Happy November

I had a rather frustrating shopping experience yesterday, the kind where it is demonstrated to me very explicitly that what I find appealing is not, apparently, what the designers of clothing find appealing. This happens to me on occasion, most commonly when I am trying to buy jeans. The thing I was trying to buy yesterday was the opposite of jeans, and yet, the parallels are there. I shall probably be writing a Thursday Thirteen about it tomorrow.

Fortunately, I also had yet another box to open from Connecticut, yet another piece of Diana’s history to rediscover. Now, I was saving this box for last, since I was pretty sure it contained the Great Sweater Collection. The GSC was rather infamous among my circle of friends, mostly because I had a whole bookshelf devoted to it in college. What can I say? I love sweaters. Also, I never really got to wear them growing up in the subtropics as I did, so I made up for all of my sweater-deprived years by going a bit overboard in college. I had a LOT of sweaters. I had the mandatory fair-isle LL Bean zip up cardigan, the mandatory autumn-colored wool crewneck pullover, three or four cheesy/vintage thrift-store finds (including one with a flying mallard across the front), and any number of fitted wool crewnecks the virtues of which most self-respecting 50s greaser appreciated.

But even I did not remember all of my sweaters. For instance, once I saw it, I vaguely remember the red-and-bright-pink candy cane striped sweater I bought on sale at the Gap one year. I had completely forgotten about the fitted boucle black crewneck I wore constantly senior year in college (it only took four years in new England for me to learn to appreciate black). There’s a gorgeous green lambswool pullover that I have no memory of whatsoever, and a dowdy maroon chenille v-neck that I’m pretty certain doesn’t belong to me at all. And, let us not forget the enormous, knee-length bulky Peruvian yaks-wool sweater which is only to be worn when doing some sort of prolonged outdoor activity of the apple picking, snowball throwing, or carol-singing variety. But now I think it would be a perfect “bundle up and write” sweater. I shall have to try that out for NaNo.

Ah, Great Sweater Collection, how I have missed you! And of course, this is so much more fun than shopping because a) it’s free, and b) it’s all stuff that I must have liked at one time already (except for that chenille v-neck), which means that I’m much more likely to like it again.

Also in the box: the afghan my grandmother made me when I went off to college. I’m so excited about this!

Okay, off to start my NaNoWriMo project.