Shopping for the Perfect Cardigan--T.J. Maxx

I'm a dedicated T J Maxx shopper, happy to spend hours combing the racks and trying on pile after pile of clothing--especially during the peak sale seasons. Some of my favorite bargain hunting stories come from T J's, including my best-ever shoe bargain.

Today, though, my focus is on the sweater section--row after row of sweaters, crushed together without much sense of order or organization. I plow in, determined to comb through every one to find my perfect cardigan.

Goldilocks and the Sweater Rack

Too long and too big. (I'm five four on a good day, and hover right around 110 pounds, so it's easy for me to look like my clothes have swallowed me.)

Too fuzzy. Too short--I'm big-breasted and short waisted, so most cute little waist-length sweaters make me look like Humpty Dumpty. A pregnant Humpty Dumpty.

Too casual--I want to be able to wear it to polish up a casual look, or to dress down a dressy skirt, so anything too laid back is out of range. After an hour, I'm discouraged. I've tried on about ten sweaters, and none of them even comes close.

I take a half-hearted run through the rest of the store, but even the shoe rack doesn't offer much to make me happy today. A quick run through the jackets shows some promising pieces, but most of them are black. I already have seven or eight black jackets, and besides, in my casual work place, I only wear a blazer or jacket a couple of times a month, if that often.