Nepal has a new Prime Minister

This is the new prime minister of Nepal. Hopefully he is better than the last one!

Hi name is Madhav Kumar, and in his inaugauration speech he said "“I am neither a ‘poison tree’ nor an ‘wish fulfilling tree’ one but a simple tree that gives sweet fruits or at least shadow to the travelers"

I just hope he is not corrupt, and is encouraging to good businesses and environmental initiatives.

New styles on Mypashmina from today

This is now in stock, and goes very nicely with either a 'Hot Pink' or ' Cobblestone' pashmina.
www.mypashmina.co.uk

New - Crochet cashmere flower scarves in stock

We've moved our cashmere factory to a different part of Kathmandu . This is on the northern edge of the city in an area where there are lots of Tibetan families.

A lot of the Tibetan women are skilled in knitting and crocheting. This gave us an idea!

We hope you like them.. each one is completely unique because the colours were chosen by the people that made them.

ONLY £79.50

100% Cashmere
150cmx25cm
Made in Nepal
150-160grams approx.

www.mypashmina.co.uk

Varanasiscarves available to buy in Moscow

If you live in Moscow you can now go to the shop Paqocha to buy our finest quality silk scarves from Varanasi. Paqocha is located bang in the centre of Moscow on the bridge near the new financial centre. Also, you can buy a range of Alpaca and by us produced cashmere knitwear in their own designs, which is good news if you are living there and need some nice clothes!

These scarves are so amazing and eye-catching, they have to be seen in real life. They are an excellent way of brightening up and completing an outfit.

My personal favourites are the ones with several colours in. Like this one:
It has the aptly suitable name "Multi Amazing". You can see more pictures on Mypashmina
















Pashmina-Paul and Paqocha shop owner Tim on an excursion to Smögen on the west coast in Sweden.

Cashmere Valley - 50% off

Now is a very good time to get over to www.cashmerevalley.com and buy half price pashminas.

We have just done a stock take and updated the website.

You can save a lot of money, and the remaining colours and styles are very nice too.

For example, you can pick up a pure cashmere poloneck and a 7030 pashmina stole for just £54 total!

/Paul

New Gift Wrap for Mypashmina

I have designed some new gift wrap, that will be made from environmentally sustainable Lokta paper with flower petals.

This is the paper making factory in Kathmandu, where they mash up the fibrous bark from the lokta bushes and spread it out on these frames to dry.

New cashmere scarf from Mypashmina

New

It might soon be available from www.mypashmina.co.uk

Each one will be totally unique and hand-knitted outside of our factory in the Tibetan quarter of Kathmandu.

What do you think ?

100% Cashmere of course.

Paul heading back to Nepal

Hello,

The picture is the inside of Abu Dhabi airport ... i've been here before, but had forgotten what an unusual airport building it is... its like being in an inside-out donut with shiny blue and green tiles on all the walls.

I'm heading back to Nepal, after being back at base for 2 months, and looking forward to seeing the new factory which started production last week.

My pashmina (100% cashmere, 90x200cm) came in handy on the overnight flight to here. So much nicer than the airplane blankets...

Not too much to complain about with cattle-class on Etihad airways (except their name, which had me thinking it was an Ethiopian airline!)

/Paul

PS.. i've just discovered that www.flickr.com is blocked in this country!

Clone a goat?

Picture: Paul holding a baby cashmere goat in Inner Mongolia

I couldnt believe it, when i stumbled upon this article from Times of India:

Scientists to clone Pashmina goat

According to the article a gang of Indian scientists, that were the first to clone the buffalo, are set to start work on cloning the Capra Hircus goat. The article also says the six-member-team of scientists will use somatic cells from the ear of a donor goat to create the clone and use a hand-guided Cloning Technique to create the clone this month. The cashmere fibre is very expensive and India is not producing enough. (less than 0.5% of the total world production of approximately 10,000 tonnes per annum). The journalist writes "Even worse, while the world Pashmina production has almost doubled from 5,000 tonnes in the early nineties, the Indian Pashmina industry has remained static with the Changthang plateau of Ladakh contributing almost 90% of the total production."

I personally think it hasnt only got to do with the lack of the goat in India..rather has it more to do with the way the business is done and the extensive cheating, for instance 100% pashmina really being 100% viscos, and kashmiri wool which is really sheepswool from sheep in the region Kashmir. And if you have been to India as a western tourist, and gone into a tourist shop to buy some pashminas, you will surely know what I mean.

I believe that if there had been an government organisation to control this cheating and the quality more people would feel confident with doing business with indian cashmere companies, and not chinese ones. The majority of pure cashmere today actually comes from Inner Mongolia in China, even our own raw cashmere yarn. A controlled production would generate more business for India, and therefore more goat farms in my view.

