Nothing says First Day of Lent like Dental Surgery (Project 333 Winter Wrap)

I think the post title says it all.  I got a viral infection in my mouth a few weeks ago that resulted in a sudden and painful gum recession on my bottom gum line, and I had to have a tissue graft this morning.  All in all, not too bad, but the anesthesia is starting to wear off and the motrin hasn't kicked in yet, so I'm starting to feel it.  The actual graft doesn't really feel too bad, but the sutures are wrapped around the tooth above and have moved that tooth further back from surrounding teeth, and that does hurt.  Imagine having several lines of floss stuck on either side of a tight-fitting tooth and not being able to take it out.  It does feel particularly penitential.

Far left: Bluebird dress, Mammoth Flannel #1 dress with green henley undershirt, Daisy Chain canvas dress, Folk Tapestry canvas dress with olive undershirt

Top Right: Geo flannel skirt, Zwei Leben denim skirt, wool plaid skirt (vintage)

Bottom right: Banana Republic cream wool sweater, Ramona green sweater, berry cashmere sweater, Clouds in my Coffee sweater

I decided to wrap up my winter rotation a few days early because I have several things going the next couple of days and today was the day I had time to switch things around.  I've kind of been ready to do it for about a week, which is different from last year.  I think it is mostly to do with the mild weather we've been having--my winter wardrobe is mostly ill-suited to spring-like temperatures.

Far left: Mammoth #2 dress, garnet knit dress, olive knit dress, teal knit dress

Top right: berry waffle henley undershirt, navy waffle henley undershirt, cream henley undershirt, cranberry cowlneck sweatshirt

Middle right: Fair Isle wool cardigan, blue cashmere pullover sweater, coral cowl, off-white cowl, kiwi cowl

Bottom right: Teal-blue cashmere cowl neck sweater, gray wool pullover sweater, cranberry wool cowl neck sweater, navy heavy cotton pullover sweater

I had this outfit in my winter rotation, but I only wore it a couple of times.  I like to think of it as my Elizabeth Jennings outfit (Keri Russell's character in The Americans).  I like how it looks, and it fits very well.  I really like the top, and wore that a fair bit with my denim skirt, but I can't really decide about this skirt.  The main problem is two-fold.  First is that the skirt, which is wool, is unlined, and very static prone.  Every slip I've tried with it just sticks to the skirt and to me, and the anti-static spray I use to help these things just doesn't seem to work well on this skirt.  The other issue is that the whole outfit isn't quite warm enough for deep winter.  On the other hand, it is nice to have some in-between clothes for days like today that are chilly but not freezing.  I also like to have some clothes I feel a bit dressier in, and this combo definitely fits the bill.  If we had a cooler fall, it would be a natural fall pairing, but we tend to be warm here well into October, and then only get a few coolish weeks in November.  I'm going to keep the skirt for now. 

A few notes about the rotation:

Keen-eyed readers will note that the wool skirt in the collage (top photo) is different from the one in the outfit photo above.  I include it mostly to note that it just now fits me.  I bought it last summer on etsy (it was deadstock vintage) and it was too snug in the waist.  It now *just* fits.  A few more pounds gone and it will be a nice fit.  I didn't actually get a chance to wear it this winter, but it goes well with the cranberry wool top, so I'm hoping I'll get some wear out of it next winter.  

Both my denim and flannel skirts are too big on me now, so I'm going to have to address that before next fall.  I've washed and dried them both in an attempt at controlled shrinking, but they are still a bit roomy.  I will probably wear the denim skirt through the spring and then recycle the fabric and reuse the hardware; it will have been through six hard-wearing rotations by then.   I have some more of the same denim to make a (smaller) replacement.  Ditto for the flannel skirt; I bought some replacement fabric this winter and will recycle the old fabric and reuse the hardware on the new skirt.  

I had a hard time settling into this rotation and I couldn't really say why.  I wore everything in the rotation at least once, and all my dresses got heavy wear, but my separates languished a little.  I was making myself wear them because they were there, instead of wearing them because I really wanted to.   The rotation felt at times too heavy and other times too light.  I also started counting undershirts in my final count since it felt like cheating to have four or five shirts in the drawer that didn't get counted.

I also had some knitting fails this rotation--the Ruby Stoker was just not a great sweater for my needs, and while I wore it to sleep in, it didn't work otherwise.  The Cypress Rincleau is too big on me (I tried to wear it again on Sunday and it was sliding all over my shoulders and torso; I had to change before I even left for church).  So is my blue Clouds in My Coffee cardigan.  I did wear that several times with the Daisy Chain dress, but it just is too big on me.  I'm hoping to knit a more fitted cardigan in a similar colorway before next winter.  The fails were instructive in several ways in terms of educating my knitting process, as well as what sorts of profiles I tend to like in finished objects, so I guess they weren't a total loss.  I also got to work with Quince and Co.'s Lark yarn, and I will definitely be working with that yarn again.  It is soft and squishy and lovely.  I should have used a bulkier yarn for the Rincleau, however.  The Lark just wasn't quite heavy enough for the finished sweater, I think.

The canvas and flannel dresses were the clear winners from this rotation, and I think if I had to pack a bag for a long winter trip, I would take those four with their attendant sweaters and undershirts and call it a day.  They are comfortable, warm, and look nice at the end of the day.   That said, I did like having the knit dresses for some nicer church options.  I wore the garnet one for Nativity and the olive one for our parish's Christmas party the day after.  I took the trouble and expense to have the teal one taken in quite a bit in the bodice and I'm glad I did.  It fits much better now, and I will get at least another year's wear out of it, hopefully.  

I will discuss my spring rotation tomorrow!