WOOL
The choice for warm clothing
Contents copyrighted 2006 James M Dakin
I was born and raised in south and central coastal California. With the exception of a few
times moving to odd areas such as Fort Bragg ( CA ) and Lake Tahoe, I was always
warm. Always. A sweater or a light jacket was all I ever needed in winter, such as they
were. My first duty station in the military was Hawaii. After that I moved to northern
California on the coast to very mild winters. I was insulated from cold for over twenty
five years. Even then when I re-upped in the Army for another tour and was stationed in
Korea, the clothing was so good I rarely experienced discomfort except when the idiots
threw me on top of a Hummer behind the M-60 for a night time tour and expected me to
pay attention for "combatants" instead of turning into a popsicle. But that was just a few
hours. With their wool socks and heavy sweater that was worn under a BDU top I could
go out riding shotgun in an open jeep with my regular fatigues and hat with just a pair of
gloves and be comfortable in five and ten degrees in January. Without a wind-chill. On
top of the Hummer
was a different matter. A few years in Oklahoma saw me safe andwarm indoors as the first half of the nineties was the lowest end cost wise of carbon fuels
for decades. It cost next to nothing to stay comfortable and I took advantage of that ( and
with gas at $1.10 a gallon I could drive an old '75 Ford 100 PU that got 7 miles to the
gallon without a problem ). Then I spent five years in Florida and while the humidity was
foul electricity was only 7 cents a kilowatt hour and it was only fifty bucks a month to
cool a mobile home. I had to pedal everywhere in that heat but I was only cold a few
times when some cold air got down our way from the North every once in awhile. Then I
moved to my present location in Northern Nevada. And even though we have mild
winters, gas isn't cheap anymore. And wood is so scarce it cost $300 a cord for soft
wood. And electricity is not cheap here ( I think mostly as a result of Enron and screwing
over the local utilities ). So the old drafty travel trailer
stays a bit on the cold side. Andcommutes to work are for a quarter of the year very uncomfortable. Piling on cotton and
synthetic blend clothing is okay in the trailer, but outside called for some real warm
clothing.
Now, I understand that Yankeeland gets really cold. Wet and cold. And the border with
Canada in Montana, Idaho, North Dakota is better described as a lower level of Dante's
Hell in the winter. Most folks not raised in California or the South know how to get
through the winter. I assume. Or are you like me when I was in Oklahoma, largely living
in a warm house, running out to a warm car and going to a warm building to work? If
you are, then pay attention to this article. Even if you have lived your whole life in the
path of the winds from the Arctic
and work out of doors for a living, at least read thesection on cleaning wool without the help of a dry cleaners. I am preaching nothing new
here, just trying to get you to think about what you are going to need in winters to come
when you no longer have the luxury of working in a toasty office or driving to work in a
heated car or even live in a house with central air and affordable heating fuel. Synthetic
fabric really sucks when compared to wool, wool is natural and low tech to make and if
you learn how to take care of it you will never want to go back to synthetics. As we have
become almost 100% reliant on a cheap and abundant oil lifestyle we think nothing of
cranking up the thermostat to a "sitting around in a short sleeve shirt watching TV"
comfort level. We go outside literally only to play and we wear synthetics such as
GoreTex to keep us warm because it is easy to clean. God forbid we actually work at
anything such as cleaning clothes or research anything such as staying warm from layers.
You see people living in cities in harsh climates wearing tennis shoes and a huge bulky
jacket. They can do that due to living in controlled atmospheres. The old warm house to
warm car to warm work. When oil gets a lot more expensive, and it will since if nothing
else we will continue to inflate the dollar to buy all the goodies the government wants such as make work to keep us employed and not rioting, you will need to conserve fuels. You will need to warm yourself rather than the house. You may find yourself riding a bike in winter, like it or not. And it may be a cold walk to the unemployment office in the middle of winter as Ford and GM go bankrupt and the last factories in America go overseas to China
I easily get cold. Or maybe I just spend a lot of time out of doors in the winter compared
to your average person ( as far as actual indoor workers go ). But I think that if whatever
I do gets me warm, it should get almost anyone warm. And the only thing that works
100% for me is wool. Over freezing, I just layer in cotton and synthetics. Under freezing
and I need to resort to an additional layer of wool. The old boots I bought from Payless Shoes for $25 a pair and the second pair at half price, they are now my snow boots. Since
they are a synthetic material and don't breath I never wear them as they are not
comfortable. However, since they act the same as rubber, they are perfect snow boots
.One pair of cotton socks are good enough most days to keep my feet warm. Really cold
days and I add a pair of wool socks over the cotton. This allows me to wear the wool
socks longer between washings as coming up you will see what a pain it is to wash them.
