The first snow of the season fell in Sweden yesterday. It was surprisingly cold, so I wore my gloves for the first time this year. I like lightweight slim-fitting warm-lined gloves in soft leather. These ones have a special surface on the index fingers so you can use your phone with your gloves on. They also have zippers and elastic at the wrists so they go on easily but also form a kind of seal around your hands and wrists. I learned the hard way to buy longer gloves so there is no icy gap between my sleeves and my gloves.
When I came to Sweden I was 33 years old and had never worn cold-weather gloves before. I didn’t know they came in different sizes or that the leather stretched over time. I tended to buy them too big, too short, and too cheap. I lost gloves regularly because I was not used to keeping track of them.
I am still pretty bad about carrying gloves and wearing them, though I am forced to if it is way below freezing. I wear gloves as slim-fitting as possible so I can still do things with my gloves on, but with enough room that I can wear rings. One mistake I always make is buying black ones. I should use brightly coloured ones – like vibrant cheerful cherry red – so they are easy to find in my bag, and hard to lose on my lap on the train. When I lose a glove I always hope I lose the ‘right’ one so that I can make a new pair with the one that is left from the previous pair where I lost one.
For motorbike rides I wear fingerless gloves when it is hot and full leather ones when it is colder. They are a different style from my winter gloves though, and made of much thicker leather. They are more of a safety thing than a keep-warm thing and I always wear them.
It is really hard to dress at this time of year. Do you wear a heavy sweater with a light coat, or a light sweater with a heavy coat?