Only, instead of deeply discounted chenille sweaters, I was after more tantalizing game: Chicago!

He gave his mom a silk scarf and chenille sweater.

At Wet Seal/Contempo, a store for young women, it is all about chenille sweaters, especially ones in blue, that go for $29 to $39.

Fall fashion's first big winner is the chenille sweater, as soft as a horse's nose, in jewel-tone colors.

It dangles everything from exercise machines to velvet comforters, dog brushes to chenille sweaters, before the holiday shopper.

Nor is it only being spent on more casual, often less expensive clothes, from jeans to chenille sweaters to workout wear.

Then there is the chenille sweater, a warm, cozy knit of lustrous yarn popular since the early 1990's.

Last Christmas, the Bloomingdale's chain sold 5,000 chenille sweaters a week.

Yet she now prefers clothes that are "nice, but not too nice" - Chanel sweaters, chenille sweaters and some avant-garde items.

Sears has chenille sweaters in acrylic and wool blends in updated argyle patterns; they are $36.