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The Goats Are Hard to Get / Farm

When we think of sheep and lambs, we tend to think of soft, cuddly little animals with snowy-white fleece. When we think of wool jumpers, however, most of us have enough experience to know the reality is a lot itchier, heavier, and not always highly appealing.

Likewise, when we think of goats, we tend to think of bad-tempered head-butters that will eat anything – ANYTHING – they find lying around on the ground. We think of hairy, wiry coats and sharp horns. Just like our view of lambs and sheep is the opposite of our view of clothing made from their wool, we often don’t realise that the best – the very best – of materials for luxury-knit clothing comes not from little lambs’ wool or soft cotton, but from the undercoat of goats – and certain goats in particular.

There is a breed of goats, originating in the area of Kashmir but now found in a few other countries as well, that develops a sift undercoat in the winter. Especially if the summers are hot, the winters frigidly cold, and food a little sparse most of the year – which they’re fine with – the long, thin, soft fibres they produce to keep themselves comfortable translate into the best of high-end, knit-garment fabric: Cashmere.

There are other kinds of wool, but nothing comes close to the comfort, lightness, and warmth of 100% pure cashmere.

Quality is Key Here

Because there are only so many places that these goats live, and even fewer that result in their producing the fine undercoats of sufficient quality, there is a relative scarcity of the fibres used to make the yarn that is knit together into the fabrics and garments.

What this means is that it takes more than two goats to produce enough cashmere for a single two-ply jumper – sometimes up to five goats. The fibres are combed out of each goat only once per year, after the cold season, so that means two to five goats take a year to produce enough cashmere for a single jumper.

And it’s not just the goats who work hard.

To get the fibres out in the longer lengths desired for higher-quality cashmere, the process has always been done by hand. A human being must comb out the fine undercoat from the coarse outer coat during moulting season. The fibres must be meticulously separated, cleaned, and stored for yarn production, without breaking up the long strands.

What the scarcity and difficulty of production means to the market is that only about 6500 metric tons of cashmere are produced each year. Sound like a lot? Compare it to the two million metric tons of sheep’s wool produced annually, and you get an idea of it in context. That’s about 308 times as much sheep’s wool as cashmere! Considering it’s not 308 times more expensive, we’re actually getting a pretty good deal.

What is the history of cashmere clothing?

As the name suggests, cashmere use originated in the Kashmir region (‘cashmere’ is an older spelling of ‘Kashmir). The locals began using it for yarn and knit materials production as early as the 1200s, the time of the Mongolian Empire.

Important political and religious leaders wore cashmere garments in Iran and India from the 1500s to the 1900s, often bestowing cashmere shawls upon talented subordinates. This served two purposes. First, it honoured the subordinate by giving him (it was always a ‘him’ in those days) a visible item – similar in function to a medal or sash. Second, it highlighted the fact of the hierarchy – the one doing the giving was clearly seen as superior to the one receiving the gift.

Late in the 18^th century, Scottish textile manufacturer Joseph Dawson discovered this soft, light, and warm knit material and began buying it, processing it in his factory in Scotland, and selling it to upper-class British women who prized this new, ultra-soft luxury fabric and would pay top prices for it. China is now the largest producer and exporter of cashmere – but Europe remains the top location for quality processing and manufacture of cashmere clothing.

References:

http://fashionsy.com/cashmere-has-many-attributes-that-make-it-very-desirable-and-expensive/

https://www.commonobjective.co/article/fibre-briefing-cashmere

https://www.uklistings.org/Ladies-Cashmere-Clothing-(100-percent-Pure)—Italy-in-Cashmere/D13574.htm

Finding the right furniture that goes well with the interior design of your home is a huge part of making sure everything goes together to get the perfect décor. Many types of furniture can be suitable depending on your taste, rattan being one of them.

Not only are they suitable for outdoor use, they can also blend perfectly inside the house to give you the elegant and unique finish. One of the reasons why people like rattan is because they give lots of room for creativity.

You can mix different colors and designs to come up with a unique and quality finish. Adding rattan conservatory furniture to your home can be a great way to add value to the general appearance of your home.

