Headcoverings have been happy travelling companions for me over about 25 years.
At the point we came into the 21st century, I liked wearing a tied scarf. Here's a photo of what I wore back then.
Here's a demonstration (outdoors on a breezy day!) by my daughter Hebe, who first showed me how to tie a scarf like this. You take a square headscarf, fold it in half into a triangle, position it as you wish on your head, tie the long ends at the nape of your neck, roll the long ends lengthwise, bring them up to cross over the top of your head like a crown, tuck each end round and round into the opposite one to secure them, then tuck in the loose bit left at the nape of your neck.
Around 2008 or so, I got interested in the kapps the Amish wear. I had some, but they looked a bit like a costume in our neighbourhoods, so about 2010 I went on to making my own hats — quick and easy to slip on, and (slightly) less culturally weird for where I live.
As time went on, I preferred to stay with the same simple style (if you ever watch my Campfire Church thinkabouts on my Youtube channel, you can see the evolution of hair and hats).
This summer just gone, I wanted to make some new ones, but I didn't have the right kind of fabric. I wanted something soft and vintagey — old dishtowels are just right, but we had a new washing machine and my housemates felt no enthusiasm for ruining it with clothes dye.
So then I decided to cut up a kantha shawl I'd had for some years. It's been used as a curtain and a table cloth and an altar cloth, but mostly it just sat around unused.
The great thing about kantha stoles/shawls/scarves is that they are double-sided, so you get two hats in one. Also they are made from vintage saris, so they are soft Indian cotton in the first place, made sublimely soft by much use and wear. You can get two or three hats out of one scarf, and as they are reversible that's in effect 6 hats. You don't have to be a mathematician to figure out that's a whole lot cheap than buying a head covering on Etsy.
Here's one I made this summer.
This is what it looks like from the side.
3 comments:
Waving to you, friend! How lovely to hear from you.
I was thinking only recently about Friends meetings — I went to the hospital for a HIDA scan. You have to lie perfectly still under the scanner for an hour while radioactive stuff flows through your blood vessels; then they give you a high-fat milkshake (it was nice) to set off your gallbladder; then back into the scanner for another motionless hour while they scan what happens next.
Lying in the scanner, I thought "Ha! This is like 2 back-to-back Quaker meetings! It was very helpful — not being able to move or see a clock — to know exactly what an hour's silence feels like. Very restful. I liked it.
I wanted to let you know that I've been reading your blog with interest after buying and enjoying your book 'In Celebration of Simplicity'. I grew up Catholic (in a non-practicing family, I was the only one involved in the Church, with my youth group mostly). I lost my way several times during the past 2 decades. But something stays with me: I might not be sure I believe in God, but I do believe in Jesus. Reading Thich Naht Hahn books helped me a lot in that regard, too. My family is doing whatever we can to fight for climate, and climate justice, and volontary simplicity is one aspect of that too.
It's refreshing to read about your musings and experiences, I relate to a lot of things. And I might just sew some head coverings for myself, too :)
Waving to you, friend! Thank you so much for writing to me to let me know — that is so encouraging.
God bless you and your family working for climate justice — may peace and healing and wellbeing come to humanity and all creation, and may we hold our light steady to bring it in. xx
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