Sweater: Nora Sweater by Linda Marveng; Polo & Co Masgot Fine in gres; my notes and modifications on "Distaff"
Skirt: J. Crew; similar styles by Line and Dot, Joseph, and if you're one of the sizes left, on supersale at ASOS
Shoes: Manolo Blahnik Carolyne; similar styles by bcbgmaxazria and Brooks Brothers
Lips: Marc Jacobs Lovemarc Lip Gel in Showstopper
"If you have to dry the dishes
(Such an awful boring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
('Stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor
Maybe they won't let you
Dry the dishes anymore"
This is what happens when it's 8:10 in the morning and I ask my husband to shoot a couple of photos. Now some would say that it's love: the man adores me even when I give him the double finger and stick my tongue out, but in reviewing the 20 or so completely unusable shots, I think it's more a case of dropping dishes on the floor.
Over on the Yarniacs board on ravelry, there has recently been some discussion of how many sweaters people have knit and if there is a limit to how many one can reasonably keep track of in one's wardrobe. I have a frightening number of sweaters, but every so often I reevaluate their utility in my wardrobe. Maybe my taste has changed, maybe something that didn't bother me at first, now bothers me, maybe I've decided I can't really wear a certain color, or maybe I just look at a sweater, realize it doesn't get enough wear as it ought to, and consign it to the outgoing pile. This morning I was all set to wear a different sweater. I tried it on, it went well with the skirt, but something about the neck wasn't right and I knew it was going to bother me. My helpful husband said it looked like I was wearing it backwards (I wasn't) but I tried it on backwards just to see. Nope, something about me and the sweater no longer clicked. I generally throw them up on ravelry for sale for the cost of the yarn, because clearing out my closets in that way assuages potential guilt over new yarn purchases. It also allows me to look at sweaters like the one I ended up wearing and identifying what it is I like about them.
I like this sweater because it is both really busy and yet really refined. The combination of the light fingering yarn and the neutral color make the complex design work in my wardrobe. If I had knit this in red, a color I adore, it wouldn't have been the same. For a piece like this to end up in my rotation, it had to be a neutral, and I really love it. As you can see, I did very little other styling - everything else is simple so that the sweater can steal the show. I wore a similar outfit yesterday with a navy skirt, nude shoes, and a pink cabled sweater with a peplum - I'll wear it again before sweater season is over and get a photo for you.
The eagle-eyed among you will notice something unusual about the outfit in the footwear department: these shoes seem rather sedate for me. You're not wrong. This style, the Carolyne, has been around for years and I would never have considered buying a pair (I thought them a little dowdy); however, when one finds a pair on ebay for 1/10 the retail price and in one's size, well, it seems somehow wrong not to at least give them a try. And you know what? They're ok. They're not my favorites, but they are such a staple and as soon as the shoemaker fixes the tension on the slingback (when you have a foot as large as mine, shoe manufacturers also seem to believe you have barrels for ankles and make the straps WAY WAY WAY too big), they will get tons more wear. And one day, I might want to rock the dowdy look...
