Last week’s posts and ensuing conversation were very rewarding for me. I always love initiating those engaging conversations and watching them evolve, but it’s also a bit intense, a bit demanding behind the wheel here 😉
So something a bit lighter today to get the week started.
I thought you might like to see all the ways I’ve been wearing my new handknit sweater. I showed you a few of the outfits I put together when it came off my needles earlier this month. And somehow, I just keep reaching for it in the morning, finding different possibilities for this new shape. . .
Above and below, for example, wearing it over the simple viscose short-sleeved shift I picked up in Paris a couple of years ago — you can see the dress as dress here. It’s a great little all-season dress, really, but generally requires a cardigan in the fall or winter. I like being able to play with proportions a bit and not to have the bit of fuss that a cardigan can be (do I button or not, for example?). And I like the rust against the brass.
Hard to see, but I’m wearing low-heeled ankle boots here. . . .
And since I liked wearing the sweater with a dress, why not apply the formula to other dresses that were not getting as much four-season wear as they might?
Here it is with the Eileen Fisher linen dress you can see here. Above, with scarf; below, without. Again, worn with low-heeled ankle boots. . .
And now that I’m pairing the sweater with garments that haven’t been out of the wardrobe enough lately, why not try it with my leather skirt. I bought this — and modeled it for you — back in 2016, with the idea that I’d be able to dress it up but also wear it regularly with boots or sneakers. Instead, lately the skirt has been languishing. . .
That sweater, though. . . it’s been pushing me to “shop my wardrobe” a bit more and see what else might come out to play with it. So the leather skirt with a light, roll-neck, black long-sleeved top (Aritzia) and That Sweater Again. The staple black tights and, since the sidewalks were icy and I had some walking to do, my black Blundstones. I know. . . and yes, before you offer footwear style advice, I’ve thought about this and the Blundstones work for me. For me, the aesthetic is somewhere between streetwear-edgy and just plain practical-comfy. Just as some (myself included) like a mix of feminine and masculine elements in an outfit, I’m happy to mix up refined and rough, polished and homespun.
Never fear, though. I’m not offering this as a formula, and I’m not even saying it’s flattering on me (given that “flattering” too often means that an outfit makes me look taller and slimmer, I’m fine to opt out– or “resist occasionally,” at least — of that parameter).
Below, a quick shot with my “moto”-style wool bouclé jacket with its leather trim — accessorised by an obliging shaft of winter sunlight. . . (by the way, my destination in this outfit was the dentist’s office where the hygienist was surprised to hear that I’m retired, given that I was “dressed so nicely.” I readily admit that I spend a large portion of my days in jeans and a sweater, but part of my approach to the “fight depression and make some city friends” project Ialluded to here is to dress more — what? mindfully? or creatively? Perhaps just to find (again) more pleasure in projecting more of my personality through my dress?
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Even when good friends come for lunch on a weekday, I decided, why not dress up a bit, just for fun. Sure, they know me well enough that I needn’t fuss, but those wide-legged black velvet pants are getting very bored waiting in the closet for a suitable event (I posted a photo of them here, but really, black velvet, especially with those wide legs, really doesn’t photograph clearly).
You might have noticed that I particularly like this mix, the rust sweater layered over the silk print blouse I bought in Bordeaux two years ago (like the pants, the blouse is & Other Stories). I wore the combo over slim-profile black pants in my New Year’s post featuring the sweater, and here it is again with a differently shaped black-pants silhouette, above,
and with a black knit skirt below
Again, I couldn’t resist grabbing a shot when the sun came in to play. . .
And there we go. . . One Sweater, Five Ways, and Monday’s underway. Pewter skies here, but there’s a band of rose gold at the horizon now, and perhaps it will expand a bit, for a while, before the rain returns. . . Oh, and in case you’re wondering, No, I’m not wearing that sweater again today. But I am wearing another handknit . . .
Happy Monday. . . . comments always welcome!
The outfits are so different, you really get lots of mileage out of that sweater!
FYI, the trendy look here is to tuck a bulky sweater into high-waist pants/jeans. Obviously this works best with a sweater that is pretty short, so you don't have too much fabric to shove into your pants. And we're talking about chunky sweaters….the cool factor comes from the juxtaposition of the big top and small waist.
Your last sentence makes me chuckle, ruefully. . . Funny how so much Coolness derives from a small waist. . . And height, and overall slimness. . .
I like all these outfits and think you get a lot of versatility from that sweater. I also like it a lot layered with the silk print. To me your post illustrates perfectly where I want to be right now, with a few pieces that can all get mixed around in various ways that feel good to me. (well you in this case) Brava!
Thanks, Mardel! I've knit many sweaters that barely got this many outings in a year, never mind a month, so I'm really pleased with the versatility.
Great to be able to find so many different ways to wear the sweater. Could use a good hand-knit with the weather here today– though I am not venturing out except to get more wood for the wood stove. Windchill was -22C this morning. Even the dog wouldn't go out.
