It's getting dramatically more expensive to heat our homes, so I thought we could use a thread to swap and discuss ideas on how to save fuel costs!

I can put me into a cosy jumper (and have just bought three more on eBay for under £10 total), but I despair of getting teenage nieces to wear layers. When they visit, they arrive with a t-shirt and a light zip-front sweatshirt and get terribly cold but refuse to wear jumpers... they end up draped like squaws in blankets... which means they can't help with washing-up, etc (hmm, they're clever!).

I've got ill-fitting windows, no matter what I do over summer with sandpaper and sash-cords... so I've got lined heavy curtains that are much bigger than the windows' dimensions (they were £25 last winter in a charity shop (thrift shop in US?) and are really worth it!).

What else is there? How do you stay warm?

Why can't we transfer heat from the boiling-hot kitchen, where we scurry about scarlet-faced and sweating, to the ice-cold bedroom where we huddle miserably under every coat in the house?! (I may exaggerate a little here...)

laura

laura

Hi Laura,

I am hoping against hope that I am not alone in my love of the approaching winter due to two main things - soup and flannel sheets. I adore flannel sheets, we don't have the heating on in our bedroom but they are the most gorgeous and snuggly bed items ever. We did make an error with them once and decided to have them as bottom sheet, top sheet and pillowcases - it was virtually impossible to get our of bed! lol

The best way to stay stylish and toasty is imo thermals. Oh yes! You can swank around the streets looking svelt and warm without anyone knowing your secrets - although remember to tuck your vest into the leggings keep those kidneys warm.

At home I go for a two pronged approach, actual warmth and psychological warmth. I wear a jaunty headscarf or headband and a nice cord skirt with fancy tights and my twist on a twinset (usually a sweater and a shirt or a sweater and a zip up cardigan) and slipper boots - meaning if it is very very cold I can don a pair of stripey socks too.

Psychological warmth comes mainly through smell. Nice spicy fragrance in the air mixing with coffee and some delicious comfort food usually does the trick in this neck of the woods. I also dress the lounge up with hot coloured cushions and other little trinkets so there's a cosy glow about the place. Then the obvious things like winter flowering plants and candles come into play too, just helping the atmosphere along a little.

And music - let there never be silence. Maybe this is just me but I always feel colder when it's silent. I don't mean the contented quiet we have when a bunny is sat on my lap and we're having a reading night but that silence that says "you're on your own cold and grumpy" :-(

And if all else fails, I bring out the benedictine and hot water! Although probably not for young nieces...

Good grief, I never thought about a headscarf as a hat!

I can't believe I never thought fo that... I feel like a lightbulb just went 'ping!' as it appeared over my head ;-D

I often wear pretty scarves tied gypsy-style or WW2-style round my head and of course it's a way of keeping warmer!

And I'm with you on the 'psychological warmth' side! It's a well-known fact (round me, anyway) that red or stripey socks are warmer than any other socks....

I love approaching winter - only I really don't like soups! But this morning I've been doing two or three things involving the oven so I've had a potato quietly baking away in there for lunchtime - rubbed with butter and then well-salted and well-peppered and a sprinkle of Colman's mustard powder - makes the skin crispy and tasty and even more gorgeous!

I don't have any thermals - but I do layer up in fine-knit wool and silks which don't have any more bulk and are just as warm or (I reckon) warmer.
I've jsut started knitting myself some long over-the-knee socks because all the ones I can buy either wear through in a week in the heels, or else don't come over my knee, or else reach my upper leg but cut the blood supply off, etc., etc... they're in pale grey angora/wool with bands of Fair Isle patterning in pale-pink wool. They look like they'll be nice - the longest project I've knitted (each will be about 25 inches long!) but if I soldier on and finish them within the next year then next winter's project will be to get some softest-of-soft wool and actually knit up one of the hysterically-funny vest* patterns of my Gran's pre-war books! I've laughed at them for years, but now I see how prettily the soft yarns knit up into stocking-tops and how soft they are, I'm thinking that actually I would wear a hip-length (to tuck in! No draughts! Bliss!) vest - maybe even the same pale grey with pale-red as it looks so pretty together!
I handwash so mcuh it would be no problem to handwash it but actually both yarns are "gentle 30-degree wash" anyway so can be machined...

Cosy vests and socks and leggings can be cute and sexy! I insist on it! I'm starting a campaign now for men to regard cosy warm undies as seriously cute and adorable!

*American Brocanters, I mean an undergarment by 'vest' - thin straps and fine-knit stretch lace-stitch like a bought thermal vest

laura

Well I am glad to have been the source of your lightbulb.

I couldn't agree more, it is essential that undergarments are delightful too - otherwise it makes it very difficult to exude gorgeousness. I have heard great things about silks but I can't/won't wear them as I don't wear silk, leather, suede etc. But I have a Russian friend who wears them so that's good enough for me!

Someone once told me their very Irish and very Catholic grandmother always made her pin her vest to her tights in the winter if she was going to the cinema with a young man "for safety purposes". I cannot imagine the unpleasant surprise if a frosty cold pin touched your skin whilst trying to be alluring.

