Winter Gloves

Maggie Smith-freedigitalphotos.net

     A good pair of winter gloves are important to us as city dwellers for many reasons.  Mainly because we as New Yorker's are a part of the elements just about 365 days a year.  Our suburban counterparts go from home, to garage, to car, to work.  Not so with us as we go outdoors just about everyday, braving whatever temperatures and conditions are thrown at us.  We don't have the luxury of putting the things we acquire through the day in our portable, easily warmed shelter (i.e. car.)  We are always stuck carrying all sorts of stuff like; bags of groceries, purses, babies, phones, you name it.  Often having so many things on us, that putting our hands in our warm pockets is just not an option.  On a bitter cold winter day, our hands suffer because we don’t want to deal with having to take gloves on and off just so we can function in our daily busy lives.  Using a cell phone, counting money, or just plain doing anything with your hands is a pain while wearing big, bulky gloves.

      

     You have to remember that keeping your hands warm is important to keeping the rest of your body warm.  For a good portion of the fall/winter you can get by with a pair of 100% wool gloves.  They are very insulating, small, lightweight, and can even get fairly wet without losing their insulating properties.  They are also easy to wash by hand, or in a laundry machine.  Like anything wool, allow them to air dry, as they will shrink when thrown in a dryer.  If, like me, you get hot easily I suggest using a lightweight liner worn under the wool glove made of polyester to help with wicking moisture.  Exactly like the three-layer system I suggest for your clothes, you can do the same with your gloves.  With the light polyester liner as your base, wool insulating layer, and an unlined leather outer-layer or shell, you can handle the worst conditions The Apple can throw at you.  This functional system is actually very cheap too.  Not to mention, it allows you to customize your gloves for the conditions of the day.  Just like the three-layer system, you can add or remove layers to fit with the temperature of the day.

     For those of you that are often in the bush, or for those that need as many layers as possible to stay warm, there are a few options to help keep you even warmer.  You may look a little out of place, but I'm personally not one to worry much about what people think, and hope you've gotten to the point in your life where you don't as well.  In extremely cold conditions, or while in the bush in cold conditions, I suggest mittens for the added benefit of being much warmer then “fingered” gloves.  By keeping your fingers together, they heat each other up conserving much more body heat.  You can then clip, sew to the outside of your jacket, or tie a lanyard around your wrists to the glove, like children do, helping you slip the gloves off and on with ease.  This method also helps you not lose them, and is used by the Inuit people's of the arctic, who definitely know how to dress for the cold.

     By keeping your extremities warm, your body can concentrate on keeping your very important core warm.  With the ideas behind the simple, affective three-layer system, we can all have a much more enjoyable outdoor fall/winter season this year.  Here are some items I own to keep my hands toasty warm that I can suggest from Amazon. 

I use a polyester glove liner from EMS.  The "EMS" brand name stuff is of OK quality.  I suggest buying EMS for simple things like glove liners and the like.