Gray things for gray days

If I ran down a litany of all the things that have happened in my life over the course of the past couple months, it would sound like a sad country song. I've been busy, and not always in ways that have been happy, but things have now settled back into normalcy and I'm going to celebrate that by keeping on.

For obvious reasons, one of the last things I felt like doing was updating my blog, but along the way I realized that even though it's somewhat frivolous in nature, I actually did miss it a little. If nothing else, it kept my creative juices flowing a bit in trying to capture some decent images and string together some words that made a little sense.

After the most brutal summer that I can remember living through (in terms of heat and drought), we finally got a bit of a cold snap here, and it was welcome to me, as my fall wardrobe contains my favorites. I love my tweed jackets and over-the-calf socks and chunky ties and yes, even sweater vests (and sweaters). It gives me an excuse to wear wool hats and scarves and for once I don't have to worry about what hour of the day I'm going to inevitably sweat through my undershirt.

This past week, I finally broke out some of my tweeds, starting with this color-flecked gray Pendleton. It pretty much goes with anything, but I paired it with navy trousers and a green, vintage v-neck Pringle sweater.

Although this time of year features my favorite outfit combinations, it's also the hardest time to get decent photos outside, as the sun goes down so early that I have to get home early and set aside a couple minutes in addition just to have a chance. With a toddler and various household things that need done, it just doesn't always happen. In the previous photo, I managed to kill two birds with one stone in shooting photos at the same time I was emptying our compost bucket (pictured).

With a dry summer and a really long, mild fall, the squirrels have all gotten incredibly fat. We still have two pumpkins left from Halloween, but one of them has been almost completely destroyed (this is the lucky one).

I'm going to be in the giving mood in December. Six months is long enough to go without Style Share, don't you think?

Tweeds and pleats and unknown details

Today was one of those days that was chilly in the morning, then absolutely beautiful once the sun came out and started shining. Of course, it's still early enough in the year that late afternoon dips quickly into cooler temps, so it's best to wear something that's warm but still breathes a little (if you're going to be outside at all during working hours). I went with fairly muted tones, except for a fairly electric vintage Brooks Brothers tie that I picked up recently.

The pocket square was one of these great vintage cotton hankies.

Down below are some burgundy Weejuns and some amazing Polo Ralph Lauren pants that have one forward pleat (hey, I can abide with one or less, especially if it's not a standard pleat). I finally went and bought some over-the-calf socks and I'm loving them. I got a 3-pack of red cotton from Lands' End the last time there was a big sale, and now I'm going to have to stock up on basic colors, because they actually stay on over my chunky calves and have held their color (and held up well) after many washes.

I've worn this sport coat several times before (a vintage Pendleton), but I had never gotten pictures of the interesting shoulder details on it. The photo above is the back of the shoulder. To explain a little further, the detail pictured is actually a sort of accordion fold with two thin strips of fabric that open up when one extends their arm. I haven't been able to find the name of this particular stylistic detail in my sleuthing, so any help (and the functional reason it's built into the coat) would be appreciated. I'm sure one of my readers (and yeah, I'm again looking at you, Yankee Whisky Papa) knows.

Tweed on the steed

Winter is hanging around these parts, but the weather has been just sunny and dry enough that bicycle commuting is still an option most days.


I tried to pull a little bit more color out of the subtle weave of my trusty tweed, so I went with a purple/blue mercerized cotton v-neck, the flowered cotton Gant tie from this haul, my Florsheim monk strap boots and some chinos.


The nice thing about wearing items that skirt the line between two colors is that they can veer in different directions depending on what they're paired with. Here, my university-stripe oxford in blue and white actually seems to be leaching a bit of the purple from the sweater, along with the navy tie (which also has a similarly vague tone). The pocket square is strictly in the corner of purple and cream, and holds a surprise of its own...


It's actually a women's souvenir scarf, and while it's technically a little on the large size to use as a pocket square, the thin density of it allows it to work without too much thickness in the breast pocket. I actually have several women's scarves that I use in this way; I don't hold a grudge one way or another and actually really prefer some of their colors when I'm feeling like I should let my peacock side fly. In this particular case, I just liked the checkered pattern and colors, so that's all I chose to show. Whatever works, right?