I am exceptionally lucky in the husband department - he finds the appeal in anything I find cute and exciting, so things like jaunty socks, pegs and lacy vests are all mildy amusing to him. He even had an opinion about some new curtains at the weekend *faints*

I love red and grey together, where's my blanket I feel the need to cosy in. I wonder how many treats Father Christmas could cram into a 25 inch long sock...

honny, your old lady's precautions made me smile! Is that the real reason why they're called "safety pins"?!

I'm lucky in my man too - many men appreciate sheer black nylons but not every man appreciates long woolly socks!
I haven't tried him on curtains yet... !!!

Do you wear wool? A few years ago they did an experiment with replicas of the outfits worn in the 1953 ascent of Everest and discovered all that old-fashioned stuff did every bit as well as the modern fancy synthetic clothing! All those thousands of pounds and wool works just as well...
They said it was due to the layering - two thin layers, if they are wool (or silk for those of us who do wear it) are far warmer than one thick layer apparently due to trapping the air.

So keep on layering your thin and lacy knits - keeps your figure looking slender and keeps you warm!



Does anyone still use draught-excluders on either doors or windows? We're making some to use this winter, like we used to in my childhood.
You need either a long sock or tube of fabric or the leg of a pair of woolly tights, long enough to lie along the door, and as wide as, well, as a tights-leg!
Then you chop up old nylon tights or any fabric as small as possible and stuff the tube/ sock/ tights-leg.
Cut felt into V-shapes - we used to make the Vs have zig-zags along them too. Sew or glue those on.
Add two bright buttons for eyes and a forked tongue of felt.
You now have a draught-excluding snake!

My mum's family is from County Durham so we always called ours "Lampton Worms" after the ancient song about a great serpent that ate people and livestock until it was killed. The ancient name for a huge serpent or dragon of legend was a worm or wyrm.

laura

Hi,

Yes I do wear wool, I have a couple of beautiful base layers (meant to be worn for all those bracing winter jaunts up hill and down dale) and they are very warm when teamed up with another thin layer.

I do also have draught excluders, although I no longer have snakes as my rabbit chewed off the tongue and scratched the eyes... lol, so mine are more like nice big bolster cushions - completely inoffensive to the animal kingdom as far as I am aware.

Tread carefully around men when discussing soft furnishings, it can lead to them needing a lie down and a cold compress should the subject be raised unexpectedly.

honny, when I went over yesterday my chap was already lying down in a darkened room as he has a horrible horrible cold, so we had a very romantic reunion (he was away working, then I was hectic working then he was away working so we hadn't seen each other in over two weeks), by both of us falling asleep for two hours snoring!

BUT when we woke up about teatime, he started talking about soft furnishings and did I think thicker curtains would help cut his fuel bills and where could he get a blanket that was soft and not too heavy to add to his bedding?!

Wow...

I've been buying "stone pigs" for friends and family on eBay. These are the trad 19th-century ceramic hot water bottles, a long cylinder with a knob on one end to hold it by (like a pig's nose, hence the name) and a screw-top on the upper curve of the cylinder. You warm it with hot tap-water, then empty that to fill with boiling water from the kettle, and if you fill it at 10pm it is not just warm at 8am but still actually hot!
I'm finding them for about 10 pounds or less including postage and packing - although one, despite reasonably careful packing, arrived with a broken stopper, so local shops are the best source.

I'm also considering finding chunky pure wool and bigger needles than my usual 3mm or less, and knitting bedsocks for my nieces for this winter! I'm a slow knitter but if I knit in a chunkier yarn, it makes it faster... and I might double the yarn for the heel and toe which makes it harder-wearing for slopping around in... or else sew on slipper-soles, but then they are unwashable...

Maybe washable thick pure-wool yarn for warmth and softness, and add in an acrylic yarn for heel and toe for wear?

laura

How splendid! Not that your young man was struck down with the dreaded "manflu" but that he was thinking about soft furnishings from the practical standpoint! I love the way that we always manage to wake up at teatime too :-)

It was rather cold last night so we gave the flannel sheets a first outing and very cosy it was too, despite the howling wind - and I see this morning gales are forecast *eeek*

I love the stone pigs, when I was the manager of a charity shop some 5 years since we sold tonnes of them - there must be a surplus in this neck of the woods. They were so popular and we all know why, toasty. I think my favourite thing about them is that (and this may sound odd) they look as lovely and inviting whether in use or not, whereas there is something a little off-putting about a flaccid hot water bottle iykwim. I think I might have to have a poke round for one next time we're out and about, it might make a useful doorstop during the warmer months too.

When knitting socks my grandmother would always reinforce the heel with a little knitted heel pad, like a shoulder pad, and stitch it in, it did the trick very well, although I am not skilled enough for that kind of caper. I am excited about the prospect of adding the acrylic yarn for the heel and toe - maybe in an exciting coordinating colour. Best of luck with them!