar, or long sleeve t-shirt under my sweaters. And I've found the best place to "test drive" a yarn for itchyness is to ask for a small bit from the LYS and tuck it into my bra for a while. Sounds odd, and the owner of the LYS thought it odd too but now recommends it to some of her more picky customers.
Sure makes buying yarn easier to know if it's going to drive you nutsy with scratching.
clickin' on the Severn watching the Blue Heron |
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