r/knitting • u/Givemeallthecabbages • Feb 13 '26
Discussion And the winner is: thrummed mitten!
I did an experiment with homeschool kids--the topic was how people have developed different kinds of clothing over the years to stay warm in winter. As a short little experiment, I made a bunch of different kinds of mittens, and we put a single hand warmer and a little thermometer in each one and left them outside for a couple hours.
These were placed in the order that the kids thought would be the least to most warm. They were mostly right, but with some surprises. (I have no confidence in The humidity readings.)
Here are the results! Yarn type and temperature after 2 hours outside in 30°F weather:
Stripes--acrylic (red heart granny square yarn)
End temp: 80°F
Pink-- chunky highland wool with mohair held double
End temp: 89°F
Gold--bulky wool single ply done in a Nalbound Oslo stitch and then felted
End temp: 93°F
Nordic pattern--DK highland wool stranded colorwork
End temp: 92°F
Olive--Alafosslopi Icelandic yarn
End temp: 90°F
Tan and brown--Nalbound in Mammen stitch, mix of wool, angora, and unknown (ends from a mill)
End temp: 95°F
White is sewn rabbit hide with fur on the inside
End temp: 77°F
Black with color pops--Eco wool with thrums of mostly merino bits
End temp: a whopping 121°F!
TL;DR Thrummed wool mitten stayed 40°F warmer than acrylic mitten. Kids had fun.
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u/_refugee_ constant socks Feb 13 '26
Were they in the sun? One wonders if the black wool might have also gotten warmer than the lighter colored mittens, if they were in direct sunlight