My housemate derides my slanket (indeed, initially attempted to ban it from the house), but I say: anyone who thinks a slanket is silly has got the heat on too high in these hard times. Our 1895 row house is more than a tad drafty, and the slanket is superior to any alternative I've tried for watching television, reading, or working on the couch.
No, really. It retains heat better than a sweater (because it shares all your body heat, not just the bits under your sweater or jeans), yet lets you do everything you need to. Yes, I know I sound like I'm acting on an infomercial. That's because the slanket is actually as awesome as they claim. Also, it sounds like a Tudor insult. Add me to the ranks of the proud slanketeers.
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
I'm guessing you like two things: the sleeves, and the size. It's not too small for big girls like you.
Now, if only they made it in a natural fiber, like merino wool. (Did you know that every bit of wool we use was sheared from sheep by a real, live person? I treasure my wool sweaters, socks, etc. and hold alpaca in even higher regard after the tree south-american camelids' near genocide during the Spanish occupation of their native lands.)
Every time I see one of these things I keep flashing on Albert Brooks wearing his tupa in Defending Your Life. Or maybe it's just because I can't quite wrap my head around the idea of wearing something that's topologically identical to a hospital gown...
The woman from the amazon link actually looks kind of hot in that, but the guys from the culture 11 link just look _wrong_.
I'm all for saving money on energy costs, but I'm not about to become a gelding to do so...
I concur, enthusiastically (from under my lovely blue Slanket (tm)). It's teh snuggleh.
Oh, I want one! Well, not really, but maybe if I got my flatmate one I wouldn't have to suffer her little fan heater any more.
$70 for a blanket with holes? I'll pass.
Whenever I see the commercials for this thing, the actors all look like what I imagine a satanic cult memeber relaxing at home looks like.
Also, it sounds like a Tudor insult.
My favorite fake insult is "skeg." It sounds like a Scandinavian woman of loose morals.
You own a ShamWow, don't you, Megan?
I'm reading this in my home office wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up over my head. So I know the feeling. But the hoodie was free and the slanket is pricey.
Slanket or Snuggie? I feel this is a debate of paramount importance. Owners of one or both, sell your cheap blankets to me.
Unless that thing has allowance for a catheter, methinks you cannot avoid getting cold sometimes...
I would think the best aspect of this is that you look like a member of some strange cult and therefore people will leave you alone.
I used to put an oversized robe on backwards when I was a boy to keep warm in our old, drafty row house. So you can see that I find this new "invention" rather redundant.
I've seen worse ideas...I just can't think of any right now. by all means though, do what you enjoy.
Is the couch sack a worse idea, or is just the name couch sack worse?
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/241,16612_Eco-Mills-Fleece-Couch-Sack-For-Women.html
Could you at least somewhere on this blog point out that you earn a 4 percent to 6 percent commission on everything your readers buy when they click through your Amazon links? I'm not opposed to you or any blogger making money through Amazon Associates, but it seems like this should be a pretty basic issue of disclosure for a journalist-blogger at a major magazine, especially when the links lead to pricey items for the kitchen and home.
And thus begins the transition from Megan McArdle, young hipster urbanite to Megan McArdle, middle aged lady with wearing comfy sweatshirts with kitties.
The ShamWow, on the other hand, does not work. My father received a box of them for Christmas, and I promptly threw my glass of water on the floor to test it. Not quite as Vince portrays in the commercial.
The Slanket is what I always imagined the future would look like.
Great for when Friar Tuck comes over for a little Xbox.
Erin,
Did your father get the authentic ShamWow, or did he get taken in by a sleezy imitator. Vince warned us about those crooks!
By the way, does the ShamWow really come with the warning "Do not dump into water resevoirs"?
SPURIOUS,
Obviously you have not seen the infomercial for The Whizzer.
Does anybody else notice how the "slankets" with hoods in the TV commercial are eerily similar to KKK robes? Creeps me out every time.
The one I have is too short for me (6'4'') and seems to be made of a crappier type of polyester as it doesn't hold heat nearly as well as other fleece blankets.
I am disappointed.
I got my daughter a slanket for Christmas, and she loves it.
Don't your fingers still freeze? On a separate note, have you ever looked into reducing the draftiness of your house? I'd love to hear personal stories from people who have hired "energy auditors" to find the heat leaks in their homes.
