Monday, November 19, 2007

More Cheap Cashmere (Sorry!)

For several years, I have been buying 2-ply cashmere/silk from Shakun and for some reason, never thought to mention this company before. This particular yarn is the base for the much of the stuff you see in the US, for example, Jade Sapphire's Cashmere Silk. I've knit luxurious socks with it and just dyed some for my next project.

Shakun is also, apparently, the source for JoJoLand's lovely merino/cashmere sock yarn. Fortunately, Shakun sell it in white--the colorways are a bit unsubtle for my taste.

They has a teensy eBay store, which usually has one or two offerings a week and more recently, offer a website that struts their entire range of luxury yarns. They sell a wide variety of silks, cashmere, camel, soy, bamboo, mohair, and mixtures at very reasonable prices, but you must order a minimum of one pound of yarn. For example, two 2-ounce, 200-yard skeins of their 2-ply silk cashmere costs $12. I just checked the price of a dyed Jade Sapphire skein: those 4 ounces will set you back $33.

Buy yourself a pound of Shakun's for $48 and dye it yourself. I strongly suggest you request their catalog of knitting yarns, as well. Their 4-ply cashmere can be had in colors, most of which are, alas, rather garish.

Now, let's move on to their so-called weaving yarns. We would call them lace yarns, and I am sorry to tell you that they have every single combination of cashmere with or without silk, cotton, wool, and camel in any weight you might want. Some of them come in 72 colors. And you can create your own mixture and color to order. For example, if you just adore 65% cashmere, 25% silk, 10% camel in a 45/3 weight, you can request the mixture and have it custom-dyed, too.

The bad news is that the minimum order is 1 kilogram. I can't see that I would ever want 2.2 pounds of any of their lace yarns, but I urge those who are professional yarn dyers to check these folks out as suppliers. If there is such a thing as lace-yarn cooperative buying groups, they should also take note of Shakun's wares.

As is always the case, shipping will be expensive for small orders, so stock up!

21 comments:

Soo said...

A kilo of laceweight does seem daunting --- yet oddly appealing!!

Still admiring your Princess progress....it's going to be amazing.

Janice in GA said...

/stuffs fingers in ears, singing LALALALA loudly/

I guess it's a good thing I'm broke, for some values of "good."

:(

Laritza said...

I can use weaving yarns and have enough supply of the lace weight! Thanks for the link.

Elizabeth Metz said...

Where's that ebay store?

I've been looking for a good supplier of silk/cash laceweight to dye, so this would be perfect! :)

Opal said...

Oh I know a professional dyer! Thanks for the tip. :)

StashDiva said...

You are a bad influence ;-) now I have to get a look at that yarn

Judith said...

aaauuugghhhhhh!!!!!!!!! my checking account, my credit card, my savings..... (oh, never mind, no savings left, spent at colourmart). I could make a bathrobe with matching nightgown and underwear with a kilo!
What's the name of their ebay store? I wandered around and couldn't find it. Thanks! I think :}

Anonymous said...

The link in your post did not go to Shakun, but to another yarn company in China. I "yahooed" Shakun and got to the real site. Thought you'd like to know.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear. I have friends who like to get together on yarn orders. This could be bad.

Thanks for the heads-up!

fleegle said...

Judith, the name of their eBay store is China-Cashmere. However, they usually only have a single item for sale. Their web site has their full line of yarns.

fleegle said...

Dear Ducky--

China Cashmere and Shakun are the same stores. The link was given to me by their salesperson, so it is correct.

LittleBerry said...

you are an evil temptress.. just as well there is a big blue bit of water in the way.... & USPS shipping costs what they are...

z's momma said...

I'm with janice in ga...LALALA(very loudly).

That said, anyone interested in going in on a kilo(what?! did I just say that?)

I'm going to go check them out now.

Lacefreak said...

Can a person drown in lace weight yarn? I have already so much of it in my stash that this site is a terrible terrible temptation. And yet, if I only could knit a little bit faster, I could find a way to justify even more yarn.....I am living on Fantasy Island I fear :-(

Anonymous said...

Fleegle - you have referred me to several cashmere suppliers - how do you find them all? I'm impressed.

Kay said...

We need pictures of you dye job and what color(s) you used and what you plan to make with it. Tell us all!

LittleBerry said...

the Reiga sock yarn is nice to work with and wear I have a customer who prefers it to Opal... think I've used it 5 times now infact my first ever pair was Reiga.

Am enjoying the Honeybee and will have a photo soon....

Anonymous said...

Oh that site looks wonderful. But where can i find a price list? Do you have to email them to find out the prices? maybe a january-february present for myself. Thanks for sharing. The Yubina site was certainly worth it, but now I have to knit that stuff up. Daryl

fleegle said...

Email them at info@chinacashmere.net for a prices. Request a sample card, too.

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