So glad it is the year of buying nothing.

Otherwise I would have had to shell out $100 for this, right? :)

I think next time, go with just the one colour. :)

I do love the orange, pity about the misshapen tiger.

Every autumn, I kick off the yearly knitwear search. I traditionally buy one piece of knitwear to add to my wardrobe and that is the one I wear for that year. This year I am taking a break from this tradition due to my Year Of Buying Nothing challenge. But I thought I could still have the fun of making a small collection of knits I would go and look at if I were in the market for one. Maybe one of my readers is looking for a new one?

Just be aware, I have absolutely no idea if the prices will remain the same as when I took the screenshots, so I have provided links to each item and you can click through and check the current price. These are not affiliate links and I do not earn anything for linking, just so you know. :)

I find Rivers to be a somewhat reliable source of knitwear. Last year I bought the Rivers Edge to Edge cardigan in cobalt blue and also in a lovely shade of teal seen above. You can get this in several different colours including black. This is very reasonably priced at $21.00.

You can also get the Edge to Edge cardigan in a long line version with pockets, shown here in the gorgeous cobalt blue – they call it ink marle.. That is a lot of knit for $24.50! If you prefer a chunky knit, you might like the Fisherman Rib Coatigan.

This Metallic V-Neck might be awesome and I would be tempted if it were available in a darker shade. They have silver and baby pink, neither of which are very me.

Another semi-reliable Snoskred source of knitwear is Millers – though their clothes can skew very Miss Marple Solves A Murder While Knitting Something New, AKA fluffy.

I had a look through their website and only liked this one thing, which I had seen on their ad. Though I suspect it would either be fabulous or NOT great in person. I don’t love the colour but I do like that it has some sparkly.

It may be a little early in the season because they only have one poncho in “neutral” which I strongly dislike. I love a poncho generally.

Rockmans is one other place I visit for knitwear.

I love this knit because it is in the “mixed media” style, but I hate the colours. It also seems to be on the thin side overall, which isn’t a huge problem but sometimes that kind of knit shows every lump and bump on your body.

UPDATE TO ADD: I was going past a Rockmans yesterday and I dropped in to take a look at this jumper. It was HIDEOUS as were 99% of the other knits they had in store. I can’t even describe how bad it was. Just so, so BAD! The “wool” looked like the cheapest possible yarn which you would get from a $2 store for .25 cents. Ew.

While at Rockmans I spotted this scarf which is completely me. I would never pay this amount for it, but I can keep an eye on it and grab it when it is on super special.

This has been a useful exercise for me because while I love all of these knits – especially the long line cardi in blue – I do not need to buy any of them. Good to know! ;)

I had my skeleton Carter model some of my winter knits back in 2015, and you can enjoy those posts here.

Recently I was looking through one of the fashion websites and one of the new dress arrivals at Noni B made me gasp out loud. This is the Viviana, it is currently nearly $127 and that is 25% off, which is not something I am likely to pay. But that store regularly does $50 dresses so next time I am there, I will try it on and establish what size I need, and whether I actually like it on, and if I like the material.

I was in Target recently – well not the real Target, because we have “country” Target here, which is like removing all the awesomeness of Target and leaving.. well, whatever is left. I am not a fan.

Maybe 20 years ago I bought some t-shirts at Target which I still have and wear to this day. I thought I saw something similar on a recent drive by the store but it turned out they were a thin material and Not Great cut. They had just got the Christmas t-shirts in, and it was yet another time where the plus size option was far better than the option for not plus size.

The smallest size they had was 16, it would have been far too big for me. :( When you look at these two side by side, you will notice the sleeves are also shorter on the “normal” sized option. I prefer the design on the plus size option, too. When you write Merry Christmas on something, there is a smaller chance you can wear it at other times of the year, whereas the plus option you could likely wear that anytime and nobody would really notice it is a Christmas shirt.

I have been hunting for weeks to find t-shirts that I like and epically failing. What do I want? Material that is not see through, too clingy, too thin. I want a decent sleeve length. I would prefer that it goes to the elbow. I would like cotton if possible. I already have quite a few super short sleeve tops and they are fine for hot summer days, but on cooler days I would like a bit more sleeve. Something with a gorgeous design. I like skulls, I like koi fish, I like a foil print, a metallic accent or stud embellishment, I love sequins, probably what I really need is a trip to Hawaii because I found plenty of all of that there!

