November has been a fairly mild month thus far, which means we're halfway through the month but the trees are still full of colorful leaves and I can get away in a cozy cardigan rather than a full coat. I try to hang on to my cardigan and jumper days as long as I can because I style them as part of my outfits, but coats (no matter how stylish) tend to just hide whatever "look" I wanted to wear. My knit pieces by Emmy Design Sweden are always some of my favorites in autumn because they're truly warm and so soft. They make their knits with 100% merino wool and treated to be wonderfully soft; I never feel itchy in their pieces and they keep me warmer than almost any other knits in my closet. So often we forget that when we get cheaper clothes they use more synthetic fibers, which frankly aren't as effective for insulation or warmth. When I really want to be cozy I always reach for my wool pieces. I really love Emmy's classic skater inspired cardigans, but the long lines of this Cambridge cardi makes me feel a bit like a vintage professor. I styled it with an Emmy Design skirt as well and my favorite vintage knit hat for an outfit that reminded me Nina Leen's photographs from the 1940s.
While the temperatures are mild and many leaves are lingering you can still feel the approach of winter in the darker days. Already it is dark by five pm here and the days will only continue to get shorter, which means more and more evening walks by torchlight with Solomon into woods that are decidedly more spooky with the crunch of leaves underfoot. November seems a noisy month in nature. In addition to the sound of dry leaves stirred by the slightly bit of wind and rain, there's the piercing cackles of jackdaws coming in to roost each night. Recently we heard the sika deer making noises in the night as its their rutting season; they have a range of noises from whistle-sounds to screams that have been compared to banshees.
"It was November--the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines." LM Montgomery
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