OOTDs: Keeping Warm. Keeping Casual.

Day: Friday, January 20, 2015.

Where:  Needed to get out the house after a full week of being cooped up with Rex and his very broken leg.  Met up with my dad (with CW) and went to Joann's and Red Robin.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Well, dang, I was warm enough because that there top is a double-faced cashmere, but it is just not the perfect fit.  While I wasn't fussing over it the whole night ('cause really, no time for that!), it still bugs me.  Ergh. 

The outfit otherwise was awesome for comfort.  You can't see it, but I have a merino wool sweater under the top, and that helped keep me warm (it was in the low twenties with winds howling).  Plus the scarf (which I spoke of more here) is great at insulating, so no wind chill got me there.  The pants are maternity (wanted the band at the top since I would be tucking in a sweater) so duh, super comfortable.

The shoes are also very easy to wear and it fit great at the size I purchased.  They are on sale today at Boden, so I will put a quickie review of them below this for you all who are interested.

Cool Factor: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  This is about as monochromatic as you will ever see me, which basically means never since this would be considered colorful by 85% of the public.  That said, I felt restrained, which in the world of fashion usually equates to more cool.  The glasses helped, I feel like they stand out a bit.  (They are actually prescription frames, I recently had them filled by my doctor after sitting on them for over a year--I tried them on for the blog here last.)

REVIEW:

Hotchpotch Trainer (here).  Size 9 or UK 40.  I am a bit annoyed that Boden's sizing went all American after the fall.  I personally have no problem with European sizing since other brands out there do that kind of sizing, even here in the "dull as dust" unitedstatesofameruca, so there seems to be no reason to change over, other than the thinking that we can't handle the Euro sizing.  Blegh.  Whatever.  (However, I did applaud the choice to go with American sizing for clothing, though I had gotten used to that, too.  We definitely don't have other companies over here doing British sizing, so that made it easier for most people here.)

My crankiness aside, I went with the size 9 since tennis shoes are usually large on me in my size (other than the J. Crew New Balance/Nike collabs).  I made the right call, the 9.5 (or UK 41) would have been too large.

Here's the deal, though, the shoes run narrow, but a bit long, so do not size down if you have wider feet.  It is true that the width is somewhat adjustable based on the laces, but these are very difficult to get to widen out, even after undoing the laces.  Save yourself the pain of dealing with that.

They are beyond cute, and I loved how it perked up the outfit.  They feel great, too.  They may not be as awesomely comfortable as my Nikes or New Balances, but they are a great first effort by Boden, and I hope they continue this style in the future.

Day: Wednesday, January 28, 2015.

Where:  Again, had to get out the house, so I figured grocery shopping while hanging out with CW, would be a great way to do so.  Of course it was Harris Teeter we visited.  ;-)

Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Love this outfit, so comfortable, so warm.  Those Turner pants are great (I did a review of another pair here)!  I know the pink is a bit of an odd color, but I thought it looked nice with the light grey, and obviously matched the scarf well. 

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  My husband was all, "what are those things you are wearing?"  I said, "pants...you know pants...those things you seem to be wearing as well...pants?"  LOL.  Men.  Just do not get it.  Then he asked if I had made them.  I said no but would be more than happy if these were a creation of mine.  I guess pink elastic cuff pants are beyond him.  I think he is probably not alone, so for that reason, the score goes down to 4 of 5, or 80%.  The scarf is great, as are the shoes, so from a SAHM perspective, at least some of the outfit was cool.

Day: Thursday, January 8, 2015.

Where:  Substitute teaching in the office as school secretary, so maybe not truly substitute teaching.  ;-)

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Dang it was cold that day.  Every time I substituted at the school in January, there was a two hour delay due to either super crazy Canadian cold weather or snow.  (Seriously on the cold--I give every single Canadian major credit for being able to handle temperatures that are below 20 F all winter.)  That day the cold had a massive grip on the area, and the only thing I could think to wear that would keep me warm all day was the Aran Crafts Fisherman Cable Knit Turtleneck sweater that I was lucky enough to grab on popback from J. Crew in a size xs in the oatmeal nep color.  It is warmer than most of the cashmere I own, so that is saying something.  Regarding price, the sweater never goes on sale, but the full price is absolutely worth it.  I have already worn it four times this month and washed it, and it looks great and still keeps me super-toasty.  (You saw it here at this post in the last photo.)

