Cashmere
The cashmere yarn
Cashmere yarn is made of the finest hair from the undercoat of cashmere goats. Most cashmere goats live in Mongolia, Nepal and China in a very cold climate, where winters can be down to minus 40 degrees. This forces the cashmere goats to adapt to the climate by developing a double layer of wool. The inner layer is used to make our cashmere yarn.
The cashmere quality
The quality of cashmere is defined by fineness, color, softness and length. The most important factors in the quality of cashmere are the length and fineness of the fibers. Items made with long, fine fibers will pill less and maintain their shape better than items made with short thick hair. In Nepal, we operate with 3 grades of cashmere – A, B, and C. The A grade is the best and most expensive quality. CARE BY ME uses grade A quality cashmere exclusively.
The ply
Ply is the number of strands twisted together to make the cashmere yarn. At CARE BY ME we use no less than 2 ply yarn, as one ply yarn is simply not strong enough. For our handknit items we use 2 ply yarn, but we bunch these into 3, so that our hand knit items are actually 6 ply (3x2).
The gauge
Gauge is a measurement telling how tightly the item is knitted. Gauge refers to the number of stitches and rows per inch. The higher the gauge number, the tighter, or finer, the knit.
Cashmere yarn is made of the finest hair from the undercoat of cashmere goats. Most cashmere goats live in Mongolia, Nepal and China in a very cold climate, where winters can be down to minus 40 degrees. This forces the cashmere goats to adapt to the climate by developing a double layer of wool. The inner layer is used to make our cashmere yarn.
The cashmere quality
The quality of cashmere is defined by fineness, color, softness and length. The most important factors in the quality of cashmere are the length and fineness of the fibers. Items made with long, fine fibers will pill less and maintain their shape better than items made with short thick hair. In Nepal, we operate with 3 grades of cashmere – A, B, and C. The A grade is the best and most expensive quality. CARE BY ME uses grade A quality cashmere exclusively.
The ply
Ply is the number of strands twisted together to make the cashmere yarn. At CARE BY ME we use no less than 2 ply yarn, as one ply yarn is simply not strong enough. For our handknit items we use 2 ply yarn, but we bunch these into 3, so that our hand knit items are actually 6 ply (3x2).
The gauge
Gauge is a measurement telling how tightly the item is knitted. Gauge refers to the number of stitches and rows per inch. The higher the gauge number, the tighter, or finer, the knit.
