Pix-Elated

Okay, when you shop at a gear store for fashion, you ought to keep your expectations minimal. And I did come away with a few surprises!

Keeping: 

• Smartwool socks! Yay for toasty feet.
• Two Armor Luxe tees. 

These aren't the true replacements I'd hoped for my aged LL Bean Mariners; those are heavier weight, somewhere between a sweater and a top, while these are (high quality, very soft, comfortable, and nicely cut) tees. But the LL Beans will probably last another season while I keep looking for their true replacements and in the meantime, experience with striped items tells me I will also wear these tops a lot. 

Returning: 

The Columbia puffer. Too coral a red for me and the zip does not work well; feels cheap. I'm seriously on the hunt for a lightweight and water resistant replacement for my old Thermoball, but that's for another thread, coming soon! 

The North Face fleece. Too warm for what I wanted, no double zip, and no substitute for the merino I really wanted. Colour is great, but next! 

The Frame Le High Straight jean. Nice quality. Fit is fine, but stretched out within an hour -- that's too much stretch for me. Also, the length was awkward. Supposed to be cropped but on me, it hit the ankle bone, which was fine with boots but did not work with sneakers, where the bottoms kept bumping into the laces. Rolling didn't work since they would flop down (not tapered or rigid enough to stay put in a roll.) So....next!! 

So, I ordered up a storm from all kinds of places this week. The good news? It came in record time. 

The good news for my wallet, bad news for my wardrobe? Most of it is going back. I seem to have lost some of my online shopping karma. 

First up, the Kit & Ace order. These (non-returnable final sale --oops! -- Navigator pants fit fine but the colour is more brownish than I'd imagined, and I don't like the fabric at all. I think I have to take the loss, but I'll bring them along to the store when I return the other stuff, just in case.  

The dress is deliciously soft and comfy and would be a great work from home item. But as Carol noted in her thread today, in winter, we Canadians need tights with dresses. A try on session revealed that tights stick to it, not matter what, so it's going back. 

I'm keeping the oversized T-neck though, to beef up my loungewear capsule. I'll wear it with leggings at home. The fabric is the same terry as the dress and it is so soft and comfy. 

The other pants feel like my mother's double knits. If you are a person who likes knit pants, you might like these. They are really nice quality. Just not for me. 

As I said in this morning's blog post, matching neutrals to my hair is a FFB for me, especially since my hair went grey. I wear silver, light grey, and white in almost every outfit to pick up the tones in my hair, and sometimes charcoal, as well. 

These items are new, part of the big shop! The sweater is actually an exact duplicate of one I bought five years ago. Alas, it's not a long lasting item -- I got two years of solid wear from it before it pilled badly and I replaced with with the BR sweater pictured below in Finds and in Pic. 3 

But the BR sweater proved a poor cousin to the first sweater. It was warmer and it draped well, but it pilled even more egregiously than sweater 1 (and cost a lot more, even on sale). It wasn't as versatile (because it was too warm in some situations, more like a light coatigan). And it lacked the ribbing and slightly variegated shading and the side slits that makes this one more interesting to my eye. 

Anyway, I got this version on super sale and while it is not as high quality an item as I might wish, it's a useful placeholder until I find a better light grey duster -- light grey cardigans being essential to my style. 

Meanwhile, to get free shipping, I added this foil tee. I already own one silver and white foil tee that I love love love. It's still in good shape, but I knew another would not go to waste in my closet. This one is oversized and animal print, a heavier fabric than the other. 

All the other items are older. 
Photobomb by Max! 

Ok. I said I needed to replace a few essentials but I've gone on an (online) shopping spree! I've ordered a whole pile of items and have plans for even more. Mind you, much of this stuff will likely go back. Still....

Not including the socks, here's what I'm looking at so far....some gear items, some PJs. pants, tops, a dress, oh my! 

These are all replacements for worn out or tired items in the closet. 

I've been spotty on the forum of late because the last month has been a whirlwind. I had a number of promotional engagements for my book in late August and September (mostly Zoom, but several in person) and then, on the first day of classes, I was asked to teach two courses at UVic. In person, on campus. It turns out, I'll be teaching there all year because I've already been asked to fill in for another course next semester. 

It's been a long time since I went to the office on a regular basis! (I'm on campus three days a week). It's been a long time since I've been anywhere, really, due to COVID. A few discoveries: 

1. I wear a topper every day, usually a jacket. Yay for jackets! My jackets are getting used again! 
2. I really, really, really want an replacement/ upgrade for my black watch suit, which I wear casually, as shown. It's not in great shape but I still adore it and want a similar option (with shorter jacket, as here).
3. I need a major refresh to my knitwear capsule. In particular, I need to upgrade/ replace a few essential knit tops. (See my other post). 
4. I wear more clothes. I mean, that's pretty obvious, right? But it's true! I wear gym wear, regular clothes, and I also find, more than ever, I want to wear loungewear when I get home. (I don't exactly have a dedicated loungewear capsule. I have crossover gear/ PJ items, mostly, with one or two dedicated lounge pieces.) 

Nothing is new here, so I haven't posted Finds. Everything is older, mostly up to six or seven years older. My clothes last me a long time! That's another revelation -- how much of my wardrobe is on the older side. I may need some updates to denim as well as new knitwear and a new suit. 

For my one and only public live book event, I wore the Kate Hewko skirt. This is a minor variation on the outfit I wore to my private launch: booties instead of white sneakers; knit military jacket instead of denim jacket; sparkly tank underneath instead of simple blue wrap top; sparkly earrings. 

I wish I could say this event was a triumph, but one of the readers went half an hour over her allotted time. Argh. And we had to sit to read (no sharing mics) so that was a bit uncomfortable. Still, what a privilege to be out in an actual theatre! And I really enjoyed meeting the musician and one of the other readers. :) 

Lighting still not great -- I'm doing my best with the new portable mirror but it was rainy today, so...I need to figure out a solution! It's so odd but in this spacious house there is absolutely no appropriate place to put a full length mirror that is not interfered with by the light!