My legs rarely get cold as I bicycle and the blood flow warms them up nicely. I do have
long johns I can wear if needed. If you are outside and not mobile, such as hunting, wool
pants might be needed. The torso needs multiple layers. I can get away with just a shirt,
sweater, jacket liner and jacket ( I use an old Army jacket ). If things get really cold Ihave plenty of wool sweaters. Cost, free to two bucks each from thrift stores
. This iswhere you can take advantage of wools difficulty to clean. Most people won't bother with
wool garments and donate to the thrift stores or sell at garage sales ( in my opinion the
only good things that come out of living in town is access to thrift stores and Super Wal-
Mart ). I have bought 100% wool sweaters for a $1.50 and that was without even looking
through the whole rack, at the thrift store in town that didn't even carry that much
clothing.
If you really put your mind to it you could collect them cheap for post collapse
sales ( fall and winter are a good time to sell them at very dear prices ). And sweaters are
a heck of a lot cheaper than wool coats. I would still buy a coat, but a sweater under a
synthetic can work in a pinch. A wool cap is excellent in keeping your melon toasty
warm. I use one cap and nothing else such as the hood of a sweatshirt and in ten to fifteen
degrees with a wind I feel no cold at all. In contrast, a synthetic cap, my sweatshirt hood
and even a scarf all in above freezing temps still can leave me cold if there is no sun and a wind. But that wool cap
does wonders. For gloves I use wool as a glove liner if underfreezing. Above with sun I can just wear the wool glove. Under freezing I need to put a
shell over the wool gloves, but mainly this is due to my riding a bike and making my own
wind chill. My hands are right out in front and get extra cold. I put a pair of GoreTex
gloves over my wool gloves
( leather would be better but that is what I had ) and thatworks to about 15-20 degrees. Under that I need to switch to mittens, but the same set up
of materials. Mittens keep your hands a bit warmer. Under 10-15 degrees, my hands are
going to get cold riding a bike. I will try a double pair of wool under the shell next time it
gets that cold. Perhaps that will do the trick. I did try the waterproof gloves ( wet suit
type material ) and they work great with wool underneath, but expect lack of dexterity
then. However, those gloves alone without the wool underneath are only good for above
freezing wear.
Cleaning wool is where the real fun begins. Now, don't get me wrong. Wool is great for
the survivalist
. It stays oh so warm. It stays warm even when wet, a very desirablecharacteristic. And it is quit. No noise when it rubs up against something. And,
important also, it is relatively cheap to buy. It might be two to four times as expensive as
cotton, but it is cheaper than synthetic winter clothing. And you can even make it yourself low tech style if the need ever arises. But the drawbacks are that in hot weather it really is uncomfortable and it is difficult to clean compared to modern fabrics. We really are spoiled and used to convenience. Myself included. I only work forty hours a week. I have drastically cut back on TV watching. I have no social life. Yet, I find myself
begrudging spending any time on life's little chores such as cooking or cleaning clothes. I
eat a lot of convenience foods. My whole wheat bread now comes from the Wal-Mart
bakery ( it's a buck twenty a one pound loaf on the day old rack-tell me you wouldn't be
tempted ). So my wool cloths go to the dry cleaner for washing. It is painless and needs
doing once a year. However, one day I'll be too poor for the dry cleaner or they won't be
around due to the economy getting a round of buckshot from Cheney and his Halliburton
butt buddies. Or you might need to clean weekly, say if you wear double wool socks
everyday outside. So, to cleaning. First, the hottest you want your water is lukewarm.
Cold is just fine, but no more than lukewarm. If you want your clothing to shrink to
Barbie doll
size, introduce heat in either washing or drying. No hot water. No hot airdrying. Simple, and cheap as an added bonus. Use a very mild soap. Dish washing soap
is good. You can get a 38 ounce bottle at the dollar store, so stock up now both for
dishes and wool cleaning after the stores are burned down in a former Welfare recipient
orgy of self destructiveness. Then you hand wash. Do not wring or twist. Very gentle.