Ghanda make a great range of long sleeve crew neck tees – perfect material, great designs, quite a bit of tie dye which I love, but the short sleeve tees are just too darn short for me. Sometimes I have found the mens range will work for me but this time too many of the tee designs I liked had one pocket and I was not a fan of that. The sleeve length was also not the longest I have seen.

One night after a Chinese dinner at Greenwell Point, we were sitting in the club listening to music and The Other Half was browsing Ali Express, as he sometimes does. He found these utterly gorgeous t-shirts which I am very tempted to order a couple of just to see what they are like – despite the apparent shortness of the sleeves. And at those prices, how could you go wrong? They have some incredible hoodies, too.

This is something I found browsing Ali Express. If I could find something like this in a shop where I could try it on and then buy it, that would be perfect. If you see it or something like it in your travels, let me know. :)

I have been faffing about writing this post for over two months. Every time I would work on it, I would feel like a fraud of some kind. It took me a while to realise why I was feeling this way. The truth is, for the first 30 years of my life, I was extremely unstylish. Jeans and a t-shirt were my go to for going out, and track pants and a t-shirt or bike shorts and a t-shirt in summer were my go to at home. I owned very few – most likely zero for a lot of those years – dresses.

I was trying to figure out how and when this changed. My memory is somewhat hazy on this point but I have a feeling two things coincided – I was diagnosed with Aspergers and I began a new job around 2010 where two of the most fashionable people I have ever known worked. One of them was my best ever manager and I have talked about her here on the blog before.

And thus the Style of Snoskred was born, and it has been evolving ever since. Anyone who grew up knowing me would be very surprised at this turn of events. I spent most of my growing up years dressing to hide or dressing in whatever fit. There was very little style to be found in my world. I think my Mother is the most shocked of all, and probably not a great fan as I used to be her comrade in unfashionableness.

So how did I get here, to this somewhat stylish place I seem to find myself in now? Here are a few thoughts which might help you if you are lost in the style forest.

Make Some Rules –

I am not talking about those old style rules like blue and green should never be seen. I am talking about making some rules for yourself in order to make life a little bit easier when it comes to shopping.

Take Two Cold Shoulder Printed Rayon Tunic $19.95 from TVSN

Here is a good example of one current rule that I have – NO cold shoulder tops. Designers, I do not care how pretty the print might be or how much design you have incorporated into this top or dress. I simply hate this style and I refuse to wear it. Why would anyone think this is a feature I would want? I like my shoulders to be just as warm as the other parts of me.

At the moment that can rule out a large area of a shop when I walk in because this style is *everywhere*. I have no idea why. I know some people like it, but in my opinion it is the most inconvenient and stupid thing you can do to a piece of clothing, besides perhaps slashing it with a knife. Hey, that could be the next fashion trend! And hey, it *is* a thing, I saw it in a menswear shop just yesterday.

Cold shoulder does not go with one of the major things I do a lot within my wardrobe – which is to layer. Try putting a mesh top under one of these cold shoulder things, it is a huge NOPE. Try putting a cute bolero cardigan over the top, NOPE. I do not own a single cold shoulder thing, nor will I ever.

Break The (Old) Rules –

Blue and Green seen together tops from W.Lane (Abstract) (Ocean)

When I was a child there were all these sayings like blue and green should never be seen without a colour in between, there was one about pink and red, too. Blue and green is one of my most favourite colour combinations closely followed by pink and red. You want to wear stripes, wear them. You do not like stripes? Do not wear them.

Pick Your Colours –

Tabatha Coffey always wears black. But within that colour she plays a lot with texture, mixed media, sequins, and she will very occasionally allow another colour in as long as black is the main colour.

The Duchess of Cambridge has made the shades of blue her signature colour thanks to her gorgeous engagement ring. She does not wear blue on every occasion but she wears it often enough for it to be noticeable. She has influenced me to add shades of blue to my wardrobe

Over the past ten years, I have leaned towards three most loved colours which can all be found in a seashell – purple, teal and pink, but I am not afraid to try any colour combination.

Decide What You Like –

My family and friends could tell you whether or not something looks like I would like it. That is SO you, is something I hear a lot. My other half has a fashion style which I would describe as chaos. He does not like a stripe. He does not like a pattern that repeats. There are things I know he would never wear and I know better than to suggest them. I know exactly what he likes.

If I had to describe my current style in just one word, I would choose some of these words – surprising – unpredictable – eclectic – kooky – eccentric – weird – bizarre – sparkly.

