News you can use: Wool Stockings

Yay, its finally winter in the Northeast.  But now its cold, and even though it is foretasted to be nearly 60f on Tuesday in Philadelphia, it will get cold again, some day. 

In my constant search for warmth, I have recently tried out three pairs of wool stockings.  First thing is finding wool stockings.  Lots of searching for wool stockings actually results in non-wool, but warm stockings.  Fine, but not what was asking for.  So here goes, three stockings, made from wool, from worst to best.

The WORST: Hansel from Basel

The internet loves these.  Boutiques I love, love these.  So I bought a pair when I was last in Montreal in the dead of winter.  OMG, they are so cute.  The patterns are cute, the textures are cute, the stockings are… wait for it…

Low rise.  Yes, thats right, they go halfway down your ass, and when you walk, they fall all the way down.  Their website claims that they run very small, “size runs very small. m/l will fit xs.”  So that makes them useless for a lot of people, including myself.  But thinking it was just the size of my ass, I passed them off to my tiniest, xs friend, who even tried wearing her panties on the outside to hold them up.  She threw them out.  When I asked around, alot of other, medium to tiny sized friends had tried and HATED these.  Low rise is fine for lacy panties, but not for thick wool stockings. 

The GOOD: Smartwool

Totally not low rise.  Which seems silly to say, but they stay up, stay in place.  And that should be a given, but obviously is not.  Smartwool are meant as a baselayer, and even though I was usually wearing leggings over them, I still want my stockings to function just was well as plain stockings.  So they get demerit points for that.  They are warm, but when they are on, they look sort of rough and there is not enough stretch for them not to get those stretched out parts on your knees and heels. They will set you back like 40 bucks, and if you find them for 20, I would say they are worth it. 

The AMAZING: Falke Softmerino

The website says 29€, I think in the States they are more like $60, that is the only downside.  They are warm, so warm, fuzzy, perfect.  They have the perfect stretch, they look great on, they are thick, but not bulky, they are high up, so they cover your bum.  And… you can wear them for a week straight before they get that terrible stiff, stale stockingness that forces you to wash them.  Eek, I love them.

To try… The last time I was in the Balkans in winter, I almost bought these, but at $60 they seemed a little too expensive.  But after my Falke success, I might try them out.  Then again, I might just get another pair of Falkes. 

The Vermont Country store has two pairs to try.  And as I really trust them with things like wool stockings, this might be my next stop.

Hey, stay warm out there.  Or just wait until Monday, when it will feel like late Spring.