Sweater Time

...not that you really needed on today in the Metroplex. It was all kinds of nasty outside between the early morning fog and drizzle to an afternoon of unruly humidity. You could just feel the air sit there, stagnant. Ugh.

Over the weekend, I brought out all of my winter sweaters and put them on the top shelf of the armorer. The bottom part is Sean's and you don't want to see the unruly mess it currently is at the moment. As you can see, they are arranged by color. The far left is ivory (there is no such thing as white cashmere) and black. The far left are brown hues (Lacy, I know you would be proud of all the brown), and the middle is everything in between. I would buy the same black sweater over and over and over again every season so I have to be very careful that I do not go there!

If you do not know this, I am a self realized clothes horse. I have been for a long time and as I have gotten older, it has gotten worse. Now that Elizabeth has come into my life, there is a lot less disposable income so it has been curbed quite a lot! As you can see, it is filled to the brim with sweaters, mostly fine gauge merino wools and cashmere. Some of the cashmere sweaters in there are ones that I helped develop when I worked at Neiman's. I still wear them, love them, and think that sweaters are just about the coolest things ever....and hide a magnitude of sins. Fall clothes are easily my favorite fashion season for the very fact of sweaters...and leather...and suede..and well, the list goes on...

So let's talk sweater care and storage. Most people hang their sweaters in the closet. Um, no. Don't do that. It stretches the fibers in them and they lose shape. Once a sweater loses shape, there is not getting it back...so proceed with caution (better results on the hanging with cottons, acrylics, and poly blends). Recommended storage is folded (and I can fold a mean sweater from my days working for a very particular sweater buyer) in a dry, climate controlled area away from any chance of insects. During the off season, I store mine in a large plastic bin, sealed till the next season, in a closet IN my house, not an attic or the garage. For cleaning, some you can wash in your machine, some hand wash, some say dry clean. Most cashmere sweaters will say dry clean only. This is misnomer. The chemicals in dry cleaning actually damage the delicate fibers and cut into your sweater's life span. While it is a pain in the tush to hand wash and then block your cashmere sweaters, it is so much better for them. I will be the first one to admit that I have been known to take my sweaters in to the cleaners on occasion. I try to avoid it though and you should too. Also, sweaters pill. Not fun, but they do. Either pick it off gently or take a very fine toothed brush or comb and comb it out. There is nothing like walking around looking like your sweater is from the 70s just because you didn't take the time to make it presentable. It seriously spruces up your look in no time at all.

Aww...sweater weather...how I love you so...now get cold so I can snuggle up in you!