I got out for a ride on this chilly but sunny, beautiful fall day. Days like this are perfect for a classic wool jersey, and of course that's what I wore. The ride and the weather got me looking through my collection of wool - most of which is vintage stuff.
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| I took the green and white Mercian for the ride today. |
Not that it's necessarily the most interesting topic for a blog post, I thought I might snap some pictures of my wool jersey collection so people can see what I had to select from for the ride.
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| Here's what I ended up wearing today. An extra-thick (and surprisingly soft) wool jersey from Castelli. |
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| I enjoy the little scorpion patch on the shoulder of the Castelli jersey, and the extra tag on the zipper pull. Such a great look. |
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| I also have this green long-sleeve jersey from Castelli. It's not quite as thick as the yellow one above, but has awesome style wth the asymmetric stripes. |
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| I love the look of this Giordana long-sleeve wool jersey with the Cinelli logo embroidered into it. |
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| For even colder weather, I have this Giordana-made wool sweater. It has the same chain-stitch embroidery Cinelli logo as the one above. |
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| Among my short-sleeved wool, I have this Woolistic Cinzano jersey with the embroidered logo. Great looking and incredibly soft wool. Breaking Away, anyone? |
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| Traditional blue and yellow. Unknown brand, unknown vintage, but probably early '80s. A little on the scratchy side - and like most old jerseys like this, the zipper is really short. Great look, though. |
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| Classic-looking red and black. Unknown brand or vintage. |
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| Unknown brand or vintage. Fairly soft, though. |
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| Nice-looking red and blue. Labelled "Torelli" and made with 80% wool, 20% acrylic. |
I have a few other old jerseys that I have really enjoyed over the years, but unfortunately got some small holes in them. Must have been moths, dangit. I've packed them away hoping that I might be able to get them repaired sometime. Since that discovery, I've come up with a better way to store my wool jerseys. Now I fold them up neatly and slip them into gallon-sized ziplock bags. With the short-sleeved and lighter-weight ones I can fit 2 per bag. The heavier ones only fit 1 per bag. Slip them in, squeeze most of the air out, then zip them closed, and they don't take up a bunch of space. I'm sure they should be safer that way.
Not much else to say - wherever you are, I hope you're able to enjoy the fall weather on a bike.
Our randonneuring club has a variety of long and short sleeve wool jerseys from Oregon Cyclewear and Soigneur(NZ). The Soigneur jerseys are a bit thicker, but their sizes tend to run to the smaller side, so order up. Also in my collection is an ancient ('73?)long sleeve jersey from Cool Gear (remember them?) It's a bit worn and holey, but makes a nice extra layer in the chill.
ReplyDeletei keep a couple of cedar blocks in the drawer with the wool. It helps keep the moths at bay.
very nice collection! I have the black Cinelli jersey also, it's a fantastic piece from Vittore Gianni. Great post, thank you !
ReplyDeleteMATERIALS USED FOR STORAGE MUST PERMIT THE GARMENT TO "BREATHE"
ReplyDeleteAll fabrics, both natural and synthetic, need to "breathe". Specifically, wools need to breathe during both short and long term storage because wool is hydroscopic, meaning that wool has the unique ability to attract and absorb moisture from the air.
At any point in time, anywhere from 5% to 50% of the WEIGHT of a wool garment is moisture, depending on the indoor and outdoor atmospheric conditions
dang - here I thought I'd come up with a good plan. Now I need to come up with something else, I guess.
DeleteMarino wool jerseys and under shirts stored in plastic bags have been hole free for as long as 7 years so far. My wool not kept in plastic invariably ends up with holes (from the "larva" of the moths, not the moths themselves). Just be sure the wool has come to room humidity, hopefully dry like here in Southern California.
DeleteTim Evans
Still got a old Pro-tog long sleeve, patched and darned , star appliques make good patchs . Merino wool Tshirts have got my vote for under layers , beats a newspaper ! Always a good read !
ReplyDelete