My favorite sweater is a heather blue cashmere crewneck. I bought it a few years ago to replace an almost identical sweater that had developed a hole at the elbow. Last week I discovered that I’d worn a similar hole through the elbow of the newer sweater, so I went online looking for a replacement. That just happened to be on Cyber Monday, and I found exactly the sweater I wanted at Macy’s for $49.99, marked down from $150. I ordered two of them.
They arrived yesterday, and when I cut open the package, the sweaters kind of popped out. There was no inner wrapping; they had simply been stuffed into the plastic shipping envelope. It was only when I tried one of them on that I discovered a hole in the body of the sweater. I realized that when I’d cut open the envelope with a pair of scissors, I had snipped a hole in the fabric. That’s it in the picture above.
“Well,” I consoled myself, “at least I ordered two of them.” But when I looked at the other one, I saw that it was a different style. Rather than the crewneck I’d chosen to wear with jeans and a flannel shirt, Macy’s had sent me the V-neck version.
So I called Macy’s about exchanging the V-neck sweater. (To be honest, I briefly considered telling them that the other sweater arrived damaged and exchanging that one too, but I couldn’t do it. I figured I’d just buy a new sweater to replace that one.)
But there would be no new sweaters. Macy’s was all out. They offered a refund on the V-neck but I decided it was better than no sweater at all and that I’d keep it.
I was embarrassed enough about my scissors debacle that I considered not telling anyone what I’d done. But I find I can’t withhold anything from Jennifer, so I told her about it as we were walking the dog last night. She was entirely sympathetic, but more than that, she suggested she might be able to repair the cut. And she did. Now I can barely see the damage when I look closely. And the repair is on the side of the body down near the waist, so when I’m wearing the sweater, it will be all but invisible. (When Jennifer showed me the repair, I said, “That’s fantastic!” She allowed as how that was the right response.)
In the meantime I went back online and ordered iron-on elbow patches for the two older sweaters with the holes in the elbows. We’ll see how that works out.