I have noted with some amusement that although you have been mentioning a housemate of late, you have been careful not to provide any other details about this person, not even gender. However, the attempt to ban your goofy slanket definitely sounds like a guy thing.
Nothing wrong with the Slanket if you are a big fan of 70's sci-fi movies.... We could do worse than support Megan in her attempt to construct a new Society for Forward-Looking Creative Anachronism.
I was wrong in the last post. Not Shamwow, but the snuggie/slanket
I've been wondering who is financing the reinvention of the houpelande. Now I know. Let me be the first to announce a come-back for the sideless surcote.
Hiring an Energy Auditor is insane unless you're applying for a tax credit and need an official certificate.
Here's a home energy audit kit: bare hands, bare feet, a candle. Walk around the walls of your house and use bare appendages to find cold spots - there are your insulation holes and drafts. Bring the candle along and watch the flame - it will move in the presence of a draft. You have now found most of your problems. Advanced audit involves going outside and looking for places where your roof is uncovered by snow (if your roof is generally snow covered and it has been several days since the last snowfall) and where you've got icicles - those are areas where you need to increase your insulation.
If you use this home energy audit kit please send $500 (official audits cost $1500+) to PO Box 993, Dodgy Telemarketer Lane, Springfield USA. Thank you and come again.
Merino's not the best choice for something so large which will get so much wear -- the softer the wool is, the more it pills. Alpaca can be pilly too, but it's even warmer than wool, for reasons which are of no interest to non-fiber-enthusiasts.
If you know any knitters, I heartily recommend you get someone to whip you up some wool socks. Warm feet do wonders for keeping the rest of you toasty.
My wife got one of these things for Christmas.
A couple days ago as I was getting into the shower the Fed Ex guy buzzed, and I had to get to the door right away. I saw this thing with sleeves, grabbed it, put it on as a robe, and opened the door.
Warning: That does not work.
To be warm in a cold house, you are better off with a hoodie, and with $1.25 jersey gloves from the dollar store from which you've cut off the tips of the fingers. And a lap robe. This gets me to 'toasty' while sitting in a 50 degree room with a computer, keyboard.
For those reading this comment who are not in USA, Burma, or Lesotho, 50 degrees is NOT Baghdad in the summer, it is 10 degrees Celsius.
By way of more-full-than-necessary disclosure, I'm a 40ish het male who lives in a drafty old New England colonial and works from home. That slanket thing looks awesome and I want one, though I'll probably hide it when friends visit. What's it made of? Some polartec-like substance?
Fleece. Order from QVC. which is MUCH cheaper than Amazon. My whole family now owns them.
The Snuggie may be fine too, but I can't vouch for it.
What is wrong with good old-fashioned long underwear? It's warm, cheap, easily laundered, you don't look stupid (assuming you put on regular clothes), you can move, and it works outside (previous parenthetical also applicable) where it is even colder.
I've come to the conclusion (with some rebudgeting), that I'd rather spend the money and be comfortable in a 68 degree house than save a few bucks (which will either earn me 1.2% interest, or be lost in a stock crash, or perhaps stolen by an unscrupulous broker) and be miserable. I'd even rather have a warm house than new clothes.
I'd probably trip over the hem of the Slanket and break my nose. I don't do "sitting still" that well.
Too easy to accidentally say "skanklet."
Can't wait to see blanket sleepers (ala 3 years old) for adults. Viva FOOTIES!!!
Too easy to accidentally say "skanklet."
Those keep you warm, too.
Kathryn: Sideless surcotes? Not for insulation purposes, to be sure. Although, speaking of skanklets, I can imagine someone like Lindsay Lohan wearing one without a cotehardie under it. (Or anything else.)
Hey, has anyone seen the even cooler (warmer) Kozytoez!!! Yes, it keeps your Toez Kozy!! It has a foot pocket, thick fleece and extra length (70") to pull up around your neck. And...it's reasonable $25 bucks at www.kozytoez.com. And...it folds into a pillow so you can take it in the car or on the plane. It's portable and warm!! And they have GREAT customer service and don't upcharge their shipping costs...no servicing costs just straight shipping. No slanket or snuggy...get a kozytoez...you'll love it.