Cashmere from Kashmir!

Kashmir is the Northernmost part of India, an area that's been embroiled in a territorial dispute between Pakistan and India. Cashmere is an older name for the region of Kashmir.  It's beyond my scope of knowledge to comment on the politics of the region. Rather I'll talk about a fibre I know and love - Cashmere.

My relatives are sheep farmers in country NSW, Australia, and I grew up spending Christmas holidays playing in shearing sheds, causing trouble no doubt!

I loved watching the process of "creating" wool. From bottle feeding rejected lambs to sheep being rounded up and shorn. I didn't however enjoy wearing wool. My mother instilled in me a love of natural fibres and to this day I avoid synthetics (bar my yoga pants). I however, was allergic to sheep wool and would suffer every time I put on a wooly jumper or curled up in a woollen blanket my mum had lovingly knitted. Cut to my time in California where I discovered Cashmere! It was so soft, so delicate AND I wasn't allergic! Hooray!

Yes, it's expensive but I think it's worth it. It's a sustainable product that comes from the "hair" of goats. The goats would naturally shed their winter coats as the weather warms. Cashmere is finer, stronger, softer, and approximately three times more insulating than the wool from a sheep. 

The cashmere for my baby blankets comes from Mongolia and all of my other blankets and scarves are made in Kashmir. Knowing the labour and effort that goes into making each piece, I hope that you will treasure them and with care and keep them forever!