Another Boring Cashmere Sweater
School is still out. After staying home for too many days in a row, today I ventured out (no prob!) to do some shopping and errands. At Dana’s suggestion, I went to TJMaxximus, not my usual shopping grounds, simply due to (lack of) proximity.
Sadly, I didn’t find anything exciting. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t buy anything. I felt practically forced to buy this sweater, after almost not even trying it on.
Yes, it’s boring. But it fits fabulously and the color is basic for me. (I think dd’s camera is on some sort of distorted, short and wide setting. Is there such a thing?) And even though I feel like I’ve bought nothing but cashmere sweaters in the past two months, this morning I had to go to the laundry room to get one - the bare wood in the bottom of my dresser drawer was showing. Total spent $16.29.
Lloyd Boston suggests giving up on cotton sweaters in favor of cashmere. It’s true that cotton sweaters rarely hold their shape for more than a season or two, especially as hard as my clothes get worn.
Any outfit ideas to make it less boring?
Great buy! (The camera may be set on wide angle/landscape.)
And you *know* what I’m going to suggest — accessories!!! A neutral sweater is a great backdrop for pretty necklaces and scarves. I don’t like to wear heavyweight blazers over cashemere, but a summerweight jacket can spruce up a sweater, too.
I’m thinking you could go all out with some jewelry! I would put a vintage Stones tee (or something of the likes) under it to funky it up a little.
Outfit ideas — patterned or plain skirt, tall boots, and a scarf or bold necklace and bracelet. Could you fit a blouse underneath it? That would make it very interesting too.
I’ve found cashmere in very different qualities this fall. I’ve tried on cashmere that is itchy, and others that are soft and wonderful. I only own 1 cashmere sweater and it’s lovely (and now that I’ve lost weight, too big, so I have downgraded it to cuddly weekend around the house wear — its kind of crazy, I could possibly sell it but not for all that much.)
Two sweaters I purchased with Christmas money are a brown and black silk blend turtlenecks. All these sweaters are from Ralph Lauren and feel amazing to wear. I’m not much of a sweater girl to begin with, and I find the laundering and drying tedious. Then there’s the pilling to mess with.
Since I’m a wardrobe minimalist, I’m holding out for cashmere that feels, fits and looks great only. So it’s going to take a while before my collection expands and I’m going to be very picky.
Any tips on cashmere sweater care?
Great buy! And not boring at all, in my opinion. I totally agree about replacing all sweaters with cashmere. I’ve begun doing just that. I can’t stand the way cotton pills and stretches out. And if they have any wool in them, they are so itchy. And they still pill. Cashmere is SO worth the investment. But the drycleaning bills suck me dry. Do you wash yours?
Great ideas, ladies! Hopefully later today I can try to put some outfits together. Actually the brown button-up shirt I bought at the Eddie Bauer store going out of business works under it, that is what I am wearing today. And, of course, that makes a wonderful color combo on me. But the one scarf I have will also work I think.
Cashmere care: I wash them in a regular load and then lay them on top of the dryer to dry flat. That’s all. I paid between $1 and $30 for each of mine, hardly worth the dry-cleaning since I wear them once or twice a week. I have never had any damaged in the wash, I have worn one out through the sleeves and had one damaged by moths during the summer when stored improperly.
Karen ~ I have also noticed variety in cashmere quality, including some that’s a little itchy. I love the look of silk, but I don’t currently have any. How do you handle care with them?
I wash sweaters in the machine but by mimicking hand washing. I let them soak - can use shampoo if don’t have wool wash - then spin them out. Rinse water soak, spin. Against all advice I hang mine to dry from hangers with plastic clip on shoulders.There isn’t enough water weight to pull them out of shape.
I love silk blends but have also removed all cotton. I’ve returned sweaters that were an acrylic and cotton blend because they get droopy.
I think the sweater would be great with medium tones in the griege family and with a thin sheer blouse in a medium off tone blue like ocean or petrol.
