Tomboy Brands: SmartWool

Yeah, yeah, I know. I started a blog and then went a week without posting on it. Well, it was kind of one of those times where for part of the week I had the time but no motivation and then over the weekend I had all the motivation but no time. Or good weather, since the only day I had both it rained all day. Pffffft on that.

So I thought I'd take a moment to talk about socks, because that's totally a super interesting topic you've all been waiting to hear about.

One thing you're going to see a lot of on this blog is SmartWool.

I was introduced to SmartWool by my friends Stevie and Jason years and years ago when we lived in southern Illinois. What Stevie mentioned only in passing, but that is a serious truth and a warning everyone should be given, is that they're basically the heroin of the sock world. One pair is not enough, you will keep finding ways to buy more.

They're sweat-wicking, warm wool socks that come in about ten million awesome color combinations. They're pricey for a pair of socks, running from around $14 to over $20 per pair depending on what design you get and how tall they are. I try to find them on sale when I can, and have received them as gifts for just about every holiday imaginable.

Yes, I actually ask to receive socks on holidays.

And I am the happiest when I do.

My mother, who understands my addiction (we share a different addiction to coffee, which I would blame on her except for the part where I totally started drinking coffee as a teenager long before Starbucks ever reared its green head in our little Illinois city) even bought my baby her own first pairs of SmartWool socks.

She has outgrown those, and I sniffle a little bit when I look at them. I am part of the Mommy Economy, as I call it, passing around hand-me-down clothing as Audra Grace outgrows hers to other moms of little ones.

The baby SmartWool socks, though? They're not going in the pass-around pile. We're making sure we have those for Baby 2 no matter what.

I wear SmartWool all the time, probably wear them four or five days a week, with the other couple of days being dedicated to a similar brand called Solemates. Basically, I have made it a principled stand to never wear plain socks, because apparently that is what I have decided I care about.

That and trying to convince more retailers to make T-shirt sleeves longer, because who on God's green earth ever actually thought cap sleeves were flattering?

Our local Mast General store here in my city has SmartWool regularly on buy 3, get the 4th free so if I ever have the money to spend I go pick through to find my favorites. I pick them up at REI, Duluth Trading Company (you'll see that name again, I promise), and just about anywhere else I can find them.

I often suggest them when anyone asks me what I might like in a present.

Is it weird to like socks this much?

Okay, it totally is.

But there is nothing as warm in the dead of winter as a pair of SmartWool's thicker socks, like the Jovian Stripe socks. I take them with me for long hikes, wear them to work, just wear them all the time.

It's a fun way to put a little color into an otherwise all-neutrals outfit - even if I'm the only one who notices.

Work From Home 2: Electric Boogaloo

So, I ended up back working from my house on Friday. My loaner laptop died and it was sort of an undignified death. I ended up at home working on my desktop, which is fine since my new work laptop was coming in the mail anyway, so I was there to take the delivery.

It was kind of a comedy, in its own way. I drove to work, went through Starbucks (they have coconut milk now, so I am... probably gonna become even more of a regular because coconut milk), made it into the office, and went to turn my laptop on and... nothin'.

I tried a few fixes I know for similar problems I've had on other computers. Nothin'. Pulled out my phone and looked up some possible other solutions.

Nothin'.

So I turned around, went home, and logged on to work stuff here.

Now I feel like my nice pants are kind of wasted. Oh well.

They're from Duluth Trading Company, ponte knit, which means they look like dress pants and feel like lounge pants. Duluth is the king of secret pockets every place, so they have a nice little side pocket. They're women's pants, but actually have pockets big enough to store things in, which is a huge issue that women complain constantly about and people who make clothing just ignore.

They are the best pants.

THE BEST.

This sweater is from a company called Bear Creek, and it's a men's sweater. I buy one at Mast General each year around Christmas when they're on mega sale. I'm going to write a whole post on this at some point, but I prefer to buy men's T-shirts and sweaters sometimes because they actually acknowledge that human beings have torsos, which women's clothing often does not.

I love this sweater. It's warm but not too heavy, and the silver goes really well with basically anything I wear.

The tank top is just a cheapie Target tank. I buy tank tops from Target by the truckload, or at least I would if I could afford a truckload of tank tops. They sell them in a million colors and you can either buy the basic tank like this, or the "long and lean" Junior's tanks, which I prefer but often don't like the color choices.

I don't even need to tell you where these socks are from.

The shoes are Skechers, an older style I found on clearance at JCPenney when I was heavily pregnant and needed black shoes that were comfortable to stand on when my whole center of gravity had changed. I like them so much I've kept wearing them since.

One of my goals for this year (I really do need to write a post laying that out, don't I?) is also to get a really good, comfortable pair of basic black flats that are not tennis shoes. These are fine, but they're not exactly good for dressier stuff, are they?

That said: so so so so SO so so comfortable.

The scarf is from Lands End. I love Lands Ends' scarves, although they're a little pricy for what is essentially a rectangular piece of fabric someone spent 5.6 seconds hemming and then sent on its way. I usually wait for them to go on sale, or for a friends-and-family sale, and then snatch up two or three and call it a (happy) day.

This scarf was part of an exchange I did, and I deeply, deeply, deeply love it. Deeply.

Deeply love it.

It's the perfect teal color and I wear it all the time.

The outfit idea here was this outfit from Loft's Lou and Grey line, although the item I got the idea from is long since sold out.. I saw that when browsing one day and thought it looked perfect, and realized I could (kind of) recreate it. It's now become an outfit that is on constant winter rotation.

Outfit Details:
Sweater: Bear Creek, men's sweater, available here
Tank top: Target, similar here
Pants; Duluth Trading, still available here but selling out fast
Socks; SmartWool, Jovian Stripe, here
Shoes: Skechers, JCP, similar here
Scarf: Lands End, sold out but similar ideas here at Target
Hat: Urban Outfitters, here.