Is it a scarf...?

There's a line from Coupling - not a programme I generally associate with a high laugh per minute count, it has to be said - which has always stuck in my mind.

The character whose name may or may not have been Jack, when dragged reluctantly round a home furnishings store by his inamorata, at one point expostulates, "Cushions are fat litter!"

I mention this only because my Blossom In Winter scarf, which arrived today, is a fat necklace.

Or, if you will, soft-sculpted jewellery.

I've seen knitted scarves which are intended to be worn as jewellery before and, quite honestly, I wouldn't give any of them house-room. They remind me of string vests which have been put through the mangle too many times. They're thin and feeble and far too reminiscent of the deplorable 1970s fascination with macrame.

And, as a general rule of thumb, I simply don't do girly, flowery stuff.

But I fell for this scarf the moment I saw it. Admittedly, I am hugely swayed by the fact that it is made from silk velvet: if there is a more tactile, plushy, luxurious fabric than silk velvet in existence, I have yet to discover it.

But it's also such a clever and original design: a long, rambling vine of roses, each of which is sitting on top of its own little crop of leaf-lets. I'm no seamstress, admittedly, but I can recognise intricate, fiddly work when I see it.

And all for a mere £26, including shipping from Thailand.

I haven't blogged about this as a form of gloating, though. "Ha! I have a fat necklace, and you haven't!") No, I've blogged about it because Vichuta has listed another one on Etsy. Which means that you, dear Reader, could buy it. For yourself. Or, if you were feeling very strong and you are good at the self-denial stuff, as a gift for someone else.

The Editor