To Wool or Not To Wool

With low Boston temperatures, multiple pending trips to the mountains, and long freezing waits at the bus stops, we were in search of something warm. This search and a random freezing stroll down Newbury St. brought us into the winter sale at Patagonia. As we searched, an enthusiastic salesman enlightened us on how superior wool is compared other thermals. It basically does everything from keeping you warm to keeping you cool depending on the scenario and the questions you posed him. Hmmm, suspicious. According to him and his personal experiences, apparently you can also wear a single wool shirt for 30 days straight without smelling, even for being "a sweaty guy." This fact was both a little too much information and also not something I'm interested in testing out. At any rate, with his stories and the 30% discount, we now both have wool thermals.

In keeping with this, I knitted a green wool scarf so that a loved one can brave the Boston winters better. Unfortunately, wool, regardless of how advanced we are nowadays with its processing, is still more itchy than cotton.
It wasn't until 2/3 of the way through, on a train in Spain, that my mom and I noticed that the scarf was not coming out as smooth as the previous cotton ones we had made. I was torn between taking it apart and starting anew, but since we had already put so much time into it, I ended up finishing it anyway. At the end, even after ironing, I was sad to see that it is still itchy. Bah!

However, the happy ending is that apparently when you're really really cold, your itch sensations are the first to go! Hallelujah!

He was super sweet and the scarf went on to fulfill its destiny around a cold neck.