All wrapped up...

With all the cold temperatures that we've had since the first of January, I've become obsessed with shawls and wraps.  I have a heavy pink one that I wear just around the house and outside on the property. It's a pretty shade of pink and it's warm and soft, but not exactly a stylish sort of garment. I've also used it to wrap up Sweet Pea so he's as tightly bound as a kitty-sausage, and then I can easily trim the nails on his front paws.  This pink wrap, which I'm wearing as I type, has been washed at least a thousand times, but it's still as soft as the day I bought it.

I have a beige wool shawl that my grandmother crocheted back in the 1950s..... she made them for all of her daughters and daughters-in-law, and the one I have belonged to my mother.  It's a beautiful soft wool with gold threads woven into the pattern. I've worn it on special occasions, and I've also taken it out of the closet just to look at it and admire Grandma's talent.

Then there's the black velvet shawl that's lined with silk..... the soft velvet is studded with tiny rhinestones, and it screams 1940.  I bought it at an estate sale years ago. It was wrapped in tissue paper when I found it, and then covered with a piece of white cotton.  I could tell that it was a truly-loved accessory, and I bought it to sell at my antique shop at the time, but then couldn't part with it when I got it home.  I've worn it on holidays and to special dinners, but it spends most of the time in the closet on a special hanger that won't damage or crease the velvet.... and it's still in perfect condition.

I also have a gold/beige shawl that's very long, with fringe on the edges..... it's light-weight, but still warm, and very dressy-looking.  I'll wear that when we go out to the neighbors or out for lunch or dinner. I used to wear a lot of pretty wool blazers with my jeans when we lived in Clear Lake, but I don't wear those much out here. Being that they're still hanging up in my closet, there's no reason for those blazers not to be making an appearance out here in the hills.  That golden-beige shawl looks really city-pretty tossed over a blazer and jeans.

On one of these recent cold days, I was searching on the Internet for different types of wraps, shawls, and ponchos. I quickly ruled out the ponchos because I don't want to be bothered with something that goes over my head (and messes up my hair).  Plus a lot of them were plaid, and I just don't do plaids.

Neiman Marcus had a four-ply cashmere shawl/wrap that was really pretty.... one color on the outside, a different color on the inside... and totally reversible.  Also, totally expensive.  Even with sales at that store, the prices are still more than what I wanted to pay for such a casual accessory.  In addition to that, their wrap was very similar to the cashmere shawls that Oprah made so popular years ago. They're called Pashmina shawls, made in Italy. When those fringed shawls were all over the stores, with reasonable prices, I bought a couple of them. My husband's mother had also bought one, and I have hers also.

So there I was, looking at the Neiman Marcus two-color shawls and wanting one... and I got to thinking that if I put two of my own fringed shawls together somehow, I'd have the same thing without having to buy anything new.  And that's exactly what I did..... I took a light purple shawl and put it back to back with a peacock blue shawl.... and then attached them by putting a couple of knots into the fringes (every tenth bit of fringe got 'married' to its opposite color).  And my 'new' wrap looks perfectly pretty.  Too pretty to wear around the house, though, so for now, I'm back to this old pink thing that gets washed and dried about twice a week.

I'll know when Spring finally gets here, because I will be discarding this pink house-wrap, washing and drying it one last time, and putting it up in the closet till next December.  Until we get the warmer weather, however, I will continue to be all wrapped up because it's the only way to stay warm in this century-old house that collects drafts like Neiman Marcus collects money.  My friend up the road told me not too long ago that she's getting used to me "looking like a burrito."