Synthetic Rattan Furniture is More Durable and Multi Use

By choosing this sort of rattan, for example shop rattan conservatory furniture at gardencentreshopping.co.uk. You can have the option of using it inside your conservatory during the winter, and taking it outside to use as garden furniture during the summer, saving you from buying two sets.

The wide range of furniture from corner sofas, conservatory chairs to footstools gives you plenty of options to choose from as you add a personal touch to your home. You can try to combine bold colors with rattans to create a complex and appealing decorations. The easy maintenance of these furniture designs and their stylish and durable nature, add to their quality.

They are also very comfortable and easily portable, making them easy to move around and decorate in a way that allows your home to get extra stream of natural light adding to its general beauty. It’s advisable to keep rattan furniture from direct sunlight and rain to maximize their durability.

You should also use cushions to help prevent sagging even when the seats are comfortable without them.

For cleaning, use a damp cloth to wipe the furniture and toothbrush to get in between the crevices. Make sure you pat dry any wet areas to avoid damage. In case you buy pieces that haven’t been assembled, ensure all the pieces and tools you need are there before you start assembling upside down.

In case you encounter molds, use a little amount of bleach to wipe them away, taking care not to make the towel too damp or using too much bleach.

So you may be wondering about my recommendations for fashion, as I‘ve previously blogged about my home life in Charmouth, so now I want to address the region of fashion, in particularly leather bags that are available in the UK.

How to Choose a Leather Business Bag?

When you’re in business, you need to convey power and authority, as well as professionalism, and a sense that you care about what you do. That’s where a business bag comes in, and which one you choose says a lot about you.

The key here is to always choose leather, as anything else makes you look either like a traveller in an airport, or a child going to school. Make sure the colours are black or brown, and make sure the metal is shiny and robust enough to last. You want to avoid shoulder straps when in the meeting room, reserving those for when on the tube or bus.

What makes a good leather laptop bag?

A laptop bag has to protect your gadget first, and so you must choose a padded bag that will protect any bashes or scrapes that the bag gets. That being said it must also be professional enough to work in a business environment, so here again I would also recommend you go with a leather bag.

You can often get a laptop bag with separate pockets for the gadget and other things, helping you to keep the bag organised instead of rummaging through when trying to find something. I would again recommend sticking with brown or black leather, but women may be able to get away with tan or red leather too.

Men’s Leather Briefcases – Von Baer UK

Von Baer have proven to make the quality of briefcase that is good enough to last a lifetime, with full grain leather used and both black and brown leather. You can also get the leather cream which can extend the life of the briefcase.

Our leather briefcase range offers contemporary design, heritage craftsmanship and impeccable component quality. Every bag is designed to be smart enough for work as well as versatile enough for more casual day to day use.

When shopping for leather briefcases for men on Von Baer, we recommend you look at the following styles:

• No.1 Leather Briefcase
• City Leather Laptop Bag

These products are, by far, the most suitable for a business environment, both in terms of style and practicality.

How to tell if it’s full grain leather?

As you can see from the video above, it’s not so easy to detect full grain leather. The key is to make sure the manufacturer has specified it is full grain leather on the website or product label, to keep yourself covered later on if you find out it’s lesser quality.

The difference between full grain and lower grade leather is massive, and I would always recommend you choose that over anything else, particularly on a business bag where you want to impress.

Now for all those living around the Charmouth area, you will know full well we can get some very unpredictable weather to say the least!

The coastline brings in the harsh salty spray, which can damage buildings, plants and outdoor furniture, leaving you severely out of pocket having to pay to replace all of these things.

Maybe you’re sick and tired of this? Well, fear not, because we’ve got one thing you can tick off your list right here, weatherproof garden furniture.

Best All Weather Garden Furniture

Here we outline our favourite garden furniture that can survive outdoors by type and style:

Best All Weather Garden Bistro Sets: Garden Centre Shopping

Pros:

• Weatherproof rattan set
• Aluminium frame
• UV stabilized rattan
• Extra thick cushions included
• 2 reclining arm chairs
• Glass topped side table
• Brown, cream, or grey available.
• Free delivery.

