Therapy!

Wardrobe therapy, retail therapy, knitting therapy -- this post has it all!

First off: knitting therapy

I had some paypal credit sitting around, and my parents gave me an eb*y gift card for my birthday (who knew they even had those?), so I decided to spend it this evening while I was listening to podcasts. Lime and Violet were waxing poetic about Malabrigo, so I bought two skeins in a purple color (I don't see it on their website, it might have been an older colorway), and then I bought a copy of More Big Girl Knits -- I really liked the first book, and am very excited about getting the new one. I'll post pictures when they get here.

Also, I knit a sweater!!!

But it's a little small. Luckily I know somebody it will fit:

The doll is by the Robert Tonner Company, the skirt is by me, and the sweater is the Textures and Ribs Turtleneck pattern by Daniel Bingham . It used size 1 needles and less than a skein of the Tioga Yarns Three Ply Fingering Wool that I got back at S&B in New Haven. I think Claire found it at a thrift store. The wrapper looks ancient -- I have no idea how old this yarn is.

Also in knitting news, I'm on sock two of my Mom's socks (finally). I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, or the sock, as the case might be.

In more retail news, I went shopping today, and bought a new pair of jeans to replace a pair that was getting worn out. I also got a new black 3/4 sleeve t-shirt to replace one that was getting all pilled and faded. The old garments aren't nice enough to donate, so I'm going to put them in the trash.

This brings me to the final portion of this blog post, Wardrobe Therapy. I'm still chugging along here. I didn't have time to get this done until the weekend, and the piling was a big task. I decided not to take pictures of the pants and shorts, but got rid of the ones that were too worn. I'm going to need at least another pair of shorts this summer, I'm ok for jeans since I bought the new pair today, I have nice "work pants" in grey, black, brown, and khaki, and then casual pants in green and khaki. I'd like to get another pair of khaki casual pants, since I'll get more wear out of those for school. My work pants are still in good shape from when I had the office job, but there's no sense in buying more of them right now since I don't have to wear them much.
Skirts:

These are my summer weight skirts. The white printed skirt is a superstar, it has enough colors in it that I can wear it with black tops or any other color that's in it. The others are stalwart staples.

These are the heavier weight skirts. The raspberry suede skirt would be a superstar, but the hem fell out and I haven't gotten around to fixing that. The others are a black suiting trumpet skirt and some wool blend plaids. They're ok. I like the green and black skirts the best. I think the flare is a good shape for me. The real problem with all these skirts, and with the dresses you'll see later, is that I don't wear them. I almost always wear pants. It's partly laziness, part self-consciousness. I'm going to try to wear them a bit more often this summer, though. It is cooler.

Here are my blazers and jackets. Nothing too exciting. The velvet and cordouroy blazers are superstars. I wear them alot, especially with jeans. I hate the black blazer and want one with buttons, not a zipper, but I'll hold onto it until I find one to replace it. The mauve jeans-style jacket used to be a favorite, but I don't wear it much anymore. I'll give it a go and see if it gets used this spring.

This is my favorite cardigan for spring. I wear it with tanks or camisoles underneath. It's one of the trendier things I own.

These are my two suits and my more work-appropriate dress. The pink suit is a jacket and dress. It's a little Jackie O, and has gotten lots of wear. My mom helped me pick out the purple suit for my first grad school interviews back in 2000. If I was doing this over again, I would have bought something more classic, like a black pantsuit. It's also another zip jacket, which I plan to avoid in the future. The green shirtdress hasn't been worn yet, mostly because I don't wear dresses much. I'll have to give it a shot soon though, before it gets too worn.

These are the lighter weight dresses. Lots of empire waists, v-necks, asymmetrical hems, etc. The black dress on the end is the dress I mentioned as my favorite outfit ever a few weeks ago. I put aside it and a few other dresses that are a little too small, in the hopes that I can fit into them again.

Whew! That covers most of the major clothing pieces. This next week is for accessories. The shoes will take me a while.

It's been sort of interesting going through all this clothing at once. I've made lots of shopping mistakes, and I have tons of plain basics. I tend to make iffy choices on trendier things, so I often stick to the safe choices (probably the reason I had about a million t-shirts). In addition to instituting a "one item enters, one item leaves" policy, I think I need to stop my impulse shopping. I often get tired/frustrated and end up buying things that never get worn. I also need to stop letting my mom talk me into things. She has a good eye for color, but doesn't really have a handle on the styles and cuts I like. It's really hit or miss with things she picks out for me. I also want to make more of an effort to wear skirts and dresses. Considering that I never wear them, I have plenty of them. I think I'm always hoping that I will find the skirt that will make me love wearing skirts, if that makes any sense.

Ok, now that I've driven all my readers off with this really long post, I think it's time to hit the hay. I'll be dreaming of new yarn tonight!!