This is not your wife's booby. It will take grotesque and awful permanent shapes if you
mistreat while washing or drying. For such a great fabric it is very sensitive during
washing. Almost like Hunk Hoagan only using a loofa to wash with ( and only oatmeal
soap ). After hand washing and rinsing without wringing or twisting, set on a towel flat
without wrinkles ( you guessed it, wrinkles will produce permanent reshaping ). Myself, I
would use two towels. The first to get out all the water, by blotting. The second to lay
on while drying. Remember, no wrinkles, lying flat. Half way through the drying, turn
over the garment or the side not exposed to air will be a bit musty. I would also turn over
the towel or replace it to give a dryer surface. Do not place next to the fireplace
or heaterand do not place directly in the sun to dry while wet. I would place it in the sun after it is
dry to make it smell good and disinfect it, but only when dry. Always place the item flat.
Hanging it up "burns in" the shape of what it is hanging from and the garment will stretch
out longer and stay that way. Blocking has been suggested, where you fill the item with a
replica of your body part such as a cardboard outline of your hand. Don't do that as the
edges of the cardboard will permanently crease the fabric. I would only do it if you had a
mannequin in your size, and who has one of those around? Just lie flat with no wrinkles.
Smooth out by hand to assure this, a flat raking motion. Boy, don't you wish you could
take the darn thing to the dry cleaner?
Now that you can't wait to run out and buy a bunch of cloths that require special treatment on wash day, to the details on purchasing. Really though, try wool for the first time and you will realize how much better it is for winter wear. The extra effort is worth it. As I said, sweaters are readily available at the thrift store. Almost all other items you are going to have to buy through mail order. Retail stores might carry them. I don't know, I don't shop them. Even Wal-Mart only gets my clothing business for socks and underwear and slacks for work. Everything else comes from thrift stores. And I hate clothes shopping anyway. Mail order is much more fun shopping, as in "oh what a bargain" fun and "oh how easy" fun. I really like the part about being so smart and getting better bargains than anyone else. You paid HOW much from Mervyns? Hah, hah. The company I have really had good luck with is Sportsman’s Guide. Really good prices. Now, once, they did screw up my order. I ordered 800 rounds of 303 surplus ( I believe for $140 ) and by buying that double amount you were supposed to get a free wooden box for storage with it. Instead, I got two cardboard boxes of 400 rounds each. And they shorted me ten rounds ( yes, I counted them ). However, their previous service and prices were so favorable that I forgave them and continue to patronize them. I bring this up to let you know that while they are not perfect, they are darn close. Plus, almost any other company and I would not be as forgiving. That is how good they are. And the web site is really easy to use ( fast with pictures even for dial-up ). How good are their bargains? Just yesterday a pair of Doc Martins
were going for fifty bucks!! I am going from memory so give me a little leeway, but the wool caps were three for $12, the mittens were five for $12 ( same with gloves ), socks were three pairs for $14. Not wool, but a great bargain were three pairs of thermal underwear pants for about $12. I'm sure I have ordered more than those clothes and the ammo but that is what comes to mind. I didn't buy one but they had 100% wool jackets for $20!! They offer a sporting catalog but they also have a military surplus catalog were all the really good stuff is. Try to get that. I don't think you will be disappointed, go to their web site.END FUNDAMENTALS-MORE BELOW
I'm not trying to make it a habit to re-post old articles. This will most likely be the last time. Not as simple as copy and paste, the formatting gets all screwed up in transfer and it doesn't save as much time as I'd like. The only thing differant between this article and my present circumstances are the longer winters with lower temps. I wrote this in Carson City which is much milder than Elko. Also, I do my own cleaning now. Look for guest articles this weekend. Sam, got your coin-thank you.
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, stewpot bound, 
, 
genre, it is nice is cover different subjects as much as possible. So, while I started reading that wonderful book “
” by Marvin Harris, I ran across the subject of women’s body fat, ovulation, fertility and lactation. And I was thrilled not only to answer a question that has long plagued me but also have subject matter that was new. The subject could have been anything, its novelty was what was important. Don’t think I want to know THAT much about the inner workings of 
. Those are subjects best left to gynecologists as they swan dive into dark recesses faintly smelling of sea life stranded on beaches. Yes, yes, I know it is an internal moist area so sometimes you can’t control what is growing up there. But, then, I could make the same excuse for my rectal region.