It was actually quite apropos that I rode my bike while tucking away the Mackinac Island scarf, as the resort island has had a ban on nearly all motor vehicles for quite some time. I think retreating there to bike around in its giant state park sounds like a great idea to escape from the blistering summers at some point in the future.

Feeling cheery, feeling dreary

Today was the end of the run, so to speak. After an extended Indian summer and a nice, long fall of warmer-than-normal temperatures, the cold wind started gusting around dark and ushered in a round of rain which is supposed to turn into some snow by tomorrow night.

I decided to go subdued, with a splash of color. Up top is a camelhair herringbone jacket with an off-white oxford and the regimental tie I snagged a couple weeks ago at an estate sale.



Down low were some medium-brown pants and vintage Florsheim Imperial loafers from another estate sale earlier this summer. The photo is in the dying light of the day, with Elsa the dog making another appearance.

Fall tweener

We've been having one of those falls where it starts out pretty chilly in the morning, but by mid-afternoon is settling in somewhere in the low 60s or so. It's been sunny and dry, and despite some brisk wind, fairly unseasonable and nice.

Because of the cooler commutes on my bike rides to work, I've broken out slightly warmer clothing, but I wanted to keep things in line with the sunny and nice temps yesterday, so I went with a medium-weight herringbone tweed jacket in light brown and cream. Paired it up with a pink and white university stripe oxford and one of the brighter ties from this early summer haul.



Down below I wore some khaki-colored corduroys that sort of blended into the cream color of the jacket and my well-worn and well-loved Clark desert bucks.



The resulting combination was something that managed to keep me warm on the ride in, but was perfectly agreeable when the sun was beaming down its slowly dying rays later in the day.

Tweed tweener

Today was one of those weird days of the year where it was 29 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning on the bike ride in, then just a smidgen over 70 when I stepped out of the office after work. As mentioned in a another post, such dramatic temperature swings require a bit more planning than normal.

Fortunately, I have a nicely-weighted tweed go-to jacket (bought for $3 a couple years back) that keeps me warm but is made of a lighter fabric that breaths a bit. On the ride in, a thin sweater provided an extra layer, while a scarf, gloves and hat kept my extremities warm. They went into the messenger bag on the insanely beautiful ride home.

The other nice thing about this jacket is that it has some fairly bright colors woven in, in very subtle ways, which you'll probably have to view the full-size photo to see

At any rate, I paired it with some dark brown khakis and one of colorful madras ties from this haul. Due to my commuting habits, I haven't made the full-on turn to spring, but it's definitely creeping closer.

Right before this picture was taken, my wife said something about "blue steel" (cue Zoolander) that made me laugh. She rocks.

If you look to my right in the above photo, you will see our garden scarecrow, who is modeled after a headless Patrick Bateman.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about spring?

Fiber Arts Harris Tweed article

My wife ran across a great article in Fiber Arts Magazine about Harris Tweed and thought I would find it interesting.

I did, and now I am sharing it with you, dear reader.

There's a lot of very specific information in there about the actual process of creating the textile (and how it has evolved over time) itself...

At that time, the method for producing Harris Tweed was a simpler version of today's process. The raw material of wool was all produced locally, at one time solely by blackface sheep. Part of it was used in the natural, uncolored state; the rest was dyed, using plant materials until the introduction of chemical dyes in the late 1800s. Then the wool was mixed or blended (the shade being regulated by the amount of colored wool added), oiled to replace any lost natural oils, and teased - that is, pulled apart by the bristly flower head of the teasel plant to open out the fibers and remove any stray material. Next came carding, in which the fibers of the wool were drawn out and evenly arranged. The wool now went to the spinning wheel, which gave the yarn its twist and thereby its strength. After spinning, the yarn was ready for the loom.

There's also plenty of history as well...

In 1840, the Earl of Dunmore, a proprietor of Harris, asked local weavers to copy in tweed his wife's family tartan pattern (Murray tartan) for outfitting the workers on their estate. Lady Dunmore was so enthralled with the quality and presentation of the fabric that she began marketing the local cloth throughout the United Kingdom. Because of its camouflage-like colorings, substantial weight, and hard-wearing qualities, Harris Tweed rose from a regional poor man's cloth to British aristocracy's favorite fabric for outdoor sporting garb. By 1881, some 620 families were employed in the tweed and knit industry, and by 1900, a carding mill was erected in Harris to speed yarn production.

