Should I really have to buy Ralph Lauren for my sons, aged 6 and 9?

[QuintessentialShadyHallows]

I am searching for merino clothing for my boys as a midlayer. I want nice sweaters, in merino wool for winter to keep them snug.

I can only find really expensive stuff, such as Ralph Lauren. I am not paying £79 for ONE sweater, no sire!

Can you please help me find merino sweaters with a more "normal" price tag?

thanks thenightsky, it IS a different sort of cold....

I am done with cotton layers.... My sons are so active, they work up a sweat, the cotton gets damp, then cold, and they start shivering. They have merino base layers. Maybe that will suffice. Merino base layer, with a fleece or a cotton knit....

I am not in Putney now, slightly further west, but I think as far south as putney!

I would love to knit.

I can knit. All us girls learnt it in school, and from knitting mothers.
My fingers are usually too stiff and I cant get my thumbs to work with the yarn.

Equally with sewing, I just cant handle the needle.

I had a strange sort of condition many years ago where I woke up and my fingers were totally stiff and painful. It lasted a few months. I could not write, could not dress myself, nor squeeze out toothpaste, in fact I had to dictate my exams at uni! It lasted a few months! My fingers, and my handwriting has never been the same!

If you are not in putney but further west, then you could be even closer to me.. lol!

I am originally from Lancashire and I find it the complete opposite, and think it is much milder down here than the winters I grew up with, although I did also grow up in a house with no central heating, and there was ice on the inside of the single glazed windows in most rooms!

I always follow my mums advice though that if your feet and your head are kept warm, the rest of you will be fine, and its true. Not that I walk around naked in Uggs and a bobble hat....

Quintessential - I regularly have that problem with my hands, too. Funnily enough, knitting just a little each day keeps my fingers moving

West coast is much milder than East coast in this country. Even though I've spent most of my life on the Yorkshire and Northeast coast, I could quite easily live without the penetrating, joint stiffening damp. Love my handknit socks against that.

I'll have to track down some of these links too...I do spend a bit on our winter clothing because it's -40 here sometimes and that's a bit brisk. :)

OP - Have a look at hejhog-uk.com (baby and child). They have a range of organic merino wool and silk underwear by a German company called Engel. I have their silk and cotton vests for my toddler and they are simply fabulous.