To Code: Put A Glove On It!

 Feburary's To Code: A Guide To Being A Better Gentleman

Welcome to this first edition of what will hopefully be a monthly how to for becoming a better gentleman with generally helpful tips from my point of view. I was going to call this "doing it debonairly,"and although I really love the ring to the title, "To Code" is just as fitting.

Put A Glove On It!

I'm big on a few things: bags, shoes, the outdoors, and then there are gloves. I wear gloves any time the occasion allows or requires it. It is not to be cool, I just think they are practical as they keep your hands warm when it's cold, and they keep your hands safe when doing something that could end up in a bloody mess if you are bare handed. Although being fashionable is cool, I'm big on form and function. You make your own call, but I will always take function over form if I can't have both. Take a look at just a few of my regular gloves in rotation.

From top left going clockwise: water proof Timberland winter gloves, hand made fleece lined leather gloves, Barbour lambswool gloves, Dollar Tree fingerless gloves, Barbour wool fingerless gloves, Thinsulate ragg wool half-finger mittens.

So to make things short, buying wool/cotton gloves is pretty simple. Make sure they are snug and they come to the base of your fingers. I'll personally recommend having at least one pair that is black, brown, blue or tan. Other than that, if you want a bunch of crazy colors go for it! Buying leather gloves is pretty much the same, just make sure you find a pair that fits slim and tight. After some time you'll break in your gloves nicely and they will fit well, like a glove. As you can see mine have a good bit of wear on them.

 Now I feel a bit like a copy cat mentioning this after last month's GQ, but fingerless gloves are pretty handy when the temps are low outside but not so low where you have to worry about frostbite. Although GQ likes to treat every trend like they are the first person to discover this great idea, they are not. I also wrote this in December. Aside from that, I have a pair of Barbour wool fingerless gloves, a blue pair I actually got at the Dollar Tree, and my trusty Thinsulate half finger mittens. If you need some warmth but want to be able to use your iPhone without taking your glove off, go fingerless.

Although I've added a few to the collection, my go to fingerless gloves are my Thinsulate mittens. Sure I can't use my thumbs on a fancy cell phone, but if I need a glove-less finger, I can flip the top and get to poke'n. When its time to get back in the elements I just cover up my digits and away I go. These gloves are about 10 years old now and definitely have seen better days, I might try to salvage one more winter out of them, but the wife is already trying to sneak them out to the trash. I guess next time I'm at the store I can try to find a new pair and keep those for 10 years as well.

So stay warm in this last month or two left of winter! Who knew you could say so much about gloves?