It's from 2001, but it's still well worth 15 minutes of your time.

Subdued spring

Ah, so this is what spring feels like.

For the first time in five (FIVE!) months, the temperature rose above 60 degrees (Fahrenheit), and for about 6 hours all seemed right with the world. With a morning temperature hovering around 30, though, I knew I'd have to wear one of my jackets that was warm enough that I wouldn't get too cold on the bike in, but light enough that I wouldn't crack a huge sweat on my ride home and back for lunch.

Basically, it was the perfect excuse to pull out my brown cashmere/wool combo from this post. With a scarf and some gloves (and ear-band and helmet!), it was just about right in the morning, and was thisclose to being too warm at lunch. With a temperature swing of over 30 degrees, I consider that a success.

At any rate, I paired it with my favorite light wool LL Bean pants ($2), a paisley Oscar de la Renta tie ($2), a blue/white striped Stafford oxford ($2) and what are quite possibly my favorite pair of shoes; A pair of vintage Florsheim wingtips that I scored for $1 just over a year back.

Yes, the bike is mine. More on it later.

In wearing the jacket again (and especially looking at the above photo), I realized that I'm going to have to get the arms taken in just a bit. They're rolling almost 29 inches from the shoulder seam right now, and I'm closer to 28.

The light was bright and harsh at lunch, so the shots didn't quite turn out as well as I had hoped, but I did take a couple details to hopefully give a little better idea of how the colors went together.



Seeing a close-up of my shoes also makes me realize that I need to give them a little love.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that the reason I named the post as I did is because we're supposed to get several inches of snow tomorrow. I couldn't go an break out all my crazy bright colors quite just yet with such knowledge in hand.

*Sigh*

Sunday scores

One of my wardrobe goals for 2010 was to add a few more jackets, just so I would have a little more variety. Of course, I'm sure it's partially lust after seeing the massive collection put together by Guiseppe over at An Affordable Wardrobe, but my closet is still a bit on the slim side in terms of choice. If I had to guess, I'd say my limited palette is somewhat dictated by my odd measurements, but it might just be a bad time of the year for finding decent jackets at the thrift store.

The last six months or so have been pretty much complete busts in this department, so I was incredibly excited when I ran across not one, but two great jackets in my size yesterday (for $5 each, incidentally).

First one is a super unique slubbed silk (100%) jacket in a navy and white herringbone. It's light enough that I should be able to easily kick it for a couple months yet and versatile enough in color that I should be able to mix it up with chinos or jeans alike. At 44xl, I was worried that it would be too wide in the body for me, but it actually fits more like a 42xl.







The second jacket is a little more understated, but even nicer in terms of quality. It's brown/cream herringbone design that is made out of what I'm guessing is camelhair, as it's incredibly soft (no fiber content tags anywhere). Like the other jacket, this one fits me spot-on, which is a rarity, so it really wasn't too difficult of decision for me to make.







Pictures of them being incorporated into my daily wear coming in the near future.

Find of the week: Harris tweed hat

I must be honest; I've never been a big wearer of hats. I'm a rather tall fellow, so putting something on my head only makes that fact even more readily apparent. When winter rolls around, a flat black or gray stocking cap is my friend, but the rest of the time I usually steer clear (with the exception of one embroidered 10 gallon that pushes my height to roughly 7 feet cumulative when I put it on).

It was then, with a bit of whimsy, that I purchased a tweed hat this weekend. I was ten steps away from leaving a local thrift store empty-handed when I saw a nice brown number sitting on a chair by one of the (empty) dressing rooms.



Upon picking it up, I flipped it over and looked inside, only to find that it was not only my size, but also a Harris tweed, made in the good old United Kingdom. Smashing!

Just look at that sensuous salmon-colored lining!

I'd bought hats in the past and they'd sat in the bottom of my closet, so I was determined to wear this one immediately. Fortunately I had a tweed jacket (that I'd paid $3 for) close enough in color to roll with. The day of wearing was chilly, so I paired it with a blue and white striped Stafford oxford ($1) and a vintage silk tie ($1.99) with a Toscano v-neck wool sweater ($2).

The tie pattern was this close to being too busy, but I decided to risk it

There were more than a few comments at work, which I expected, but I'm darn well going to get some good use out of a sweet Harris tweed hat. Did I mention that it was only $3 dollars? Double smashing!