, a lot of you are going to be chaining the wives to the kitchen stove, shoeless, trying to repopulate the farm. But some of you might actually need to be conscious of your surroundings and regulate your population so that you don’t overexploit your resources. Even after our current 
idiocy made possible by petroleum crashes and burns, there will more than likely still be too many folks around that we can return to an actual 
existence ( after the Mayan 
the area was virtually abandoned, but somehow I don’t think we’ll be that lucky ). But even a herder group needs to keep from overpopulating. There is X amount of grass for the animals to eat and no more. Farmers can overexploit their environment and can make that work for a few generations ( chop down forests, reduce fallow time, increase irrigation, cut back on meat consumption, steal the neighbors land ), but herders have a much shorter 
. In short, birth control is a needed skill. You can rely somewhat on 
. But it is far better to make ovulation impossible that to become pregnant and then roll the dice on an abortion. Herbs don’t always work. The following method isn’t the only method you need. Primitive hunters controlled ovulation but still had to engage in infanticide to keep their numbers in line with resources. 
and thought we were safe. If I had known about body fat requirements for conception I would have realized the dear wife had a surplus of calories throughout both pregnancy and breast feeding. Hey, when you’re that young all the fat is in the right places. Talk about a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing.
, low carb diet. The same with the beginning of 
. The lower the body fat, the longer it takes to begin. In diets containing mostly starchy vegetables and little animal flesh, menstruation starts earlier and the interval between pregnancies lessons. In hunters diets, the predominance of lean meat made it difficult to start menstruation. It wasn’t unusual to delay that until age 18 or even twenty. In farming diets, high carbs and low protein, menstruation could start as early as age 12 or 13. A hunter female ( by which I mean a female in a hunter/gatherer tribe, not a female that hunted ) could prolong lactation for up to four years, whereas with high carb diets it is almost impossible to go beyond 18 months. To me, this points to an evolutionary pressure during hundreds of thousands of years during which we were all hunter/gatherers to where the normal diet helped to prolong pregnancy intervals so as not to overpopulate and ruin the environment. Mother Nature didn’t design us to pop out kids one after another but to spawn intermittently. We had to help, since even the smallest population increase will eventually overrun the planet. War is always a good way to control population, as is “accidental” 
. Or the ancient equivalent of forgetting the baby stroller was on top of the car, leaving Og Junior behind on a picnic. The preference for male babies isn’t as much about breeding more warriors as much as drastically reducing the breeding stock ( then, wars got the male/female ratio back in check ). 
!”. I’m not too sure about today’s. Tomorrow I think will be much better. I will be writing on female body fat, 
and birth control. I imagine you don’t share my enthusiasm on the subject, but if you think about it for a few seconds you realize it fits right in there with 
living and survival. I read up on it last night but I need to take notes. Back to my less than stellar articles ( which have always happened in droves, and will always happen on occasion ), I’m coming down with another damn cold and am feeling like I’ve been rode hard and put up wet. I’m just going on auto-pilot, churning out drivel. I usually only get sick once a season, at least to the point I feel this bad, largely thanks to mega-dosing 
and my being pure of heart. But now I’m sick twice in a month. My newest theory is that one of the homeless guys here hangs out at the hospital at night to stay warm and he has taken to licking the walls. After he mixes and matches several toxic man-made barnyard flu cultures he comes back here to share.
is now going to be turning sunlight into fuel artificially, as plants do. This is of course just hogwash, pie in the sky, unicorns and glitter thinking, but it did allow me for a second to wish and hope we weren’t all going to die. I only give civilizations ( or, at least the American Empire descending into anarchy ) chances of survival a single digit, say 2%. As long as you don’t gamble on it happening it is alright to wish for it. So, just in case that 2% happens, on the off chance we don’t all end up in the stew pot, what if your survival plans and preps come to naught?
. For the mere expense of a few thousand bucks you have the potential to save hundreds every month thereafter once you move on to it. If it all goes to hell you have a place the bankers can’t 
. If nothing bad happens you have a very frugal 
that will allow you to prep more, or earn less or both. If your number one expense all your life is rent or a mortgage, it just makes sense to eliminate that. Yes, at first it will be 
, but soon after that as you invest in the land and its structures it becomes more livable and comfortable. You will be the envy of all your friends as they need to suck on the bosses ass to keep their good paying job just a little longer before it goes to India so they can pay more interest to the bankers before they are homeless. Another way prepping is investing is it forces you to live more frugal to afford that expense. Afterwards, if you ever reach that illusive “enough supplies” point, you have learned how to live cheap and can thereafter enjoy life rather than laboring mightily for others benefit. At first it will be hard to give up your double decaf latte, cell phone glued to your ear, eating out three times a week. But after a bit you will shudder at the prospect of ever wasting money like that again.
