Weekly SO

 Underwear (as undershirts)

I've been listening to some knitting podcasts on Youtube, and when I first heard that one of the podcasters wears her (wool) sweaters without anything - maybe except a bra- I was like hmmm. She must be the odd one out. But then I heard another one, and then another one, and as we all know, one might be a chance but three is a trend. 

I was like WHAT? 

She did not like a certain yarn, because it is ever so slightly prickly (do not get me started on "prickly/itchy", etc yarn, LOL), but she does not wants to wear anything underneath... because she gets hot, but then she still sweats and she needs to wash her sweaters frequently... 

Now, I would NEVER EVER wear a wool/alpaca/angora/cashmeere (basically -mostly- protein based / animal fibers) sweater directly on my skin. I would always wear something, at least a T shirt underneath. 

I did not, even, before I started to study historical clothes, but after that, not even that much. Whenever I am asked, how do I wash my wool sweaters, my answer is usually that I rarely do. Not only, because I have many, and I do not go out that much, but also because I always wear something underneath them. It is one of the basic teachings of historical dress, and if nothing else, we should learn as much. Just as I am often asked about my sweaters and washing, we are often asked about how did they washed those big, natural fiber dresses, and the answer is the same. They did not. Were they dirty or smelly? Also NOT. Why? Partly because those clothes were hung out to air, (wind, sun and cold does wonders). Patly, because, they were undershirts (chemises) underneath, and they washed those. And washed those frequently. I also wash my T shirts, undershirts, etc rather frequently.

Things with cellulose based fibers (cotton/linen) are somewhat different, I used to have some summery tops, and I might even wear a cotton sweater with a tank top (instead of something with sleeves), but I still feel the urge to wear something underneath.

And let's not even talk about dressing appropriately to certain conditions, because climate change threw a lot of things  off its course, but we, I think, can agree, that it is not the swetar's fault (and not the yarn's) if we are hot?