Friday, October 10, 2008

The Lovely Pashmina!

First of all- a special "thanks" to Rachel for becoming my first "follower"! How wonderful to have a fan of my business on my blog;) And tomorrow is my first sale... enter the butterflies! A bit of excitement, a bit of nervousness, but I guess that's how I know I am doing something out of my zone!!

Okay, on with the blog...

What exactly is a Pashmina?? I hadn't heard of this type of scarf until my sister came back from a trip to New York a wiser and more fashionable woman. So are we a bit behind here in Minnesota? Umm, sorry to do this, but Yah, You Betcha!! But you know what?? That will work out just fine for me- gives me a few months to catch on!

So let's start with the wiki definition of a Pashmina:

Pashmina
refers to a type of fine cashmere wool and the textiles made from it.[1][2] The name comes from Pashmineh, made from Persian pashm (= "wool").[2] This wool comes from changthangi or pashmina goat, which is a special breed of goat indigenous to high altitudes of the Himalayas. The wool has been used for thousands of years to make high-quality shawls that also bear the same name.

So I get out of that... cashmere, goat, and shawl... so basically it is a very soft cashmere shawl that happens to be made from the wool of goats. Most of us are familiar with cashmere, and that is exactly what I thought when I felt my Pashmina for the first time. Pure pashmina is a rather gauzy, open material, so you won't find any shawls made of 100% pashmina. Most often, it is blended with silks, with 70% pashmina, 30% silk. I have also seen some 50% pashmina, 50% silk blends.

Now, I have found that the word 'Pashmina' is also thrown around to describe a longer, wider scarf which isn't necessarily made of the cashmere wool. This is where it is important to know whether what you are buying is the real deal or an imitation. Not that the imitation can't be really soft and nice, but you don't want to be paying for the real thing if you aren't receiving it.

Today is definitely a Pashmina day. Tie it on and face that weather with style!






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