Thinking warm

By some cruel twist of thifting luck, it seems like my best scores lately have all been tailored for warmer weather. As I type this, snow is dumping outside and the temperature for the next three days isn't projected to rise above 0 degrees Fahrenheit (with wind chills dropping to -25 for a good portion of the next 36 hours). Wool will comprise the majority of my wardrobe for awhile and give me a good excuse to break out some of my heaviest sweaters a couple more times.


This particular sweater is one of them, a vintage military number made in England out of 100% wool that's incredibly thick and warm. Paired with my peacoat, it should take the bite out of even the coldest upcoming mornings. If it goes on for too long, I can easily fall back to the uber-thick L.L. Bean Norwegian as well.

Now, if I can just keep my fingers and toes warm.

Speaking of keeping warm, I did manage to find two great wool sweaters recently.


One is a fairly standard 100% wool navy v-neck, and while I normally shy away from logos and emblems, I couldn't pass this one up for a dollar. I haven't played a round in two years, and while I'm years removed from my best scores (at prime, my handicap was 5), I couldn't pass up the kangaroos on the crest of this one.


In terms of bold, blocky colors, you simply can't go wrong with vintage ski sweaters. It's almost impossible to find them in great condition (moth holes are the usual culprits), and this one was no different. It has a tiny hole near the left armpit that I'm going to try to rehabilitate. I'm a sucker for the color combination, and once again it only cost a dollar, so no harm lost if I can't get things to work out.

Thinking about the wind chills tomorrow morning, I almost wish I had kept my beard.

Almost.

Sweaters and scruff

I had a nice little block of days off over the past two weeks, and even though I kept fairly busy, I found the time to get out and thrift a little bit. I had a lot of competition (our city is full of pickers, and there were quite a few thrifters in town for the holidays), but I did end up finding a couple gems.

First up was this vintage L.L. Bean sweater. It is now easily the thickest sweater I own, and I haven't even had the occasion to wear it yet.


I knew it was something interesting the moment I saw it, and the tag affirmed it. It's old enough to have the vintage L.L. Bean font, and oddly enough it was made in Norway.


It's not 100% wool, but honestly I don't mind in this case. It makes it less susceptible to moth damage and although it inhibits the breath-ability just a bit, it's going to be layered with enough other garments when I finally do wear it that it won't make much of a difference anyway.

I also found a beautiful 100% wool sweater vest (knitted in England) and a short-sleeve (!?) 100% lambswool v-neck sweater that I'm guessing one would just wear like a sweater-vest. Some cool accessory finds (including a couple sweet ties) will be coming in another post.

It's certainly not very stylish, but I also bought this...


Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of Las Vegas as a city (it's just not my thing), but I buy vintage ringer t-shirts like this once in awhile to wear in the yard and/or around the house. It's one of those shirts that feels like it's been washed about 150 times and is soft and thin and incredibly comfortable. To each their own, I guess.


Almost three weeks since my last wardrobe post, and almost as long since I've shaved. Trying to decide whether I should chop down the ever-thickening beard or not...

I haven't had any returns from the first two months yet, but I'll unveil the items for this months Style Share on Thursday evening (Jan. 6th). Some good stuff again, so swing back and stake your claim.

A couple scores

Was a totally random night on the thrift-run this evening. First off, ran across a lovely cedar Russel Wright gravy dish (or baker bowl, I'm not certain). Our household gets a bit weak in the knees for pretty much anything RW, so this minty condition piece was snatched up without hesitation for only $4.99.

Russel Wright, so suave

The next nice find was a couple cashmere sweater vests in the very wearable colors of gray and light brown. No nibbles or fuzz balls at all, I was sold for $1.50 each (originally $2.99, but it was half-off evening).



Next was a pair of semi-vintage Lands End corduroys in a nice bluish-gray. Just my size in the waist and totally deadstock. They've even un-hemmed, with massive 40 inch inseams right now, so I could totally rock some 3 inch cuffs if I wanted. $2 after the 50% discount.



Lastly (but not least) are some super interesting, vintage foreign pants of some sort. I honestly don't know much about these, but they're a wool/poly mix and very heavy, with some very nice detail work that I've tried to picture below. Check the leg hems, the waistband and the black line detail down the sides of the legs, in addition to the slightly fleur de lis pattern on the hook fastener. Sadly, I got these home and the inseam was much too short for me, so into the trade pile they go. These were also $2, so at least I'm not out too much.

This will not end well

Over the course of the past couple weeks, I've picked up not one, but three nice vintage wool sweaters (none of which cost more than $3). This past weekend, I finally decided I should give them a good, cool sloshing about so I could actually add them to my wardrobe.

As I tossed them into the tub, I looked at their tags closer and was surprised to see how casually one sweater wanted me to treat, "the world's best virgin wool."

Machine wash and dry? Really?

Granted, Puritan isn't known for being a top-of-the-line brand, but I've never given a 100% wool sweater a machine wash and dry and not had it turn out looking something like a miniaturized version of its former self.

In one case, an old sweater of mine that received such sad treatment ended up being tied into a small, knotted ball and became a favorite toy of one of our dogs (living it's life being occasionally shaken in a frenzy and lovingly referred to as, "the sweater ball").

Giving shrunken wool sweaters to a small dog as a plaything probably isn't setting a good precedence, but neither is machine-washing wool, I say.

And for the record, aforementioned dog has never destroyed another sweater (although loveseat cushions are another matter).