Winter Accessory 3: Mittens & Gloves

Closet Content Analysis: Upgrade Basic Winter Outerwear 

Necessary Choices: Mittens & Gloves

NICE     NECESSARY     NEED     NOTE-WORTHY

To match or not to match is the question. There are those who love the matched sets - snood and mittens, scarf and gloves, toques and mittens in the same colour, colour combinations and knits. I don't usually buy matched sets of these items and prefer to wear leather gloves although they are not the best choice for really cold weather. My favourite "matched set" is my Burberry check scarf (see the previous post) with red leather gloves - black and tan are nice too. 

NICE: If you need to protect your hands from the moderate cold, or you simply want to look fashionable, whatever the motivation, leather gloves fill the requirements. Leather gloves can be expensive and very expensive but if you care for them and don't lose them then your investment comes back tenfold. Consider a cost per wear on gloves that some of us have to wear everyday over a six month period - at the worst of times.

The nicest gloves I ever owned were purchased in Italy - cashmere lined, longer than wrist length but shorter than elbow length, red in colour and the most fashionable gloves I have ever put on my hands. Unfortunately I have no idea where they are - I don't know if I lost them or simply packed them away when I left for my 6 month stint in Europe and now cannot find them. I always have a black pair in every pocket and never seem to lose my black gloves.

NEED TO FIND or BUY: These gloves provide me with the criteria when searching for a new pair. They may have been "gauntlet" length which is about 11 inches but I thought they were a little longer than that. Of course, I never thought to measure them when I bought them. The best way to describe the length would be to compare them to rubber gloves that are sold for household use - longer for dipping hands into sinks of water.

NECESSARY: If it's frigid, mittens are a better choice. The warmth of your body is a greater insulator than the fabric encircling your fingers and so mittens "outwarm" gloves. My favourite mittens are either angora or mohair - I love fuzzy yarn for mittens. My husband once bought me a pair of blue and grey angora mittens at the farmers' market but I don't know where those are either. Although I have never owned a pair, the warmest are apparently "felted" wool mittens. They cost more because the mittens are knitted to be gigantic and then they are washed in hot water, shrinking the wool and thereby "felted".

NOTEWORTHY: If it's fashion not frigidity that you are trying to master unlined leather gloves are less expensive and mold to your hand in a way that lined gloves do not.

Photo Source: Leather Gloves Online

NEED: This is not so much "need" as desire - a pair of gloves in each and every colour - now that's a collection I wouldn't mind beginning.

NEED to Know when Buying Gloves: Snug is best. Leather stretches and if the glove has room to spare and long in the fingers when purchased they will become sloppy after a short period of pulling on and off and wearing. At the same time I write that, I am thinking about a friend whose personal preference is to have more room in the fingers for what he calls "insulation value".