L-A: While the weather has been quite lovely most of this week, I think we’ve all noticed that the seasons have been changing. Even if you haven’t noticed (or would rather not notice), you can’t argue with that equinox thing that happened on Tuesday: Autumn is here.  The switch from summer to fall has me listening to this Hawksley Workman song a lot (he chatters for the first minute of the video – you can skip that):

Hawksley is right on the money when he sings that fall makes us sad about the crummy summer weather we had. Because damn. That was a crummy summer. And for once I don’t feel like it was Mother Nature hating on only Halifax. I don’t know if anyone, anywhere had good weather. But he’s also right when he sings that if you “find a sweater and you’ll be better,” not because it’s great rhyming, but because sweater weather is upon us and I’m actually pretty happy about that.  Aside from some rain today, there are few things I like better than a crisp, sunny fall day where I get to put on a cozy sweater and think about apple picking (which I have never actually done) and making soups out of butternut squash (except, I’ve discovered, I don’t actually know what a butternut squash looks like and so I couldn’t buy it. That’s okay. Couldn’t puree it anyway since I don’t have a blender. Domestic goddess I am not).  And now that I’ve gotten all chatty, let’s talk sweaters for fall.

Let’s start with the coziest looking sweater of all: the sweater coat.

Deux Fm’s Lhasa sweater, made out of super cozy baby alpaca (speaking of alpacas…I’m kind of sad to see that Pacafiesta has been cancelled this year). Normally, I am not a fan of the colour “electric blue”, but I totally am in this case.

Some Canadiana for you from Roots:

I kind of like this sweater. It makes me think of the old school Mary Maxim sweaters that you could knit up in hunting, fishing, reindeer or curling motifs (who wouldn’t want fish or reindeer on their sweater??). Do you know what I don’t like about it? And it’s not that they put the striped turtleneck with it (although I definitely don’t like that) or the giant bird, it’s the maple leaf. I’m proud to be Canadian and all, but I don’t need a giant maple leaf on the back of my sweater.  Moving on.

A super girly and pretty sweater coat from Anthropologie.  Now, while I like the sweater coat in theory, I cannot wear them. At least, I haven’t found one I could wear.  They look hideous on me. Seriously. I turn into a wooly box with arms and legs. But I love the idea of wearing one. If it looks good on you, it’s like wearing a housecoat outside of the house and still looking lovely.

Sweater weather also makes me want to do cowl necks and cables:

Both of those are from Pringle 1815 on Net-a-Porter. That means you may want to shop around for a more affordable version. But they do look cozy don’t they?  Cables are always my downfall when I try to knit them. And I’m usually only knitting one cable into a mitten…I can’t imagine how badly I’d screw up a sweater.  Speaking of knitting, apparently it is en vogue again for the rich and the famous (I still loved knitting, so I didn’t really notice if it did go out of fashion). At least according to Net-a-Porter who are selling a knitting kit:

Okay, I’ll admit it, the packaging is cute and the loopy wooly scarf looks cozy. But you’re better off checking out the yarn store in your neighbourhood. If you’re going to drop $85 on yarn and needles, you want to know you’re going to love that yarn. Plus you can ask the nice people at the store about the yarns. So go buy your yarn in person. (In Halifax, you can do that at The Loop or LK Yarns). If you can’t knit, you can take a class or you could just buy a cozy, loopy scarf:

It’s DKNY, costs almost as much as the knitting kit, but doesn’t include the satisfaction/frustration (depending on your knitting skills) that comes with knitting your own. But since this is not a craft blog, that’s enough craft talk for today.  Actually, speaking of craft talk, I have to share this hilarious video with you. I was going to leave it hidden within a link, but no. It has to be shared. The outfits are Dont’s on so many levels:

Augh! Hilarious and nightmarish all at the same time. It’s like an advertisement for not wearing American Apparel lamé leggings. (Seriously. Don’t wear them. Ever. Please).

Okay, so you’re probably about to yell at me for getting off the topic of sweaters. But no. I’m talking sweater weather. Which includes all things wooly and cozy. Also, my internet window shopping did not turn up as many cozy sweaters as I would have liked. Lots of cute little cardigans, but nothing you just want to wrap yourself up in while you drink hot chocolate in front of a fire.  Although, I do really enjoy this hoodie (yes! a hoodie! I will rarely endorse hoodies. They are usually for wearing when you look slobby around the house. At least that’s my excuse for my ratty looking brown hoodie):

Looks cozy. And it’s got some nice structure you won’t look like a slob while wearing it outdoors. Well played Roots. You know who else does sweatshirt like shirts with structure? Smoking Lily:

You’d feel warm and snug in it and you’d look like you’re actually trying to dress nice.  Because that’s the worst part about the sweatshirt – it looks like you just don’t care. And “slob” is not a fashion statement.

I’m going to end off on a fall trend that could be cozy sweater weather wear, but just confuses me. The snood:

It’s sort of a head tilter for me. Apparently you can wear it around your neck or pull it up over your head. Is it the name that turns me off? Or do I just need to see one that isn’t in such a sketchy looking pattern? (uh, what up Burberry? $325 for that? Fail).  I think it’s the name that really gets me. Because when I hear the word snood, I think of this:

Highly addictive video game that I’ve had to delete from my computer.

Time to go get ready for the day. And yes, I’ll be wearing a sweater. Or maybe shopping for a sweater, my collection is in serious need of more cozy fall sweaters.