Gear

Maybe not denial, perhaps more surprise at how long sleeves are meant to be when you've previously been used to everything coming up short? 

That sleeve length certainly is a little short for something like this so gaps not a surprise. My similar tailored bits actually take my whole hand when loose by my sides, and roughly the front two bones of fingers show when at 90 degrees. 

I trust these folk to know what they're doing so thats very likely the sort of sleeve length needed to avoid gaps Its nice! And yes its a luxury, which could well represent a serious overreaction to your problem.

The principal reasons that the wristwarmers are attractive is that they'll almost certainly work and are 5 to 6 times cheaper than a warmish base layer with thumb loops is going to come to! No special reason for the fit on your arm to be tricky if stretchy surely?

And thumb loops on thinnish tops are unfortunately genuinely rather rare, simply because they don't do all that much.

Personally I have made sure all my tops indeed all my clothes fit before buying. I don't like the sleeves that hang off your arms and over your hands. Prefer halfway down the hands when by sides. To me anything more and it's not right.

Thin layers with thubhokes to my mind work well in that they fit neater under thnner liner gloves and hold the sleeve in. I find it annoying havint got tuck the base layer sleeve into the liner gloves to eliminate gaps. To me that doesn't work as well. There are more thinner base layers for women than for men from what I have seen. If it works more for women than men then I do wonder why? Most of the women I know who go out in winter for walks with proper kit find it very important to keep warm (also feel the cold more than most of the men too). I know a few with thinner base layers with thumbholes. It seems to work for them.

Well your choice cf the fit

So thumb loops and thin base layers. Actually - if you want suggestions - what weight of base layer is going to be useful?

Microfleece weight a few options, a tiny bit warmer quite a few more. Only thinner thing I've seen is this, but the price! Could almost have a tailored Buffallo for that (and having one, I'm somewhat unsure of flat thumb loops.).

Don't know if these are too warm for what you're looking for but they seem to be about the same thing for the most part---own an R1 but not the Smoulder Hoodie

Berghaus Smoulder Hoodie Berghaus Smoulder Hoodie Video

Patagonia R1 Hoody Andy Kirkpatrick Reviews R1 Hoody

Or along similar lines this or hoodless. Although the gridded powerdry stuff is all reasonably warm I fear. Or a thousand powerstretch (or variants) tops (even warmer.).

But actually it occurs to me that theorising is a little pointless in this case. You're close enough to the Lakes to just drag your VR round some walk and then decend on Ambleside and/or Keswick and try every even vaguely base layer thing with a thumb loop out to see if it helps. Much more helpful than me theorising

(and fit is very crucial to this anyway, as you'll see. Best to wait a week or two for wintery stock to work through I guess.).

There will almost certainly be a wristwarmer somewhere too, although quite where not sure.

And having carefully explained why I'm unsure if it makes sense, someone goes and does it - Haglofs here. Quite why they've put thumbloops in their summer weight base layers, and only those ones, isn't entirely obvious. Maybe because they've got a looser fit?

Anyhow they have