12 degrees F

[ccga3359]

I've survived -25C Canadian winters kilted. I tend to limit time outside (I've to smoke a cigarette very, very quickly). There is nothing wrong with wearing under garments beneath a kilt should you feel the need. Mind you the other night when I wore my one peice red thermal undies with escape hatch with a desert camo FK my normaly kilt ignoring wife just had to comment!

[NewGuise]

...the other night when I wore my one peice red thermal undies with escape hatch with a desert camo FK my normaly kilt ignoring wife just had to comment!

What? Did she do a kilt check on you?

[ccga3359]

What? Did she do a kilt check on you?

With a union suit one could do that from 12 paces!

[fluter]

so, last night was our first hard freeze of the year---there are advantages to latitude 34. I consider this time of year to be our pay-back for July and August.

I was leaving a volunteer gig about 22:30 when an associate said "Well, I know you're cold!" At this point, it's barely freezing, and I'm wearing a 13-oz. tank, Scotland-spec jacket and waistcoat, Lewis hose, and the aforementioned ankle length ex-military greatcoat.

I said: you know, the kilt itself weighs 3 pounds, and the coat 5---all wool.

The problem is the wind can reach all that bare skin above my knees. ... there has to be some kind of protection that would help in this situation.

The Wiz has described chopping a pair of thermal underwear to knee-breeches length, and putting elastic in the bottom. Thus they can be tucked under the kilt, or pulled down if required. I think I'm going to do this with a pair of black fleece long-johns, when I have an extra pair to play with.

[Ozark Ridge Rider]

I was out all day last Saturday at the Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk, in mid 30's(?) with rain, snow, and breezy. As a precaution, I cut off a pair of black comfortrel long underwear to 2" above the knee and hemmed them with a zig-zag stitch. No elastic was needed. They didn't show even with the swish, and really helped.

This was my own idea, but I should have figured someone else on here (like the wiz) would have beaten me to it.

[Sammac]

With a union suit one could do that from 12 paces!

Was she commenting on the union suit or the bloomers?

[McNulty]

The key to cold weather kilt wearing are the hose, shoes and head covering as mentioned by so many others before me. I was out in the most recent CO storm shoveling and snowblowing the drive. No problem in my kilt (a tank). Out this am getting the car warmed up before heading off to school and it was a nasty -19F. I was wearing my WPG "The Beast" a fleece hat, down mittens, and spent all of 1 min in that and jumped in to my car to warm up. Every once in a while I'll snuggle my kilts down a tad to cover more of the knee than usual.

Here is a pic of me just after snowblowing the drive in CO, temp is about 10F and no wind, thank goodness.

[Kiltman]

Since I started wearing the kilt, my faith in the Power Of WOOL has been restored! I have been wearing wool socks pretty much constantly for the past ten years or so. Wool is the original polartech. If I ever hear of a sheep freezing to death, I shall be very much surprised.

TheScot has pretty much covered all of the bases. I would consider that keeping the trunk warm is pretty essential and have some nice WOOL sweaters that are tightly woven to keep it that way.

Good shoes, good socks.


But a really good hat is still pretty essential and keeping the ears covered is essential...you only get one set.

I wouldn't have believed just how warm a kilt can keep you until I actually tried it. Should you be dedicated to going regimental, I would, however...just as a safety, mind you...keep a pair of warm shorts on hand....perhaps discreetly stashed somewhere...you never know and there is no shame in resorting to an extra layer of insulation. I often observe that this isn't the Eighteenth Century and if they had had boxer briefs back then, they would probably have worn them.

Best

AA

Wool is a really great fabric. It's 9 here and my kilt is just fine. I'm colder wear cotton pants!

[Standard]

Just wondering Grant if you were wearing the pair on the left or the pair on the right?

[beloitpiper]

Boo-hoo, I shoveled snow in sub-zero temperatures on Thursday. You'll be fine.