“If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill, take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond where it has ever been before, push it to the wildest edge of edges, then you will force it into the realm of magic.”

Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

 I was always inspired by that quote and happily for us, so was Bridget Henderson, a medical school drop-out with an MBA, who started her Cape Town-based business that designs and handcrafts top-quality knitwear from the local and natural fibres of South African Merino wool and mohair. The company’s mission is to inspire individuality and creativity by custom colouring each product in-house and continually experimenting with traditional and modern dying processes.

 Many hands obviously make light work, as Cowgirlblues is all about creative, personal connection, from shearing the sheep and goats on Karoo farms, spinning and dyeing the wool in the Cape Town studio and knitting and crocheting the final pieces. The materials are handled, touched, held, worked, softened and lovingly coaxed into their final form. I’ve discovered two items of clothing that are intoxicatingly delicate, yet fabulously warm, and as winter has come to Jo’burg with a vengeance, you’ll have to pop in to my favourite shop, Croft & Co in Parkview to get them:

Snood-scarves are a great way to cover up from the bitterness of winter, in addition to pulling it over your head on a bad-hair day. ‘Victoria’ is a chunky, pure wool neck scarf, designed to be a comfortable and chic cover-up for all occasions. And you can wrap up with ‘Willow’, a cobwebby, loose knit poncho in stripes of hand-spun wool and mohair and dyed in textured colour shades.  Ponchos are traditionally designed to keep the body warm, and what better way to do so than with this charming and classy collection. Wore mine after yoga today...the colours are gorgeous, so you might have a problem deciding!

Croft & Co: 66 Tyrone Ave Parkview, 011646 3634