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Holiday Gift Guide – Cozy Knit Sweaters and more from Lands’ End

December 11, 2011 By

‘Tis the season to bundle up in warm sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves, and no one does warm and cozy like Lands’ End!  For this holiday season, they’ve put together a list they call Our Favorite Gifts, featuring gifts for Women, Men, Girls, Boys, and even cozy gifts for your home!

I’ve mentioned before what a huge fan I am of Lands’ End, and one of my favorites is their sweaters. Classic patterns and styles combine with super-soft knit yarn, ribbed neck, cuffs and bottom trim to make sweaters that will keep everyone warm all winter long. Lands’ End offered me a choice of items to review from the Our Favorite Gifts collection, and I chose the Women’s Blend Fair Isle Open Crewneck Sweater in Vintage Oyster.

Lands End Sweater

 

I love it! It’s so warm and will go with both jeans and navy blue dress pants.  It is dry clean or hand wash only, but I use those Dryel home dry cleaning kits anyway, so I just have to be careful not to spill anything on it and it should last for years. This sweater also comes in red and navy.

Other items on Lands’ End’s Our Favorite Gifts list include this Men’s Wool Pea Coat, this super-cute Boy’s Full Zip Anchor Sweater, this gorgeous Girls’ Fair Isle Zip-Front Hooded Cape, as well as scarves, slippers, and many more.  Although I didn’t review it personally, I also want to point out this adorable Kenana Handknit Penguin with Scarf, made from 100% home spun wool, dyed with natural plant dye, and signed by the woman who knitted it. These cute plush penguins are handcrafted by members of the Kenana Knitters group in Kenya as part of Aid to Artisans.

Prices: Women’s Fair Isle Crewneck Sweater $89.50-$99.50, Men’s Wool Pea Coat Now $109.99 – $129.99, Boy’s Anchor Sweater$69.50, Girls’ Hooded Cape $79.50, Kenana Handknit Penguin with Scarf, $39.50.  Visit landsend.com to see all the available sizes and colors, and to find a very special gift for someone!

 

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What are palladium rings?

October 18, 2011 By

Palladium rings are fairly new to the wedding bands market. In fact in the past five years they have really picked up some popularity. They are a great alternative to platinum. In fact the price of a palladium ring versus the price of a platinum ring is about 65 percent less. This makes having a quality white metal ring much more affordable for a lot of people. Palladium rings are very similar in weight to 14 karat white gold rings. The benefit of palladium over white gold is that palladium is naturally white and will not fade back to yellow over time.
 
There aren’t too many other white alternatives. There is a new one called cobalt chrome. Cobalt chrome rings are very similar to palladium in color. The problem with cobalt chrome is they can’t be resized more than one full size. This makes any weight change difficult to deal with because your fingers usually change when your weight changes. So you may go up or down in size and have a hard time with a non precious metal band. So a palladium ring is a great choice for his or her wedding band.

disclosure: I received compensation for publishing this information.

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My Daughter Definitely Has Her Own Clothing Style

July 27, 2011 By

My daughter is five and a half, and she definitely has her own clothing style. She loves anything pink, anything purple, and anything with Hello Kitty on it!   Because she loves to mix and match, I buy separates that coordinate rather than specific outfits that have to match.  I buy her patterned tops and solid bottoms, and since she pretty much only wants pink and purple, everything usually matches pretty well.

If we’re just hanging around the house, I don’t care if her tops and bottoms match. She can put on a pink flowered shirt and purple shorts and that’s fine. But if we’re planning to go somewhere, I usually suggest she try a different outfit and she usually agrees. If she insists on wearing what she has on though, I don’t fight her, because who really cares if a little girl is wearing slightly mismatched clothes?

With Kindergarten starting soon (gulp),  I’m thinking ahead to buying school clothes. I’ve been browsing the racks at Penney’s, Walmart, and Target, getting an idea of what’s in style this season. Fortunately for me and Kaitlyn, it looks like separates are easy to find, and there’s plenty of pink and purple.  In fact, JCPenney has a line called “Okie Dokie Mix and Match” which is tops, leggings and something they call “scooters’ which I think are what I call “skorts” – and the best part is if you buy three pieces, they are only $7.00 each!

So, I’m thinking that for about $60 or so, I can buy Kaitlyn six tops and three bottoms that will mix and match, and that will get her through Fall! Score!  And the pieces are super cute, too.

 

 

The other reason I buy Kaitlyn separates rather than outfits is because she’s a bigger size on the top than on the bottom! She needs a size 6 in tops, but is barely a size 5 on the bottom. I can’t buy her clothes online for that reason either, because I have to try everything on her first because just because a tag says 5 doesn’t mean it will fit like a 5.

So I’ll take Kaitlyn clothes shopping and I’ll let her show me what she likes. We’ll look for pink and purple and Hello Kitty, and pieces that mix and match.  I think it will be a whole lot of fun!

disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and jcpenney blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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