On this new Makeover Monday, I present my Ode to a Scarf. I wear one scarf or another almost daily, almost year-round, so I have a lot of them: silk, wool, pashmina, mohair, cashmere, cotton, rayon; striped, solid, printed, jacquard; scarves I designed and hand-knitted for myself, gift scarves, thrift-store and hand-me-down scarves, even one upcycled from a skirt into a scarf.
Out of this motley but well-loved collection, there’s one scarf I love best: my hand-knitted brushed-wool entrelac scarf, in the most luscious combination of deep, dark brown and rosy, pink-y reds.
My favorite scarf ever, pre-makeover. All it needs is to be wearable.
As much as I always look forward to cold weather (at least since I moved away from Ohio’s sub-zero winters), I’m sometimes stymied when it comes to giving all those sweatery layers a good dose of style. Let’s face it… the practicalities of dressing for winter weather tend to outweigh my parallel urge to make a fashion statement. If I’m starting with, say, a thick (read: less than shapely) sweater, how do I raise the style quotient without sacrificing warmth?
Refinery29, bless their fashionable hearts, sent me this slideshow today, showing 7 fantastic ideas for giving your cold-weather staples a glam upgrade. Here’s one of my favorites (and an answer to my previous sweater question):
Great idea for layering a thick winter sweater, courtesy of Refinery29! (Click on the picture to go to this picture in the slideshow.)
The 4 Seasons Project. It started several weeks ago with the idea of creating color sequences based on each season that could then be interpreted for my line of yarns*. (For more on the development of the color palettes and skeins, and to see photos of each season’s color sequences, seeA Colorful Year: The 4 Seasons Project on a Musing, my other blog.) Once I had the colors worked out and had put together the skeins, all (?) I had to do was design one or more pieces that could be knitted with this collection of skeins. Or better yet— design a piece that could be finished in 3 different ways! (I think there’s something in me that positively revels in making a project more complex.) The idea I came up with is a scarf that morphs into an infinity scarf (a continuous loop) that morphs into a cocoon-shaped jacket! (Sure… why not?) And since I needed a title for the knitting pattern I was writing, I dubbed this design 4 Seasons 3 Ways.
* I create a line of one-of-a-kind yarns for Knittique; each skein has a color sequence based on the color palettes I develop. You can see these skeins, and the patterns I’ve designed for them, in Knittique’s Etsy shop.
Here’s Version 1: The Scarf
The 4 Seasons scarf. The ends hanging in front are (on left) Autumn, and (right) Winter; Spring and Summer wrap cozily around the neck.
Changing Your Clothes 