Cool Factor: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  Again on me thinking "more minimal" equals "more cool."  This is about as stark as I can get--grey, black, oatmeal, and a beret.  ;-)

Okay, that's all for now.  Have a great rest of your Saturday!

Review/OOTD/Made by Me File: Cashmere Nep and a Chunky Knit.

As promised in my last post (after the update), I have a few clearance Boden items that I would like to review for you all before the big "extra 20% off clearance" sale ends on Monday evening.  But because I am so flipping behind in my blog posting, I am putting my posts to hard work and turning them all into multi-taskers.  So today there will be an outfit of the day, a made by me file (knitting!), and a review.  :-)

Day: Thursday, January 1, 2015.

Where:  Dinner out with some friends.

Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  It was so cold that night and I wanted to be cozy and comfortable and warm.  This outfit is exactly what I needed.  The Cashmere Nep Button Back sweater (here at Boden on clearance) is very warm and lightweight, the super chunky knitted infinity scarf easily blocks the cold wind, the J. Crew Turner pants (here at J. Crew) are easy to wear and interesting to look at, and as per usual, my loafers are my go-to whenever I want casual but without being *too* casual.

Cool Factor: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  The Turner pants are very unique.  They aren't for everyone, but even my most conservative friends really dug them.  They quite liked the silhouette of the pant and the unusual elastic hems.  I thought for sure that when buying them that I would be returning them, but the size 8 I chose (one size down from what I think I should wear at J. Crew) fits great, and the pockets with the exposed zip application meant they were keepers.

I know big chunky scarves are in (well, provided they aren't *that* big), and I was thrilled that after (not even kidding here, people) a YEAR of work on this one, I finally finished my first *people can look at this and not gasp at how shoddily it is made* project.

If you knit, you will no doubt notice that on my left side in this photo (your right side), there are a few stitches that are off.  I was distracted when knitting up a few rows and made that mistake.  Fortunately, it is easily hidden.  ;-)   For the rest of you, it may not even register that there are mistakes.  Regardless of the mistakes or not, I am so excited that my knitting worked and I have an actual wearable garment.

I have to say, if you want to give knitting a try, give the Knit Lab class over at Craftsy a go.  I had tried for years to use books to teach me how to knit and it never made any bleeping sense.  After spending an entire afternoon giving the process a go while watching this class, I finally got it.  Now, I was NOWHERE near good enough, but at least I could make the basic knit and purl stitches.  Problem with my knitting beforehand was that I was trying to learn continental style knitting and my hands like English style knitting more.  Thankfully the Knit Lab class covered the English style and that was when it all clicked.

It took a few months of working on my tension before I was able to get a good grasp on what properly knitted items look like while knitting, but confused me got there.

If you like to knit, I used this pattern for the above cowl.  She had a knit-a-long at her blog and it is full of very useful information.  I made mine a touch shorter than she did hers.  I used this Lion Brand Alpine Wool yarn for the scarf along with size 11 needles.

Cashmere Nep Button Back Sweater.  Size 6.  You have seen the front view above, but the back view is really what makes this sweater interesting.  I am a bit bummed that the placket at the top you see the facing bit on the underside, but at least it is in a great color to be showing through.  :-)

The buttons do stay very well secured, so there is no worry about that.  The color is very close to a baby pink, but the little bits of differently colored specks (the "nep") take it from being a juvenile color to something a bit more sophisticated.

That said, I like to wear this when I want to feel laid back and comfortable, it is a great weekend kind of top.  I mean, of course I will wear it at other times, but it just screams to me that kind of sweater you go to the farmer's market in.  Ha.

I couldn't have sized down in this, it would have been far too tight.  The size up would have been okay, since a little looser is more of the "look" Boden was probably going for.


Cashmere Nep Button Back Sweater.  The stocks are decent, but the blue sweater is all gone.  That one sold for something like $60 back around Christmas (when they had the extra 10% off) and it was a great deal if you liked that color.  I did like the blue, but have a lot of blue and green in my closet, so I knew I would be better served with this pink one.  The price for the pink version is decent, I think I paid a few dollars more back in December for it.

Okay, that's all for now.  Have a few other reviews coming your way over the next few days.