I wish I could find a bigger picture of this one somewhere. But man, you could easily wear this one at the crossword tournament or ugly sweater party of your choice and turn a few heads. You’ll be heartbroken to discover it’s already been sold. This pas de mer sweater feels like you’re looking at a cryptic crossword grid through a funhouse mirror. None of these are particularly festive, but you could slap a bow on them and get past any discerning bouncer at the ugly sweater party of your choice in these. Nothing on the sleeves or back, no real effort involved.)įinally, I turned my attention to crossword-specific sweaters, and I struck gold. Festive borders on the top and bottom, and the hook in between. (It also exemplifies the unsatisfying corporate nature of the modern ugly sweater pattern. I couldn’t find it in actual sweater form, but it’s a start.

Well, there’s this ugly sweater-patterned take on the math puzzles that periodically circulate on social media. I found this one on Poshmark, and supposedly it won some sort of ugly sweater contest. It’s not particularly Christmas-y, but it does manage to barrage the eyes with color. These are festive, but hardly fit the ugly sweater criteria. (I’ll probably end up ordering this shirt.) There’s also this festive message delivered in the style of the monumentally successful Game Boy Tetris version of the puzzle classic. It’s discontinued in its original sweater form, but lives on as a print for t-shirts. The first result I found was this pattern, which is actually quite lovely. Surely there must be some Tetris-fueled designs for ugly sweaters. So what about Tetris? Tetris is part of the fabric of modern puzzling. At least that seems to be trying to overwhelm your senses. I mean, look at this Rubik’s hoodie on Amazon. But it’s not the colorful visual assault I was hoping for. There’s this Rubik’s sweater design, which I find a bit meh. So I started pairing different puzzle brands with “ugly sweater” in my searches, and I began to yield some results, however mixed. The riot of colors alone would make for a pretty fun jigsaw solving experience. And honestly, what a great idea for an image for a jigsaw. Of course, when you type “puzzle ugly sweater” into Google, you find an amazing array of jigsaw puzzles featuring ugly sweater designs. What other puzzly ugly sweaters are out there? Would they all feel too corporate like the modern ugly sweater patternings, or could I find some genuine diamonds in the rough? But I also can’t imagine anyone buying it. It’s cleverly designed and weirdly festive. Check out this Minesweeper-inspired ugly sweater from Microsoft: Most of them are simply underwhelming - and a few are often actually quite lovely - but none of them really capture the spirit of the original ugly sweater party ideal.Īnd then, there are the ones I’m on the fence about. But once ugly sweaters became a part of pop culture, they became, as all things do, a cottage industry, and now companies release “ugly” Christmas sweaters for every pop culture property imaginable. Ugly sweater parties used to be events that ironically appreciated sweaters that were made with genuine affection, but simply didn’t please the eye. Maybe it’s a housewarming, or a holiday luncheon, or a game night. It’s December, and you’ve probably already received an invitation to some sort of holiday event.

Microsoft minesweeper ugly sweater