Getting ready for the cold weather...without wearing a coat!

I have a bit of an odd confession to make. I don't wear coats or jackets...ever. Now, this can be tricky, as I live in Northern New Jersey, (cold) and also spend time at my vacation house in Maine (colder).

This is not new. When I was a kid, I fought with my mom every single day of winter because she insisted coats were necessary, and that when I grew up, I would understand. I'm grown up now, and while I do understand her strong feelings on this topic, and as a good mom, I dutifully put jackets on my own kids, I have not worn one myself since high school.

Even through my twenties, my mother would buy me a new winter coat every year for Christmas, which I would hang in my closet and then donate the following year, tags still on. She finally gave up when I was about 26. That year, my husband insisted on buying me a coat. I think they both kept hoping that if they found just the right coat, I would finally wear one. But I just don't like coats, any coats.

There are several reasons for this. I hate the bulky feeling that jackets and coats give me. I'm pretty bulky myself, and I don't feel adding extra layers really improves the appearance of that. I also like to just be able to get up and go, and I hate having to take the time to find the coat and put it on, then rearrange it in the car, etc. Admittedly, having two babies has also slowed down my get-up-and-go-easily spirit, but there's not much I can do about that.

My aversion to coats has puzzled and alarmed nearly everyone I have come into contact with in the last fifteen or so years. All fall and winter long, people ask me if I'm cold or comment on how freezing I must be. The ironic thing is, I'm usually not. Perhaps I'm used to the cold, or perhaps it's a coping mechanism I've discovered in the last few years.

I knit, alot. BK, or before kids, I knit scores of sweaters. Cardigans, pullovers, all types of complicated designs. I love sweaters. But my two babies severely cut into my sweater knitting time, and I've had to improvise.

For the last few years, I have become obsessed with knitting accessories. I love to knit hats, fingerless gloves, scarves, cowls and legwarmers. These types of projects are quick and easy, not requiring the big chunks of time or concentration that sweaters do, which is good since as I mentioned, these things are now in short supply.

The added benefit to knitting accessories has been that I can now stay warmer in winter, AND seeing me in a scarf, fingerless gloves, and legwarmers comforts those around me with the thought that I might not freeze to death after all!