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Fairisle sweater and a note on internet shopping

I have been searching for WEEKS for a good Fairisle sweater with very little success. I think perhaps I have “gone” a bit early – Fairisle maybe doesn’t hit the shops until mid-October or early November as people start to think about Christmas.

Still, I’ve been looking because I’ve got a terrible fear of all the marvellous cosy Fairisle sweaters selling out and I want one.

But so far the two likely sweaters I’ve found and bought and had delivered have been rotten. One from Boden, which was bulky and itchy and !!!! so fucking static !!!!!

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 19.20.34

and another I found on ShopBop, which arrived today, which is also itchy and a bit stinky like of wet wool/dogs. They both have sleeves that seem to balloon out from the shoulder and flap around one’s elbows and forearms. So disappointing.

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 19.25.50

This absolutely did not look like this on me when I tried it on 

I sent the Boden sweater back and the above sweater is going back, too. Because that’s the thing about internet shopping, you have to be absolutely 100% okay with the slight hassle of sending things back. Luckily I live near a Mailboxes Etc, which is always empty and queue-less, unlike any PostOffice, which has queues like something out of the Soviet Union circa 1985.

You have to be ruthless with internet purchases. Absolutely ruthless. I reckon a lot of online places make a huge margin off their customers not being arsed to send things back. You have to try the thing on assuming it’s going to be shit and you have to send it back – this requires a pretty huge doublethink, as the item in question, in the time between you hitting “Place Order” drunkenly and it arriving at your door, will have verily become the item that is going to change your life.

Then it arrives and smells of wet dog and you’re so disappointed you could cry and you think… maybe if I put it in a drawer and try it on again later it won’t be so stinky and itchy. Wrong my friend. Wrong. Put it back in its bag and send it the hell back to wherever it came from.

You have to think “I knew it. I knew it was going to be shit” and take great pleasure in sending it back because the shop is probably counting on you not doing so.

Anyway I’ve completely given up on the hunt for a Fair Isle sweater now. I found this on on Gundrun (who made Sarah Lund’s sweaters) but it’s insanely expensive and I just know it’s going to be some itchy unflattering bastard.

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 19.24.26

Anyway I’m completely fed up now. I’ll just wait until there are 4,000 snowflake sweaters in Gap and have to make do with one of those.

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Comments

  1. Sue Madelin says

    September 30, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    You’re going to think I’m stalking you as this is the 3rd comment I’ve left today! Sorry – I promise I’m not. But I just wanted to share a company I found last winter after like you searching unsuccessfully for a beautiful fairisle sweater for a couple of years. The company is called CMP and I bought my sweater from a stall at the Spirit of Christmas fair at Olympia (held in November every year) but I notice from their website that they are stocked by Snow and Rock in London. (Don’t know if I’m allowed to post a link but here is one to a pretty sweater that I’ve got my eye on for this year http://www.cmp.campagnolo.it/eng/collezione-scheda/woman-knitted-pullover_7H56510.php). I absolutely love the one I bought last year and when I realised I’d dropped my dinner on it but had cut out the washing instructions label I emailed their customer services department (in Italy – I wrote in English!) via their website and they replied to tell me how to wash it only a couple of days later. I was very impressed.

    Reply
    • esthermcoren says

      September 30, 2015 at 7:55 pm

      No Sue don’t stop commenting! I love you! Marry me! This is great info thank you very much. I am going to perv at this jumper right now xxxx

      Reply
  2. theminx (@DaMinxy1) says

    September 30, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    You could always learn to knit…. 🙂

    Reply
    • esthermcoren says

      September 30, 2015 at 7:55 pm

      I KNOW how to knit, just don’t want to

      Reply
      • theminx (@DaMinxy1) says

        October 6, 2015 at 5:18 pm

        Absolutely no excuse! 🙂

        Reply
  3. Catherine says

    September 30, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    What do Boden put in their wool – wire? I’m quietly obsessed with this women’s jumpers, bit of an cooler take on the fairisle.
    https://www.etsy.com/listing/172712119/port-of-amsterdam-sweater
    Also I have MOTHS. A terrible curse, so all wool has to live in the freezer, or ideally not be made of wool. They are the bane of my life. Or my life in winter at any rate.

    Reply
    • esthermcoren says

      September 30, 2015 at 7:57 pm

      oh I know I know. we have moths too FUCKING FUCKERS. we’ve had the whole house sprayed – didn’t work. try Pheremone Moth traps from Amazon. Not a total cure-all but you can see the little c*nts stuck to the sticky strip. sorry I’m not usually an animal killer but moths are so evil and gross and pointless

      Reply
  4. Catherine says

    September 30, 2015 at 7:37 pm

    Although, if you don’t have moths, you really can’t beat Brora, they have some stunning fairisle type jumpers. £300 a bit too much for moth food though.

    http://www.brora.co.uk/Product/Category.aspx?WebShopCodeStr=A5&WebSegmentCodeStr=S2&WebCategoryCodeStr=JC

    Reply
  5. Catherine says

    September 30, 2015 at 8:14 pm

    They drive me into the red mist, I’ve actually smashed two bedroom lights trying to thwack them. Spraying was my next move, then ripping up the carpets. I’m now really coveting that jumper from Brora now though….

    Reply
  6. Katie says

    October 1, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    Everything you write makes me laugh aloud, and immediately want to go and read it to somebody else to make them laugh too… If that isn’t great I don’t know what is.

    Reply
  7. Sass says

    October 3, 2015 at 12:32 am

    If you can bear it TKMaxx had some good ones – a whole rack dedicated to Fairisle…Kew, Clements Ribeiro and some other decent brands.

    Reply
  8. Noor says

    October 3, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    From one online shopping addict to another – have you tried http://www.lastcall.com? Its everything that didn’t sell on Neiman Marcus. You’ll sometimes have to look through pages of crap to find something nice but who doesn’t want a pure cashmere sweater for less than $150? And they have kids clothes!

    Reply
  9. Anna says

    October 5, 2015 at 9:47 pm

    You could try lands end… They have a couple of pretty looking ones on their website:

    http://www.landsend.co.uk/mSearch?cgid=5728&pdtPerRow=2&sz=all&endless=true&pageSize=15

    Reply
  10. thestarter1978 says

    October 22, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    What about the White Company?

    http://www.thewhitecompany.com/clothing/knitwear/jumpers/fairisle-lurex-jumper–dark-charcoal-marl/

    Reply
    • esthermcoren says

      October 22, 2015 at 5:02 pm

      very nice!!! hadn’t seen that one xx

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Ordering new clothes | LondonAndIoW says:
    October 16, 2015 at 5:07 pm

    […] ALWAYS send stuff I don’t like back as soon as I can.  Esther Walker said in her blog that you need to be ruthless about sending things back and I agree with her.  If you […]

    Reply
  2. Boden fairisle sweater | LondonAndIoW says:
    December 3, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    […] few days ago, on a whim, I ordered this fairisle sweater.  I’d read about it on The Spike – the author hadn’t liked it as she said it was itchy and bulky but I was seduced by […]

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