How much cashmere?
I stumbled across this thread and this one on a knitting forum about a recent spat between two distributors over the cashmere content in some popular yarns. It’s not clear yet who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong; accusations are flying back and forth, but in the whole mess (and I’m really resisting the knitting puns and metaphors here), one thing really stood out: the amount of cashmere content that seems to be under scrutiny in yarns that (are claimed to?) have cashmere in them: between 5-10%!
That’s just laughable. True, the industry standards require a minimum of 3% so no rules are technically being broken, but talk about proportion, eh? The amount of mark-up that companies can claim just by that little content and the resultant "luxury" tag: it’s not for nothing that most of these yarns have "cash" mentioned in them. I find it hilarious everytime I see either the owner of the brand or the distributor insist, "there *is* cashmere in there"! Sure.
Anyway. I spent another weekend hurtling across the country by plane, this time for the large desi wedding annual South Asia conference in Madison, WI. Which was surprisingly subdued, actually. Saw lots of friends: sepoy, pdcs, pandit among others, and collected more entries for my Weird Things Academics Say and Do series. Daku, if you’re reading this, you were sorely missed!
And I managed to finally start my cartridge rib pullover. I began with the sleeve. I had some gauge issues. I was getting 6.5 spi on the pattern, but it also stretches easily, and slightly stretched the gauge was 5.75 spi. After some tortured maths, I settled for 6 spi, figuring the stretch would take care of the fit.
Am using Ann Budd’s generic pattern for saddle shoulders, but with lots of mods. Cast on 64 plus 2 selvedge stitches, and instead of her staggered increase, am doing an even increase every 6th row from the beginning.
(Aside: when patterns say "every 4 rows" does that mean every 4th or 5th row after one increase? That always stumps me.)
I also did the first twenty rows on size 3s for greater tension at the wrists, and now am on size 5s. I cast on at the airport in Oakland, and this is where I was when I landed two days later. I might just finish this before December…
And finally, I’m at the point where I begin the nupps for the Shaped-triangle-turned-Swallowtail shawl. Seeing Lobstah’s gorgeous Flirty Ruffles shawl has inspired me to really finish this quickly. I switched to size 4 addis for the border, just to make it drapier, and 38 more rows to go. I have a feeling it’s not going to be large enough, as my MIL really wanted something to drape around well, but I am so sick of this laceweight. I’m going to finish it as it is, and if it isn’t suitable I’ll make another leaf lace or flower basket shawl in sportweight (and keep this one for myself!).
Shaped Triangle turned Swallowtail is looking quite lovely. Hope your MIL likes it. Good start to the pullover.
Nice shawl – 38 rows to go isn’t too bad! Love the color on the pullover…
The new cardi is very pretty! Glad your knitty math worked out!
The shawl is lovely!!!!
Hey, thanks for the shout-out! The shawl’s size is about the dimensions given in the pattern (about 39″ long and 72″ wide, I think).
Totally hear ya on the cashmere brouhaha. The more I knit, the more I realize that I like plain wool or merino yarn the best and occasionally a cotton blend too. Those types of yarn are always reasonably priced, wear well, and are just classic.
That sweater will be beautiful– I love the color. And, yeah, what DOES “every 4 rows” mean? I, too, am always stuck on that. How hard is it to say “every 4th row”? Really.
I totally know what you mean about the “every four rows” thing. I think one of my knitting books explains what that usually means in pattern-speak, but of course I can’t recall right now. Love the sweater color! You are brave to make so many mods on a sweater–I’ve gotten daring enough to do it on smaller items, but not on a sweater yet.
Prachi great to see you in Madison and what a lovely shawl. Please note that I have moved my main blog to http://www.heptanesia.net
Actually, one of the yarns being debated over for cashmere content is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. The label lists 12% cashmere, which, IMO, is not insignificant. Now if this yarn has no cashmere whatsoever, that really ticks me off, because it is definitely premium priced ($7.95) given its very short yardage (100 yds).
Thanks, everyone. Shekhar, it was great to see you too!
Deeni, 12% is better, but still quite little in my opinion to warrant that price. It seems like just a means of getting some kind of “upscale” reputation for a yarn without enough of the luxury yarn, no? And you’re right, the DB yarn doesn’t even have enough yardage to warrant that price.
I’m doing the Shaped Triangle Shawl, which is how I found your blog. Here’s a heartfelt kudos to sticking to it with your Swallowtail.