The menswear seen in this post is from the Villains of Virtue range from Ed Harry. It is almost the perfect range for The Other Half, much chaos to be seen. The one thing he does not love are the big numbers seen on some of the outfits.

Nobody paid me to put these links here, these are just examples of what I was typing about, but I do love that ocean top and might have to go buy it for myself. ;) Sadly the other half says there is too much gold in the winged top because I do love it. I love the print of the cold shoulder but there will be no cold shoulder tops in this house ever. NEVER EVER! It is a fashion rule I have.

Do you have fashion rules? Let me know in the comments!

Some dress moments are months in the making, like my Noni B $20 bargain. Other dress moments happen a little bit quicker and sometimes there is a bit of a story behind them. This is one such time.

I love the Boo Radley brand. They tend to take different fabrics and mix them together to create something awesome. I am lucky because a local boutique stocks this brand so I can go in and look at the items whenever I want. Having said that, they also sell via TVSN and sometimes I am lucky enough to find a piece I love in the clearance section.

I had been eyeing this dress off for a while in clearance because it is essentially the essence of me wrapped up into a dress. The other half claims I say that about all my dresses – and that is true! Why would I buy a dress if it was not the essence of me?

I saw it in the local boutique in my size back in early June and it was even more beautiful than I suspected. The different materials are so gorgeous together and the black part was silky and gorgeous. I was tempted to buy it for myself for my birthday. No, be good, Snoskred. Do.Not.Buy.

I survived No Buy July partly by not going anywhere near this boutique, which was having a huge sale. On the 2nd of August I needed a haircut and I had *absolutely* no intention of going to that boutique – but my hairdresser was busy and I was told to return in 30 minutes. I thought I would stroll over and of course this dress would be long gone by now.

When I arrived at the shop, there was a busload of Chinese tourists attacking the store. I mean grabbing things off the shelves, trying them on, and then approaching the sales lady to try and haggle with her. The poor sales lady was actually on the phone trying to organise insurance for her new store – seems they are moving to a slightly smaller and more energy efficient place.

I quickly scanned every single rack, dodging the tourists like a bizarre interpretative shopping dance, but I did not find my dress in my size or in any size, for that matter. Ok, looks like it was not meant to be. I started looking at a couple of other Boo Radley things when a lady appeared out of the changing room, holding my dress! Then she put it back on the rack. Could it be my size? No, there is no way it could be.. but it was. She talked with the sales lady about it but decided not to buy it.

I patiently waited for that lady to leave the store before grabbing the dress and heading to try it on. It was perfect and I loved it, so I bought it – and it was cheaper than it would have been buying it from TVSN, too, because the store was having a moving sale. And this past Saturday I took it for an outing and was instantly the most fashionable person in every location we attended. I do not think the pictures do it any justice at all. It is so silky and the skirt moves in such a great way.

Click here for a slightly larger version of this so you can see the details.

It almost feels like it belongs in medieval times or at a renaissance fair hanging out with knights in suits of armour.. The gold animal print fabric is velvety and smooth and I found it impossible to stop touching it.

Lucky for me there is a perfectly placed animal print panel in the skirt for car travel.

I cannot tell you how much I love this dress. No combination of our human words or numbers will suffice. Clearly it was meant to be.

I’m sending this over to LoveLeahXL for her Outfit August challenge.

I mentioned in my first post how sizes are never the same across stores and how I always pick up the wrong size automatically – this time I am going to talk some more about the mental change that you need to make once you have lost some weight.

A few weeks ago I let the chooks out, and Rosie took off like all the foxes in Australia were chasing her. It was so funny, I took note of the time – it was dead on midday. I said to the other half when he got home he should look at our cameras so he could see Rosie, and what I saw actually shocked me. I could not believe that person on the camera was me.

The “I’m much larger than I actually am” mentality is part of the reason why I reach for the larger size automatically. I’m now less than one kilo from my goal weight of 70kg but in my mind I am at least 10kg heavier than that.

I went to Rockmans recently specifically to look at the “Long Sleeve Dressy Shirt Hem Sequin Knit” you see above. I’d been looking for a top with some sparkle that I could wear under my leather jacket. I love mixed media pieces and this chiffon hem thing seems to be a big trend here this year, though I bought several pieces like this on my Hawaii trip in 2013.

