Winter and the Tree Sweaters

The cold, dry northern front is dominating our weather and freezing is our lot.  We awake to an outside temperature of 30 degrees F, and an inside temperature of about 60 degrees because the propane stove is having a little trouble getting it up to 65 first thing in the morning.  And if we are cold, how much colder are those who live outdoors, such as the trees?

I decided about 6 weeks ago to knit sweaters for the trees as a way to use up my excessive store of small amounts of acrylic yarns.  As the first photo shows, I knit three coils/rounds, each about 8 inches wide and about 15 yards long.  I didn't really have much idea of how much length would be involved in wrapping the tree: would 15 yards cover ten feet of trunk or 20?  It turns out that 15 yards gets you about eight feet of wrapped trunk.  Less, of course, if you are engaged with a very large trunk.

I also have no idea what will be the effect on the wrapping or on the 'sweater' of having a lot of rain.  At the moment, that's not our problem.  The front tree has an as yet unwarmed branch, and I think I've enough yarn still around to do that one before Christmas.  These trees are right next to the street on our lot, so the neighbors have the advantage of admiring them.  Or laughing at them.  Or wondering why anyone would go to the trouble...