We really like the range of bistro sets at Garden Centre Shopping, including their “Burbage Rocking & Reclining Rattan Bistro Set in Silver Grey” shown above. You can see their full range here.

Best All Weather Rattan Sofa Set: Garden Furniture UK

Pros:

• Weatherproof rattan set
• Aluminium frame
• UV stabilized rattan
• Extra thick cushions included
• High backed chairs
• 2 reclining armchairs
• 3 seater reclining sofa
• 2 footstools
• Adjustable glass topped table
• Brown, cream, or grey are available.
• Free delivery.

Garden Furniture UK offers a range of rattan sofa sets that we particularly like, including their “Sapcote Modular” range, which can be used as both a sofa and a dining set, allowing you to make the most of a single set for multiple purposes. You can see them here.

Best Weatherproof Rattan Dining Set: Sapcote Garden Centre

Pros:

• Weatherproof rattan set
• Aluminium frame
• UV stabilized rattan
• Thick cushions included
• 4 reclining armchairs
• Glass topped dining table
• Perfect 4 seater set
• Brown, cream, or grey are available.
• Free delivery.

The Sapcote Garden Centre range includes the durable Burbage rattan dining set with reclining chairs, making it a comfortable place to sit while eating and afterwards for evening drinks. You can see their range here.

Weatherproof Rattan Furniture

The best weatherproof furniture available is rattan effect, or synthetic wicker furniture. There are UV stabilised, therefore they do not fade or become brittle in the sun, wind, rain or ice, and have a strong aluminium frame to avoid any rusting which could result in weakness or damage.

These have the added benefit of looking modern, which is something Dr Kerry Walker prefers to see in her garden furniture.

These two qualities are essential when shopping for rattan sets, because the cheaper shops will try to hide the difference between these two (such as Amazon, Argos, Tesco, Homebase, The Range, etc), where they will have steel-framed sets, or hard plastic in place of rattan, which is prone to damages and less comfortable.

Sun loungers, garden chairs, loungers, lounge chairs, reclining garden furniture, patio table sets, garden chairs with footstools, side tables, garden table and reclining armchairs, day beds, parasols, and reclining garden chairs – all of these are just some of the types of rattan garden furniture you can buy online today in the United Kingdom. Most will have free delivery included in the price from the seller. They’re perfect for the garden, patio, or decking area. Some people even choose to take these furniture sets to their holiday homes. Look for a site that stocks top brands with higher durability.

Look for a dark grey, light grey, brown, or cream set. 2-seaters are great for small areas, 4 seaters are great for patio dining, and 6-seaters/8-seaters are great for a larger gathering.

You always want to have premium, UV stabilised, aluminium framed, hand woven rattan furniture, as it feels much better, and lasts longer.

There is plenty of research into why UV stabilising plastics is beneficial for the end user, and how it can effect the lifespan of that product, whether that’s indoor or outdoor.

Why choose weatherproof garden furniture?

So you have plenty of options when choosing outdoor furniture, from wood to rattan, there are so many options, colours, styles and “claims” for you to take in.

Winawood™, owned by Innovators International is another good option.

It’s a composite material of hardened acrylics and plastics, compacted into a resin that looks and feels like real wood, but has man-made qualities that allow it to stay outside all year round, without needing to store, oil, or cover it.

Weatherproof Garden Benches

These benches are a great choice if you only require a small seating area, where you and your partner or friend wish to enjoy a quiet moment enjoying the garden and each other’s company.

Weatherproof garden benches help you enjoy your garden without the need to maintain, store or pay for covers for your bench, which a lot of people really like.

Garden Centre Shopping announced in Feb 2018 about their new products available here, including a range of 2-seater and 3-seater garden benches.

Waterproof, Weatherproof, All-Weather or Weather-Resistant?

These terms all essentially mean similar things, just on different scales. I would advise always looking for weatherproof furniture, because the others can be interpreted differently, resulting in lower quality products.