This chiffon hem is just that, literally a hem added on to the bottom of the jumper. The jumper itself can be a little scratchy because of the sequins in the knit, just so you know. But it was exactly what I was looking for and there is such little sparkly out there in the shops this year.

Recent experiences have taught me to take more than one size into the fitting room and in this case I took in the small and the medium. I tried on the small first and was shocked when it fit perfectly.

The small size.

The medium size was just too big this time, especially as I wanted to wear it under a jacket. But my mind tried so hard to convince me to get the medium. It said quite clearly –

“Won’t you be more comfortable in the medium?”

“You like having room to move in your clothes, I think you should get the medium”

“If you get the medium you can wear another top underneath”

To all of this I said SHUT UP I am getting the small because it fits better. And so I did, plus BONUS it was half price so I got it for $30 and here it is in an outfit.

That inner voice trying to tell me incorrect things is one reason why shopping can be an exhausting experience. In this case I had specifically gone to try on this one thing so it was a little easier and this was the only shop I went to, so it was less tiring than usual.

Picking out things you want to try on before you even leave the house is a great way to go about this task, I have discovered. The obvious problem can be it might not be in stock at your store in your size but some stores now have the ability to tell you whether an item is in stock at your store.

Rockmans is one of the stores that can do this.

After my recent shopping adventures I now have quite a few new loyalty cards and some of these shops now send me daily emails which can be great if you are wanting to get something specific when it is on sale like I did with this top. I have a number of items bookmarked for future purchase when they are on sale or on clearance, if I miss out on them in my size then it is not meant to be.

Not long after the Millers shopping trip I mentioned in part 1, I was about to head out for the day and picked an outfit. I was unhappy to find that my mesh top which was part of this outfit no longer fit me. Mesh tops are something those of us who do not love our upper arms depend on, to enable us to wear sleeveless tops and dresses. They can also turn a low cut top into something less cleavage-tastic.

All of mine were from Ezibuy. Over the past 15 years, I had bought that top in blue, red and white, plus several black ones, all in size 16.

No problem, I thought. I will just go back and order some more of those mesh tops in a smaller size. Only one small obstacle – the Ezibuy top was now sold out. So I put aside a day for wandering the local shops in the hopes I could find one. HAHAHHAHA. I would have better luck finding a unicorn. In desperation I went into shops I would never have thought to look in, and not only did I not find my mesh tops, I did not find anything in those places that I liked at all.

A few times I thought I had found them – or a lace version – only to find on closer inspection that the bodysuit is back, baby. I can’t even understand why. On one later shopping trip I was in a bathroom and heard the girl next to me having a lot of trouble, eventually saying I can’t undo this bodysuit, Mum! Her Mum had to go in and help her undo the bodysuit. It brought back memories of times when I could not undo them myself. Why do we wear things that cause such problems, ladies? And why has not technology solved that problem? ;)

Ok then, let me search the online shops. HAHAHAHHA. After a couple of hours of fruitless searching, I was getting very cranky. Then I remembered one of my old school reliable backup online shops – TVSN.

Happily they had this one, and unsure what size to get but knowing mesh tops can often accommodate more than one size, I bought the 10 and 12, figuring I could either send back the one that doesn’t fit quite as well. When they arrived they both fit well but the 10 was better overall and that is the size I would order next time. I kept the 12 as well.

When I bought it only the black was available, however they have a range of other colours that go in and out of stock and I was tempted to invest in a few more this past weekend, until I clicked on the size button to find red was the only colour left in my size. These tops are super popular and with good reason. I like the Boo Radley one more than the Ezibuy one, it has a slightly higher neckline.

The other must have layering item for those who do not love their arms is a shrug cardigan. I had to pack away a few after winter last year because they were way too big. Now, two of my most favourite shrugs in teal green and pink no longer fit me. This means I am left with two shrugs that work – these are a lurex glittery stretch fabric which will work for me at most sizes.

It seems from all my searching, the shrug is out, and longer cardigans are in. Sometimes even ridiculously long! That photo is the purple floor length cardigan. Zulily is a site I have never shopped at yet but I do browse it quite often and get their daily emails, it has a lot of stuff which is my style mixed in with a lot of stuff that is not.

I did manage to find a couple of shrugs in my travels but they are both black, I could not find a shrug in a colour at all. I will keep looking but I am not very hopeful.

Just to give you an idea of how much of my wardrobe relies on these mesh tops and shrug cardigans – here are all my sleeveless things. There are more than 30 items here.