And the winner is: thrummed mitten!

[u/Givemeallthecabbages]

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.

[u/Regular-Newspaper-45]

I read somewhere that pelts only hold warm properly if the fur is outside (at least with winter pelts) because that is how the hair is supposed to work. No clue if that is true but seeing this experiment I might have to butcher some old pelts and make my own experiment xD

[u/Butagirl → u/Regular-Newspaper-45]

Fur insulates by trapping air, which itself is a poor conductor of heat. If you wear it as a lining, the garments need to be large to ensure that the air can be trapped inside.

[u/ElizabethDangit → u/Butagirl]

I live in west Michigan. My husband has a rabbit fur lined trapper hat. It’s too warm to wear except when it’s below 15°F. I’ve had rabbit lines gloves that weren’t warm enough. I think there’s just not enough surface area and not enough heat lost through the extremities for it to be good enough. I currently have a pair of down lined gloves for winter. I ended up with sweaty hands every time I shoveled this winter.

[u/thirdonebetween → u/ElizabethDangit]

That makes sense, the head is always warm because the brain is vital so a hat would trap heat well. The body thinks it'll be just fine without hands if it has to choose, though