Getting Silly, ccr-Style

Every once in a while, when there's a little money to spare for fun, it's good to go beyond fun and into silly-land, and I did this recently. I bought something utterly foolish, and (spoiler alert) have not yet regretted the move.

How silly, you ask? Well, look at this:

Cute, if slightly silly, sweatshirt? Oh, but look closer, my friends. That zipper across the middle? That opens to a fleecy pouch for you to tuck in your cat*, for carrying and/or cuddling purposes.
*Or other small animal, of course.

Yes, really.

I saw it online a while back, and thought, yeah, it's a cute idea, but would Carlos go for it? Not very likely, he's not a 100% lap cat, and who has money to spare for the experiment? Plus, not cheap, and it's probably not well made, and, no.

Well, sometimes one needs to brighten up a dull winter day. Click!

It was delivered Thursday. The envelope wasn't quite as big as I thought it should be, which had me concerned that the reviews who mentioned the sizing ran small might have been understating it. Or that it was paper-thin! There was also a sort of ridge that I could feel through the padded envelope that seemed odd.

Turns out, it was vacuum-sealed for shipping.

So that was weird! When I cut the bag open, it did not whoosh dramatically, as I hoped, but the shirt came out only minorly wrinkled, not crushed. It's a fleece material, and while not super-thick, was very warm and soft, so no complaints there.

I draped it over the couch for crap-photo purposes. I mean, it's not screaming royal purple, but it IS purple, not brown. (This is why I put the website photo in above.)

You can't quite tell from this angle, but the hood actually has ears! Not to mention the drawstring pompoms, aka built-in cat toys. All of which I find amusing, but at the same time I don't think I will be wearing this out of the house much.

Don't miss the hands:

Cute! I didn't find them all that comfortable, but a) I'm not used to the hand-covering-sleeve thing, and b) at the computer, I found the inside of the dots a little aggravating on my hands on the desk, and ended up just folding them back. Not a problem, just a comment.

And the pouch:

The attention to detail actually surprised me; it's better made than I had expected. There's a snap in the middle of the pouch flap, to keep it from drooping open when not in use, and the drawstring thing is probably if you have a smaller animal, to keep it tucked in, I guess. The fleece is a liner that zips in, so you can launder it separately if need be*. You can also take the liner out and zip the front closed, so if Carlos doesn't go for it, I could still use the sweatshirt.
*I mean, I washed it separately from the sweatshirt anyway, but if the liner was the site of a mess that the sweatshirt was spared, you could wash just the liner. Conceivably handy.

The fleece is super soft, as is the matching lining in the hood. There's a pass-through pocket in front of the pouch, so you can warm your hands if you aren't carrying an animal, or support the animal you are carrying.

To answer the questions I can think of:
About the sizing: I mostly wear an extra-large in things like sweatshirts. Sometimes, depending on the cut (in the front area, especially), it needs to be 2XL, but 3XL will generally be too big. In this case, because of the runs-small warnings, I ordered the 3XL, and it fits just about perfectly. It's nicely long enough, and the fit is right between too snug and too baggy.

As for washing, I was doing laundry on Thursday anyway, and there was a sort of odor to it (not unpleasant, but, you know, like the store or warehouse, and not clean clothing), so I unzipped the pouch out and put it in a mesh bag, and washed it and the sweatshirt. There was no care tag, so I went with cold water in a gentle cycle, and low in the dryer, and it came out fine. I did put a color catcher sheet in the washer, and washed it in a load of dark clothing, since I was sure the purple would bleed, but it didn't, so that was a pleasant surprise. Still feels soft, and smells better.

And the $64 question: What does Carlos think? Well, I picked him up while I was wearing it (before washing), and he was sleepy, and I tucked his back end in. He clearly could tell that Something Was Different, and he moved gently to get out. But he wasn't upset, and didn't panic or flee or anything, so we'll try again and see. I certainly don't want to rush him, as that would only lead to rejection, I'm sure. I didn't zip the liner back in, but put it in bed on the corner where he often sleeps, since if it smells familiar, that may help. Updates as things happen.

Any other questions?