. This saves you tons of money and gets you in far better health. A great investment, in other words. Than of course there is the buying in bulk. At first you are just trying to save 25 or 50% but soon you won’t buy any item at less than pallet sizes. The incredible savings are simple irresistible. It takes a bit of doing to save up for monthly shopping rather than daily or weekly, but it returns your investment very quickly. I know few of you share my hatred of motor vehicles. But if you never bought a new vehicle again, convinced the oil won’t outlive it, you’ve saved a ton of money. When you go from florescent to 
’s the cost is pretty high. Going from 26 to 6 watts a fixture will never pay back your cost ( although factoring in bulb replacement of fluorescents might make it look better ) but once the cost goes from 15 cents a kilowatt to a buck ( almost guaranteed to happen prior to brown outs and then the permanent black out ) you will once again have made a huge, smart, envied investment. Even if the lights always stay on, increased inflation will jack up the price. The same with 
. It might not pay for itself now, but once heat becomes more expensive it will. And NOT investing in these items will be foolish since it replaces the need for energy. It is a one time expense. As opposed to a monthly forever after expense of extra heat and electricity. 
, look at it as saving grocery money by buying in bulk. Don’t look at it as eating weird food but being on a health regimen. You aren’t throwing away four grand buying land a thousand miles away, you are buying a cheap homestead you will move out to shortly. You aren’t prepping the house to keep you alive after grid down, but saving money as you save the earth. You aren’t wasting four hundred bucks buying more rimfire ammo than you’ll ever need, simply buying at a discount, while affordable, ammunition for the rest of your life going to the shooting range. None of this HAS to be for the apocalypse, it can simply be fighting inflation before one of you in the marriage gets laid off. That is, if my paranoid screaming haven’t convinced you of the need to prep ( honestly, I don’t give myself that much credit- anyone with half open eyes can see the threats ). 
rate or that of private citizens weighing in the matter, such as Shadow Stats. I think it was close enough, but you might disagree. At the very least, any to all gains are largely illusionary. But even if I did go a bit paranoid, you would still be a dumbass if you put any of your wealth into this turd.
claimed he was a really swell guy and all Americans should worship him and all nubile females should rip off their clothes in his presence since he had paid back the loans. This was quickly discredited on the Web as more than one person did the math and pointed out his claim was fuzzy at best and a Gott Damn Lie at worse. I think it was taking some of the loan to pay some other part or something such as that. As far as I know the loan is still outstanding. So in all fairness let’s call this one wrong, prediction wise. Two for three so far.
. 
trying to get all available females to lust after me, I call it close enough. I should also point out that for the longest time I was about the only one worrying about the situation as the wheat prices started climbing. If you would only listen to me then you will have a heads up on what to panic about. Again and again and again ( did I mention, again? ) I tell you to panic early and no one does. Let this be a lesson to you. I told you months ago to buy wheat as it was going up ( and whenever I’m wrong, I try to have advice that at worst prompts you to do the right thing but too early ).
info from that beautiful bastard over at 
will have to reach $2k before the Bison Blog gets 2k daily readers. Remember, I wasn’t forecasting gold as going to $2k but rather tying the price of gold to my readership numbers. I had shown gold as $1100 while my reader numbers were about 1100. Well, I got this one wrong. My readers still number between 1100 and 1200 while gold has risen higher. Curses! You would think that as the economy took more power dives off the edge of the sewage pond more folks would flock to my frugal wisdom. Rather, those folks went to Rawles as he promised them less pain for more money. I don’t necessarily blame them. Culture follows food. Whatever feeds us, we adopt. Money is the only means of feeding us so it is no surprise that people worship money. My problem is that I’m pointing out that the money for food system is destined to fail before folks can make it to their Super Deluxe 
, which pisses them off to no end. It is my fault, I suppose. But look at the bright side, all those unworthies that turned away from the Bison Truth just make you look smarter for supporting me in the style I deserve.
by them. Remember the loan offer? The federales offer to split the cost of a banker bailout interest payment if the states and locals borrow more to live yet another year or two. Obviously they are desperate to please the Bernenke Banker Overlords who are frantically clutching at straws. I call this one right on the money.
( not pistol or carbine ), current manufacture, brass and reloadable, will go over a dollar a round regular price ( discounting any company offloading inventory before bankruptcy ). I was WAYYYY off on this one. I called for bulk buys to go for a buck a round and instead they decreased by almost fifty percent. 
would go bankrupt due to too few items being available for under a buck. While the dollar store crap isn’t anywhere near as good as a year ago ( outside their LED lights, anyway ), I was still off on this one as they have stayed in business and are busier than ever pushing plastic crap to the masses.