Best Blanket

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I can't use wool because I don't like the smell. Guess I'll go the Fleece route and pack on multiple blankets when needed. I typically never venture out in temps lower than around 20. I appreciate everyone's feedback.

AtlantaGuy said:

Guess I'll go the Fleece route and pack on multiple blankets when needed.

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Get a fluffy filled blanket too... synthetic, or maybe down if you can keep it dry.

Walmart or Sam’s Club has thick fluffy comforters for less than $20 every year it seems, that with a good old quilt and a cheap synthetic sleeping bag over a piece of 4” thick memory foam for a mattress has worked for me in weather down to 20 degrees for years. I always have an extra sleeping bag or two just in case one should get wet or damaged. Socks and sock hat for below freezing. Learning how to tuck and fold covers so cold air doesn’t get in is most important.

The smell???

I'm reading this while covered with two wool blankets. I just put my nose right on them and and can't smell anything.

BelgianPup said:

The smell???

I'm reading this while covered with two wool blankets. I just put my nose right on them and and can't smell anything.

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Do you by any chance remember the brand name of the wool blankets you have?

Be sure that in cold weather you have heavy socks for sleeping, as well.

Socks? while sleeping?

Oh say it isn't so!

^^^Back in the “hills” had a little old neighbor lady that never took off her socks just put a new pair on over the old. She used to chew and spit on her concrete sidewalk then scrub it off with water and a broom in the early morning. When she went into the fields to work her garden she wore old men’s size 12 work boots over them. She couldn’t have been over 5’ tall and 100 lbs. Say it isn’t so doesn’t begin to cover how many people lived! Lol!!!

Well just tossing this out there: I use 'zipped open' sleeping bags (not mummybag type) as blankets, more like comforters and they tend to cost less than actual 'comforters'. If I'm sure I will not be storing it as a rolled up sleeping bag again, I cut off the straps or strings.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the cheap nylon or polyester bags, I prefer the actual 'cloth type' sleeping bags.

Yeah there is a zipper track on three sides, which helps me figure out where the head-end of the blanket is even when I'm half asleep!

tx2sturgis said:

Socks? while sleeping?

Oh say it isn't so!

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Of course!

Not only socks, but heavy, fleece socks when temps are cold.

Being warm at night is conducive to good sleep, and down into the teens is not unusual in winter months.

And, ya know, needing socks at night in cold weather is one of the prices one pays for living long enough to become an old, cold person.

Rather than one who was hot all the time, for at least a decade, needing the window cracked and ceiling fan on even in the dead of winter.

Well ok, but I prefer to 'air out' the metatarsals and phalanges after them being in sweaty shoes and socks all day!

Makes for better foot hygiene....for me anyway...all I'm sayin...

I understand and agree with that, but I’m talking about cold, warm blankie weather, here.

It’s amazing how much difference it makes just to enclose one’s feet.

If I go to bed with cold feet, they stay cold whether I put socks on or not. If I go to bed with warm naked feet they tend to stay warm. So I try to get my feet comfortable beforehand - hot water bottle, keeping feet near a heat source, sitting on them. Like, once I get the blood primed to flow down there, they're fine.

tx2sturgis said:

Well just tossing this out there: I use 'zipped open' sleeping bags (not mummybag type) as blankets, more like comforters and they tend to cost less than actual 'comforters'. If I'm sure I will not be storing it as a rolled up sleeping bag again, I cut off the straps or strings.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the cheap nylon or polyester bags, I prefer the actual 'cloth type' sleeping bags.

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This is exactly what I do with my rectangular LL Bean sleeping bag (rated for 20 deg F, have used it on Scout campouts down to about 28 or so). Makes a great comforter and it's nice to have a full-blown, zip up sleeping bag handy at times. It's a polyfill bag, not goose or duck down, but very warm.

WanderingRose said:

When it gets really, REALLY cold, I wrap myself in a fleece blanket and then a down comforter or sleeping bag.

Fleece blankets can be very inexpensive, and sleeping bag liners in fleece are also available.

Works for me every time.

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Just a note, fleece blankets are readily found at your local goodwill.

I have two.

I also use a sleeping bag when it gets down into the low 30s. I store it in a king-size pillow sham (also readily found at your local goodwill) when I'm not using it, so it does double duty.

"Black socks, they never get dirty.
The more that you wear them,
the blacker they get.

Sometimes, I think about changing,
but something inside me says
'Oh no, not yet!'"

Geez. The things we remember! Seriously though, clean, dry socks at night do make a difference, as does wearing a hat.

jacqueg said:

Just a note, fleece blankets are readily found at your local goodwill.

I have two.

I also use a sleeping bag when it gets down into the low 30s. I store it in a king-size pillow sham (also readily found at your local goodwill) when I'm not using it, so it does double duty.

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Found a king sized down goose feather comforter at Goodwill for $20. Score!!

Yep, a down comforter over the top of fleece is very, very warm.

Look for a duvet cover for it, which can be removed and washed as needed.

bullfrog said:

^^^Back in the “hills” had a little old neighbor lady that never took off her socks just put a new pair on over the old. She used to chew and spit on her concrete sidewalk then scrub it off with water and a broom in the early morning. When she went into the fields to work her garden she wore old men’s size 12 work boots over them. She couldn’t have been over 5’ tall and 100 lbs. Say it isn’t so doesn’t begin to cover how many people lived! Lol!!!

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Hey I am from downstate West Virginia, she sounds like my auntie Lakie

I'm planning on using my crocheted afghans that roast me out, didn't see anyone mention them, but they sure are warm and heavy to me.