Ugh! -22 with windchill is nasty! Stay by that wood stove!
You look nicer going to the dentist than I do going to work (unless fancy meeting, in which case I do pull out the good clothes). This sweater is so versatile. The colour is so "you". I like it so much, I'm considering making it which is stupid because it's apt to make me look like an m&m, what with the short waist and boobs. You have to make another one in the most luscious black yarn – like something super fancy.
I'll admit to sometimes missing the occasion to dress for work — which I didn't necessarily have to do but standing at the podium, I felt better if I'd made an effort.
I was going to say that it's a simple and quick enough knit that you should just go for it — except I know you'd be doing math and making it all complicated 😉
Hmmm, I'll think about that luscious black yarn. Or navy. . .
You know me well!
Exquisite colour of the sweater and a lot of excellent possibilities…..and your dresses are even more beautiful IRL
I love( lately ) the combinations of silk dress or skirt with chunky combat boots. One feels much better,merrier and fierce,no?
I dress nicely for the dentist's too ,one has to wear "sparkling joy clothes " every day,especially during the winter
Dottoressa
I love that combination silk and tough boots — yes, Merry and Fierce! Also a great combo.
And where do we have more need of Joy-sparking clothes than at the dentist, right?
I particularly like the colour of the yarn you used to knit that sweater which is turning out to be quite versatile.
Dressing up can elevate our spirits on tedious grey days. Looks like you had fun experimenting with your clothes.
The colour range in Rowan's Felted Tweed is so gorgeous — it was tough to choose, but I'm so pleased with this rust.
Love, absolutely love the first combination. That dress is so versatile, and is wonderful with the jumper. (I was going to write sweater to blend in with North American English and realised I would never naturally use sweater when I mean jumper, so jumper it is!) The French do dresses so well. And I'm a fan of low shoes. Do you know the IG account @enbrogue? That's a great wardrobe tip for this dull time of year, the cross-matching of items that you wouldn't automatically combine. & Other Stories is a very dangerous shop – lovely things. I only know it from Antwerp, having avoided it in Bordeaux because I'll have spent my limit in usual haunts already. But next time perhaps. On European clothes shops, if you're ever in Belgium or the Netherlands, have a look in Sissy Boy. I know, cringy European English name. The website is rather alarming, but I always find something good and different in the shops.
Very guilty today of not dressing nicely. Several thermal layers topped by a totally ghastly but beautifully cosy horse-riding tunic fleece which I wear for spring and autumn gardening but is ideal for a day at my laptop working on copy for my business website, without the central heating on too high. Thrifty Scot. Dentist tomorrow tho – I may just follow your lead. Will send you a PM on Instagram with the result!!
I used to find "jumper" confusing, because we used to use it more in N.A. (in Canada, at least) to denote a tunic or shift that would be worn over a shirt or blouse– the sort featured in a school uniform. But I'm now so cosmopolitan I can do the necessary code-switching 😉
Just had a quick peek at @enbrogue — too tempting! All that wonderful variety!
Good luck at the dentist!!
Your new sweater is a perfect addition to your wardrobe especially if it makes you shop your closet. Rust is a great color and looks good on you. Dress it up or down, this one can run with anything you have in mind. Love all the combos but if I have to pick a favorite, I like #2 and #3. Easy and comfortable. Perfect for an appointment with my dentist and a stop at the grocery store afterward to buy groceries. ~Amelia
Thanks, Amelia — it's good to look at one's closet from a different perspective occasionally, isn't it?
Lovely jumper and great combinations. Such a good idea to try various outfits out. I will try to be more adventurous too but at the moment, living with 6 month and 3 year old grandsons, I've reverted to early motherhood and just grab the first and most comfortable (and most stain resistant) outfit I can find and am still wearing it at bedtime having never found time to change all day!
Ha! I can so relate to this, given our recent stint b-sitting our Nearly-Four and Nearly-One. Reverting, as you say, especially trying to remember the tricks I'd use to manage a pee if I was in sole charge — sometimes 40 seconds seems too long to leave a newly enthusiastic crawler. . .
Please share above tricks if not TMI! Am about to need them with an incipient crawler.
Ha! They mostly involve scooping up a squiggling crawler and wiggling down one's pants at the same time, squatting quickly over the toilet while singing an energetic nursery rhyme or telling a fascinating bit of nonsense about a toy on the bathtub. . . It's either that or recruit the Three-year-old Big Sister to stand guard for 45 seconds, but that can go wrong in several ways. Over-enthusiasm being one possibility. . . 😉
That is an excellent hard working jumper and I would love to knit one but have never been able to master circular needles.
I wish we lived closer — knitting with circular needles is easy enough that I got our Ten to knit that way (allowed her to create Stocking Stitch without knowing how to Purl). You just need someone to encourage and monitor your progress for a few rows and you'll have it. Although there is some need to take care when you join up after that first row is cast on — I've had one or two frustrations with row-twisting, but one learns. . .