Woolywarm Navy all-merino roll-edge from England $120

We’ve had a 20 year relationship with a sweater-maker in England, who even came to Rivendell once, about 18 years ago, probably as a business expense excuse to see San Francisco. Their standard sweaters are too normal for us, so we typically design customs from scratch or take one of their existing models and add some quirk to make it a little groovier.

This current model began as a standard crew neck mother-in-law pleaser and perfectly fine in every way. Then we ordered a taller neck, a little on the loose side, to make it worse for hot weather but better when the mercury plummets below 68°F. The neck, hem, and cuffs are professionally “rolled” to give the sweater a casual look, just the ticket most of the time in town and all the time in the woods.

Material—

100 percent merino wool. It’s a skinny-haired wool, so the fibers are flexible and not pokey. Most of the time you’ll probably have something on underneath, but in a pinch, you can wear it as a pajama top 

Sizing—

Generous, by British standards, but they like their clothes tight. Buy your shirt size or one size up even two. If you are normally a 2X, the XL will be snug.

Washing and drying—

Wool or delicate setting recommended; and air dry. It’s dry enough after the spin cycle, no need to abuse it in the dryer. We sell —to help maintain the lanolin content. Our customers love it, but I think everybody here just uses normal (presumably earth-friendly) soap.

A shrunken one of these has kind of a neat look and feel about it. The wool gets tight, half-felted, and shrinks a few sizes, especially in length, a midriff-revealer or emergency layer for a smaller person.