Tie a Day, Number 34

Today I decided to do something bold, out of the ordinary and quite frankly, a little crazy. It is just the way I roll with it. Flouting convention, I did what I knew to be wrong, something others said should never be done.

And I pulled it off!

Stripes and dots, together- mixing and mingling in the naughtiest of ways- right on my chest.

I thought for sure someone would call me on it, but no, it was as if I was wearing a protective shield. Perhaps this was the day when I could do no wrong and I wasted the magic on a stupid shirt and tie combination instead of the lottery.

Or maybe no one cared...

It doesn't matter. When I tell this story, and I assure you I will, it will be a magical story of conquest over the fashion masters. How I screamed at the world, "Freedom!" with my face painted blue while riding my horse off to work.

Of course, I still can't top the horizontal red and blue stripped shirt with the green and white spotted camouflage pants combo my 5 year old wore out of the house today.

Tie a Day, Number 33

Today was, "Fight the Photographer" day. My 5 year old, Sammy, was dying to get in on the picture taking, so I tried to give a little extra time to get a good shot while I was coaching him.

"Hold the camera like this and try and get the top and the bottom of the tie in the picture. Ok?"

"Ok!" He says as he attempts to get one at an odd angle that includes the dog.

"Sam, you need to hold it like this so you don't block the flash."

"Ok, Daddy!" as he turns the camera at a 33 degree angle that captures his own hand.

I then try to hold the camera with him at the right angle while pointing out how he should get just the tie in the picture.

Flash!

"Alright buddy, that's good enough. Thank you!"

It is a good thing I crop these photos...

Tie a Day, Number 32

This tie has always been one of my favorites, maybe because it is black. I have always loved black, but since I was a teenager purple moved into the lead. I attribute this to a change in overall attitude.

Black is one color. Purple is a mix of two. I guess that means that as I have grown older I have come to accept that there is a duality to all things.

Or it might just be a thing I tell myself so that I can believe that I am complex and deep, when the reality is that I am totally full of it.

In any case, I have always loved this tie. Since the early 90's when it came into my possession, I have looked forward to wearing it. Now it is out of style and I still enjoyed our time together.

Yes, I am a dork.

Tie a Day, Number 31

The tie I wore on Monday was an interesting blue tie with a peacock feather design. Revenge of the 80's ties! I did not have to wear a tie at all on Tuesday- a tie day off.

This blue tie is not really one of my favorites, and not even a tie that I think I have worn before. This tie was only a space filler, although I have to say that I did select a good shirt to go with it.

I have taken an interest in ties lately (obviously) noticing the ties that people wear around me, and on TV. Combining this interest in ties and my love for football and I have really been noticing the football analysts ties.

One man beyond all others stands out to me. Not because of the ties, but the knot he uses. Merril Hoge has the largest tie knot I have ever seen. It is easily 5 times bigger than the knot I use every day. This thing is massive! It must take half and hour to get this thing right. I contacted him through his website to find out about this impossibly large knot. Hopefully, I will hear back soon.

This curiosity about Mr. Hoge's knot let me to investigate knots in general. I never knew there were so many different knots out there! I should have known, between sailors and their knots and Boy Scouts and all of theirs, somebody was sitting around thinking of new knots to tie ties with...

I found this nice site that explains how to tie a tie in different knot styles, and I realized that the knot I was using is not on the list! I thought I was doing the Half Windsor, but not so. I kept looking on the list and it is closest to the Simple Double knot but with only a single loop in there.

Seeing as I do not have a name for my personal tie knotting system, I have taken it upon myself to name my own knot. Because of my simple White Trash background, and the single loop that I use in my knot, I am forever naming my knot the "Simple Single Redneck."

Have you ever seen a knot as big as this? I think it is the Atlantic Knot...

Tie a Day, Number 30

Boy was I surprised today! I went looking for a tie this morning to go with the shirt and pants I wanted to wear and I found this little beauty. The surprising part was that I swear it was a new tie!

I don't ever remember seeing it before, and never remember wearing it, but as hard as it was to believe I must have worn it at some point and I have not received any new ties in forever. I mean it is not like I have a tie farm and and they are mating in the closet when no one is looking. Maybe my wife is messing with me...

This tie has all my favorite colors in it which guarantees that it will work with all of my clothes. The shirt is not a faded 80's jean shirt Cathy! It is a grey shirt that is fairly new - with in the last 5 years (I am a teacher after all and don't buy clothes that often because I can't afford to). Blue, purple, tan, black, grey with some green in there too. I really like this tie.

Maybe I just never looked at my ties like I do now, but I just can't shake the feeling that this is a new tie. Kind of like tieja vu...

Tie a Day, Number 29

This tie represents the only Halloween themed tie I own. I know, I am surprised too, but this is actually a very nice tie. The dark background has bats and spiders on it that are outlined in blue. The tie goes very well with this shirt and the blue outline is pulled out by the blue shirt.

The funny thing about this tie is that hardly anyone noticed what was on it! It was like wearing no tie at all. My youngest child took the picture this morning, that is why the tie looks extra long - I was leaning over, and he didn't notice it until this afternoon when I took him out of the car. "Oh cool! Bats and spiders!"

I was kind of bummed that no one noticed the tie I had been saving for this one special occasion, but maybe everyone was distracted by my bad hair day.

Tie a Day, Number 28

Today's tie has a pearlescent quality to it, it is a glossy tie that catches the light in a nice way. I am not sure what color it is. I thought it might be a pink color but I just couldn't decide.

I think I was matching today, but really, I have no idea.

Almost up to 30 ties! It seems like only yesterday I started this ridiculous parade of ties...