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cimoreneAs what my Finnish wife calls a fragile hothouse flower living in the subarctic climate of the Finnish archipelago - which is mild for Finland thanks to the sea - , I've gone through what seems like every possible combination of scarves.
On the coldest days (around -20° C cold snaps - which is about -4° F) usually a thin silk scarf wrapped around my entire neck and chest inside my sweaters, the collar of the sweater folded and overlapped around my neck over that, and then a huge, bulky knitted circle scarf that loops 2-3 times around my head and shoulders over my hood, providing a lot of folds that I can bury my nose in without neck cramps or pull down away from my face.
I have two (purchased) woven so-called "pashminas"1: drapey but fairly tight-woven fringed shawls, one cashmere, one a cashmere-silk blend, which are much less bulky than a knitted scarf - about the bulk of a fingering-weight shawl once both are wrapped around the neck, although the fabric is thinner. They're a good size to wrap multiple times around the neck and tuck inside the coat when it's not cold enough to fasten the funnel neck all the way up and wear the hood up: but that also means no precipitation and no strong/cold wind, so more of a transitional season garment, at least worn on its own. It can also do a good job wrapped around inside when the funnel neck of the coat is zipped all the way - filling the spaces it leaves - but much more prone to getting annoyingly damp when you breathe on it than a knitted layer would. Also, this configuration is more for spring-autumn rain because if it's chilly my nose instantly becomes numb and starts to run, while if it's a bit colder and also dry my sinuses actually burn painfully from inhaling the cold air, so after a certain point I always need a scarf that can be wrapped over my nose.
A large knitted scarf or cowl, one of the giant ones or slightly smaller, can be wrapped either inside or outside the hood and the neck of the coat, and outside will do something to hold the hood in place and provide some folds that can be pulled up to the nose and mouth, although it takes a lot of yardage for this and the smaller ones don't work as well for that. (My biggest ones took about 3 skeins/300 yards of bulky yarn. The smaller ones took about 2 skeins of bulky or aran/worsted. Less than that and I would say it's probably for indoor wear, or to be worn with another scarf over it. I have a few of those too.) The issue is that the bulky ones aren't as wind-tight even if they can be quite warm (and it's very windy here), but if you layer under them it's... really too hot to wear most of the time. Like, maybe around -10 (+14 F), but I'll still be getting overheated if I have to walk more than to and from a bus stop, and then I'll end up having to open my coat or take off my hat or something. The other issue is that all of these will irritate the skin of my neck if they're wrapped too tightly or closely for long. Because my neck is sensitive, I'm careful, so these aren't bad or itchy yarns: nice-quality wool, alpaca-wool blend, and even one that's all merino. It's just that my neck itches more than the rest of me.
Besides the thin silk scarves I mentioned above, I also have a handful of light woven cotton and viscose scarves and wraps for summer and transitional seasons that can work in combination with the bigger knitted ones.
My most recent acquisition is this beautiful shawl thatwaxjism, who knits much faster than me and enjoys lace (and has hence unusually made like 4 gift shawls before she got around to making one for me, her primary recipient of knitted largesse), made for me to wear to my sister's wedding on Halloween 2017. It's an Illumine (project page on Rav, protected):
The lace shawl in a typical size like this one is a good scarf substitute for most weather that isn't the middle of winter. It's better at wrapping up around the nose or ears than a woven shawl, has more body when wrapped and folded than a light scarf but is airy enough to breathe pretty well. It's not as warm as a pashmina around the head and neck because it's not as windproof, but it's more flexible than one for piling around the neck or wrapping over the nose.
However, it's ... kinda itchy on my neck, too, which is a bit of a surprise because the yarn is a very popular (if basic/'budget'2) merino-silk, Cascade Heritage Silk. Of course, there are many grades of merino and of silk, just as there are of everything from olive oil and wine to microchips to nuts and bolts. Composition isn't everything.
The older reviews of this yarn complain a lot about fuzzing and pilling, which always increase with the softness of a yarn, and this one isn't tightly plied... although silk is very strong and merino is known for long fibers, so one might expect it to be more easily minimized here. I assume they worked on the formulation, because this problem has been minor for me (not nonexistent though). Lots of the comments praise the softness, though, and the comments are far more positive than negative on the yarn page (I haven't done a dive into people's project comments).
Some pure merino can be much itchier than this, in my experience, while some can be soft enough to satisfy me. I guess I move on to trying more yarns. At the moment I'm knitting a narrow lace tube with some fingering-weight yarn my sister span (haha) for me with her spinning wheel. I don't really enjoy lace that much, but I'm interested in the experience of having one of those really long tubes that can stretch up way above your head and then when you drop it it wrinkles up like a turtleneck and therefore actually covers your neck instead of just drooping down uselessly whenever you aren't holding it up with your chin like a standard one-loop cowl.
1. Note: most of what are referred to as pashminas in the fashion and fast fashion world are now wholly or mostly varieties of rayon/viscose/lyocell/etc, synthetic cellulose fibers made from various types of wood pulp. They breathe, unlike petroleum-based fibers like polyester or acrylic, but they aren't insulating like animal fibers so they're not nearly as warm, although they have other qualities - hypoallergenic, easy care, cheap, etc. Also, pashmina is actually a grade of cashmere, so the synthetic lookalikes really aren't. (back)
2. Not actually budget, just cheaper than the luxury yarns and more handmade yarns that are so popular in shawl-making. A big US brand, widely available, inexpensive in comparison to other yarns of comparable fiber content. (back)
On the coldest days (around -20° C cold snaps - which is about -4° F) usually a thin silk scarf wrapped around my entire neck and chest inside my sweaters, the collar of the sweater folded and overlapped around my neck over that, and then a huge, bulky knitted circle scarf that loops 2-3 times around my head and shoulders over my hood, providing a lot of folds that I can bury my nose in without neck cramps or pull down away from my face.
