Life at the Little House on the Ditch: They fit like a glove!

Last year, as I began experiencing winter weather from an LLV I discovered the need for gloves. And long underwear. And thermal socks. And wooly hats and other warm accouterments.

Tina, a very proper and very English friend of mine convinced me that there was a company in England that was THE place to buy these things. Apparently, so she tells me, the English have vast experience in cold, damp, bone-chilling weather and these products have been around for decades, in fact, Princess Diana used to wear thermals from this company under her designer day dresses. If Princess Di wore this stuff, it must be good!

I ordered one set of long underwear and a pair of fingerless gloves at an exorbitant price. Plus shipping (let's not even talk shipping!) The long underwear was lacy and thin and stylish but I'm not convinced they are any better than something I might buy locally. Who really needs lacy long underwear anyway? Certainly not me! The gloves were also a surprise. Their design reminded me of swimming gloves I used when I was training for triathlons - webbed fingers and all. They didn't look like expensive, Princess Di-worthy outer wear at all. I'm not really sure what I expected but it sure wasn't this. I was so disappointed!

See for yourself!

The design was just odd. I'd never seen such a thing. The fabric was cotton fleece I think. Nothing remarkable. For the price I paid I expected something more.. better. They seem to work fine and they keep my hands warm enough so I shouldn't complain. The design seems to be perfectly functional as well. A year later and I'm still surprised by them.

This morning when I was dressing the goats in their new fleece jackets, which they LOVE, I pondered what to do with my leftover fleece. I looked at my hands (because I was wearing those gloves), and I looked at the goat coats, and I looked at my hands and the light bulb came on. The design is SO simple there was no reason I couldn't make my own fingerless gloves.

I had one failed prototype but for exactly ZERO dollars and about 1/2 hour time investment I have quite a fine pair of gloves. I made a pattern for them so now if I need gloves I can make a pair of gloves faster than I can drive to town and buy a pair. How cool is that??