I’m a knitter, and I love babying my knits!
Karen, cashmere knits (like wool) SHOULD be washed, instead of dry cleaned. Over time, dry cleaning will make the cashmere fiber stiff–much less fluffy and soft–and lead to pilling. I hand wash mine gently, spin the excess water out in the machine, reshape them, and dry them flat. I sometimes transfer them to a hanger when they are just a bit damp to speed up the drying.
They come out great. They’re much softer after the first wash, and any pilling from wear generally disappears in the wash.
I have a sweater dryer I love — it makes shaping damp cashmere easy. (I wash on gentle in a lingerie bag.)
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?PRODID=69615&CATID=77008 is similar to the dryer I use.
Rebecca, my 2 turtlenecks are 60% silk, 10% nylon, 18% rayon and 4% elastene. They are light weight and not shiny. The care tag says hand wash, but I’ve washed them on the super gentle cycle and then laid them flat on a towel on my bed to dry (must keep the cat and toddlers away while drying!)
Im already getting pilling on the underside of the arms and side of the torso….. gaaa. I’m not sure how to handle pill removal. I’m scared to death of taking anything razor-like near my sweaters.
My gray cashmere turtleneck needs washing and it has been sitting in the laundry basket because I want to wash it alone w/o another load. I should get to that now. Anything that takes special care washing I tend to procrastinate about.
Just a couple of ideas about drying sweaters:
1 Don’t forget to roll them in a towel and squeeze gently before transferring to another towel to dry. Cuts drying in half.
2 To dry from both sides, try a cooling rack - yeh, from the kitchen.
About pilling:
1 Try masking tape wrapped around your hand - or any other tape that you have.
2 Has anybody tried the battery powered “sweater razors”? I’ve always felt like Karen - not near my cashmere!!!
Yes, definitely no sweater shavers on cashmere! Cashmere is hair, remember, and pills are essentially tangles. Washing usually zaps the pilling, but you can also very gently brush the surface of the cashmere with a hairbrush to get rid of the pills; a baby hairbrush is perfect for this job. I sometimes brush sweaters between washings (only where I am seeing pilling). I guess I usually wash my cashmere sweaters after about 6-8 wearings–I wear an undershirt or cami underneath!
I was just thinking about brushing a sweater using a hair brush. Like this idea of the baby hair brush. Thanks, Sheri.
Rebecca, does your new sweater go with your gift safari jacket? Is that some kind of beige?
It’s hard to show off beige and bring it forward from being a background but I think something in the silver family shows off the beige.
Thanks, Rebecca and commenters, I’ve learned how to take care of my cashmere sweaters and will be looking for more sweaters for less money. I’m wearing one today from Goodwill!
I saw a “sweater stone” on the Eddie Bauer website that is supposed to remove pilling. Has anybody tried one of those?
I’ve never had a cashmere sweater. All the fashion mavens on the cable shows say you just “must” and now you too. However, even though I DO shop at TJ Maxx, I’ve never found a deal on one, and I’m not spending $90.
Rebecca, I’ve avoided cashmere for a couple of years now, because of the itchy factor. After reading this post & comments, I got to thinking. The couple of sweaters I based my opinion on didn’t start off itchy. I got rid of them when they became itchy. Thanks to your commenters, I now know it wasn’t the sweaters, but the dry cleaners. I’ll do the fake handwash next time around. Soft grey cashmere cardigan, here I come!
http://thethoughtfuldresser.blogspot.com/2008/02/close-call-with-cashmere.html
Linda Grant details her experience with drying cashmere in the dryer on the advice of someone from Pringle. She forgets and leaves it in for a half hour or so and no harm done.
I’ve read lots of reader comments elsewhere, too, about it being okay to dry a cashmere sweater for a few minutes and that it fluffs it.
what I read was that it wasn’t the drying or tumbling that caused shrinkage it was the change in temperature between wash and rinse water. This was from people who spin wool, etc.
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