I have two (purchased) woven so-called "pashminas"1: drapey but fairly tight-woven fringed shawls, one cashmere, one a cashmere-silk blend, which are much less bulky than a knitted scarf - about the bulk of a fingering-weight shawl once both are wrapped around the neck, although the fabric is thinner. They're a good size to wrap multiple times around the neck and tuck inside the coat when it's not cold enough to fasten the funnel neck all the way up and wear the hood up: but that also means no precipitation and no strong/cold wind, so more of a transitional season garment, at least worn on its own. It can also do a good job wrapped around inside when the funnel neck of the coat is zipped all the way - filling the spaces it leaves - but much more prone to getting annoyingly damp when you breathe on it than a knitted layer would. Also, this configuration is more for spring-autumn rain because if it's chilly my nose instantly becomes numb and starts to run, while if it's a bit colder and also dry my sinuses actually burn painfully from inhaling the cold air, so after a certain point I always need a scarf that can be wrapped over my nose.
A large knitted scarf or cowl, one of the giant ones or slightly smaller, can be wrapped either inside or outside the hood and the neck of the coat, and outside will do something to hold the hood in place and provide some folds that can be pulled up to the nose and mouth, although it takes a lot of yardage for this and the smaller ones don't work as well for that. (My biggest ones took about 3 skeins/300 yards of bulky yarn. The smaller ones took about 2 skeins of bulky or aran/worsted. Less than that and I would say it's probably for indoor wear, or to be worn with another scarf over it. I have a few of those too.) The issue is that the bulky ones aren't as wind-tight even if they can be quite warm (and it's very windy here), but if you layer under them it's... really too hot to wear most of the time. Like, maybe around -10 (+14 F), but I'll still be getting overheated if I have to walk more than to and from a bus stop, and then I'll end up having to open my coat or take off my hat or something. The other issue is that all of these will irritate the skin of my neck if they're wrapped too tightly or closely for long. Because my neck is sensitive, I'm careful, so these aren't bad or itchy yarns: nice-quality wool, alpaca-wool blend, and even one that's all merino. It's just that my neck itches more than the rest of me.
Besides the thin silk scarves I mentioned above, I also have a handful of light woven cotton and viscose scarves and wraps for summer and transitional seasons that can work in combination with the bigger knitted ones.
My most recent acquisition is this beautiful shawl that
waxjism, who knits much faster than me and enjoys lace (and has hence unusually made like 4 gift shawls before she got around to making one for me, her primary recipient of knitted largesse), made for me to wear to my sister's wedding on Halloween 2017. It's an Illumine (project page on Rav, protected): The lace shawl in a typical size like this one is a good scarf substitute for most weather that isn't the middle of winter. It's better at wrapping up around the nose or ears than a woven shawl, has more body when wrapped and folded than a light scarf but is airy enough to breathe pretty well. It's not as warm as a pashmina around the head and neck because it's not as windproof, but it's more flexible than one for piling around the neck or wrapping over the nose.
However, it's ... kinda itchy on my neck, too, which is a bit of a surprise because the yarn is a very popular (if basic/'budget'2) merino-silk, Cascade Heritage Silk. Of course, there are many grades of merino and of silk, just as there are of everything from olive oil and wine to microchips to nuts and bolts. Composition isn't everything.
The older reviews of this yarn complain a lot about fuzzing and pilling, which always increase with the softness of a yarn, and this one isn't tightly plied... although silk is very strong and merino is known for long fibers, so one might expect it to be more easily minimized here. I assume they worked on the formulation, because this problem has been minor for me (not nonexistent though). Lots of the comments praise the softness, though, and the comments are far more positive than negative on the yarn page (I haven't done a dive into people's project comments).
Some pure merino can be much itchier than this, in my experience, while some can be soft enough to satisfy me. I guess I move on to trying more yarns. At the moment I'm knitting a narrow lace tube with some fingering-weight yarn my sister span (haha) for me with her spinning wheel. I don't really enjoy lace that much, but I'm interested in the experience of having one of those really long tubes that can stretch up way above your head and then when you drop it it wrinkles up like a turtleneck and therefore actually covers your neck instead of just drooping down uselessly whenever you aren't holding it up with your chin like a standard one-loop cowl.
1. Note: most of what are referred to as pashminas in the fashion and fast fashion world are now wholly or mostly varieties of rayon/viscose/lyocell/etc, synthetic cellulose fibers made from various types of wood pulp. They breathe, unlike petroleum-based fibers like polyester or acrylic, but they aren't insulating like animal fibers so they're not nearly as warm, although they have other qualities - hypoallergenic, easy care, cheap, etc. Also, pashmina is actually a grade of cashmere, so the synthetic lookalikes really aren't. (back)
2. Not actually budget, just cheaper than the luxury yarns and more handmade yarns that are so popular in shawl-making. A big US brand, widely available, inexpensive in comparison to other yarns of comparable fiber content. (back)
(no subject)
Date: 3 Feb 2019 05:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3 Feb 2019 04:22 pm (UTC)