This Beanie Was Knit With Hate

November repeats! A hateful hat, really good boots, and more

Dec 14, 2025

November revelation: Snoopy is much clearer through Minion-sized prescription lenses.

And now somehow it’s mid-December already. The tornado of gift guides and festive dressing round-ups and controversial cookie recipes arrives earlier every year. Soon enough we’ll be decorating gingerbread houses in September. C’est la vie when you’re trying to keep up with the content machine.

I’m overJOYED to unplug in a short week and a half, and I have to admit (as much as I love the holiday noise, I really do) that it’s nice to chill the fuck out for a few minutes and chat about something unrelated to end-of-year shenanigans. So this is what I had on repeat in November!

It was an uncharacteristically cold month in the city — we’re already hitting February temperatures, booo — and my recent go-tos are accordingly quite cozy: a hand knit beanie, my favorite red sweater, boots I swear are protecting me from frostbite, and more.

Yeehawt is on sale! The price is going up in the new year, so snag it now at a lower rate and get grandfathered in at that price for life.

$30/year = all access pass to vintage finds, fashion history deep dives, and more tips and tricks on becoming a medieval sex symbol.

magic discount link

First thing I’ll say about these: they create the optimal click-clack while stomping down 8th Avenue. That’s no reason to buy a shoe per se, but it’s not NOT a reason to buy a shoe…

My friends at Loeffler Randall1 sent over these bad boys after I fell in love with them at a fall preview (the sweetest team in the game), and I have hardly worn any other shoe out past 7pm since. I especially love a knee-high leather boot in winter too — even under the thinnest cotton pants, they break icy winds and keep my calves safe from freezing temperatures. This heel is also the perfect height for running around without arch fatigue.

At that point, the delicious pointed toe, buttery slouchy shaft, and western-leaning silhouette are just the cherry on top.

Last year my mom learned to knit in secret so she could surprise us with handmade hats and sweaters for Christmas. She came with an overflowing bag of woolen goods: scarves of varying lengths (some useful, some less so) and several hats, both pom-pommed and sans pom.

After the gifting excitement died down, she made a confession: she hated knitting. Turns out, her brilliant idea for homemade gifts backfired, and she labored through six skeins of yarn cursing the needles under her breath. “This was not made with love,” she said. “This was made with hate.”

I think the hostility between the fibers gives it a little extra something. My partner and I fight over our favorite one pictured above: soft ivory fluff with sprinkles, like a funfetti cupcake.

An event I attended a few weeks ago had piles of this Summer Fridays lip oil served up on silver platters like trays of hors d’oeuvres. I grabbed the darker shade of the two options, soft mauve, hoping for something leaning berry (my lip color kryptonite). When I got home and swiped it on, it immediately betrayed those expectations. But you know what? It was better.

i’d wear grape jelly as a lip tint if i could

I hardly ever venture out into new lip territory. Berry is my crutch. But I’ve been glazing this on top of my regular lip favorites — all the berries I leave strewn in crumby purse pockets — letting it cool down the shade underneath and pull it into a frostier, hot cocoa-sipping winter palette.

This Big Apple Red ribbed turtleneck came into my life years ago via a hometown charity shop, and it always gets the most play time around the holiday season (no breaking news there…).

I couldn’t have paid more than $6 for it — shoutout White Dove Thrift Shoppe, my beloved — and the tags had been cut out long before I came along (perhaps literally before I was even born). It’s the piece I reach for every time I don’t know what to wear from the months of November to March. Expect to see her again soon.

This bangle is an arm halo, emanating an angelic aura from my bony human wrist. It’s by the brand Eliou (gifted) and was the answer to my relentless prayers for a silver cuff with panache.

The vast majority of my jewelry collection is secondhand, and I’m always saving vintage silver cuffs while browsing, but this perfectly tubular, blindingly polished silhouette is one that’s yet to come across my desk on the resale market. I can’t stop snapping this over the sleeves of winter sweaters.

“Girl on Girl” by Sophie Gilbert. Devoured it, loved it, learned, laughed, and cursed the architects of reality TV.

“Dash and Lily” on Netflix. I rewatched this delightfully unserious holiday series for maybe the fifth time since it dropped during our first Covid Christmas in 2020. I love a quirky teenage main character who gets made fun of for her vintage and handmade clothing.

Cripps Pink apples. Imagine a Honeycrisp went to the spa, had her tart sweet chakras realigned, and returned extra juicy with a renewed zest for life. In writing this I stumbled upon AppleRankings.com and found my love for the CP is controversial: here they’re dubbed only good enough for “horse food.” All month long my Cripps Pinks were bright red and solidly crisp, but maybe I got lucky! Try at your own discretion I suppose…

Last month I hoped for “warmly lit evenings and steaming cups of cider,” and I didn’t want to “let the cold weather affect my making plans.” Done and done, even in the feels-like-17 temps, #GrindSet.

I’ll be southern hemisphering Christmas this year, so I am looking forward to ocean dips and watching the kangaroos pull Santa’s sleigh. For now: let me know if you have any ideas how to bottle the scent of rain-soaked Christmas trees lining the city sidewalks. It’s urgent.

Would love to hear about your cozy December plans! Happy holidaysssssss <3

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