I feel very strongly against cloning, but on the other hand it could possibly bring some good news too.

One thing that might be good about cloning might be that some diseases could probably be cured, which today is a problem in India. A more natural solution, in my own belief, would be to actually do something about the general garbage & sewage problem in India. It is not so strange the animal gets sick if it eats plastic bags with rotten vegetables off the streets!

Dr Singla says to Times of India that "Successfully cloning the animal will help multiply the number of Pashmina goats drastically, and that one goat would have given birth to a single offspring every year, but through cloning, they can get surrogate mothers to give birth to 40-50 offsprings annually."

Still not convinced.

/Caroline

Don´t forget to have a look at www.mypashmina.co.uk for your pashmina needs.

Mypashmina Stocktake

Hello..

We are doing our yearly stocktake on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th February 2009.

This means that if you order after 1pm on Wednesday, your order will be dispatched on the following Monday.

Thanks for your understanding in this time.

/Paul

Clearance items @ Mypashmina

SAVE YOUR POUNDS - AND BUY FROM THE CLEARANCE PAGE!

Hello!

I have just been updating the clearance page.. reducing some prices and making some more clearance items available.
/ Paul

New - Angelweave Pashminas at Mypashmina

New today ... Angelweave pashmina stoles (55x200cm). The vertical (warp) is pure silk, and the horizontal (weft) is handspun pure cashmere. Handspinning the cashmere gives it this lovely uneven natural look. We chose a dark colour silk for the warp, so that when the pieces are dyed you can see the two colours.

There are 8 colours in stock. The total fibre content is 90% cashmere / 10% silk. They feel amazingly soft.

So , scoot along to www.mypashmina.co.uk and see the other colours available.

Some nice feedback

On the order sheet:

Received a pure cashmere scarf as a Christmas present from purecollection.com and I absolutely adore it. I went on their website to purchase one for my friend's birthday but the scarves were not available - their loss! So I went on the web and looked at various websites and yours seemed to stand out for quality, cost and choice. As you can see I couldn't decide on just one colour, so decided to have 3 - the more the better!! Really looking forward to receiving them - thanks, Fiona

Email received later:

I am absolutely delighted with my purchases - they are beautiful.

Cool site with videos

Just found this site where you can find videos about how to do almost anything.
Here is a useful link that shows how to fold you cashmere cardigan without getting it creased. Also lots of practical small tips:

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-fold-a-cardigan

Plan to post one there later on the many uses of pashminas.

I particularly enjoyed the videos there are already there on the relationship section - the "how to make the first move" was hilarious! (but true)

exchange rates

Nepali Music

We love Nepali music ... Here is a remix of a classic

http://www.bagmati.net/users/prakrity/ewf/prakrity_com/res/mp3/sing/dj_raju_-_chyangba_hoi_chyangba_(prakritys_sedated_remix)_(www.prakrity.com).mp3

...and a good site if you want to listen to more is www.nepalisongs.com

/Paul

Mypashmina featured in Closer Magazine

As recommended by the life style editor Juliet Blank. You can find this pashmina by going to www.mypashmina.co.uk and click on Pashminas on the the menu, and then classic pashminas. They cost from £19.50 incl. free delivery. The featured pashmina measures 70x200 cm and is made in 70% cashmere 30% silk mix which is the most popular choice. (because you can wear it in many ways - not too big nor too small)

Mypashmina featured again

This month we've been in one of the largest woman magazines in Sweden, Femina. Many lovely Swedish customers have found us through the feature which has made us very happy. Click on the pictures to enlarge. The pashminas on the photo are the 70% cashmere 30% silk ones in 70 x 200 cm. They cost £39.50 (free next day delivery!!) and are available in many many colours. We recommend this size or the slightly bigger one (90x200cm) for travelling. For long haul and long train journeys and adventure travelling i highly recommend the throw size 130x200 cm. Its great because its a proper blanket size and packs up amazingly small. They are so versatile you can't live without them when you start using them!

For us pashminas are vital, everyday even in summer! Almost everybody we know owns a pashmina (a mypashmina-pashmina of course!) and loves it. A friend of ours bought pashminas to give away as Christmas presents for all her family and friends and never got as many thank you cards as this time because everybody loved their pashmina presents. And soon its valentines day.. so is it a good idea for a valentines gift? Oh yes, its an EXCELLENT idea!

Anyway, here is the article:


Translation of the article:

The miracle garment
In the flight magazine "Scanorama" the air hostess Anne-Marie Wallgren, 53, shares her best packing advice. "I don't travel anywhere without a pashmina shawl. I use it in so many ways: To keep me warm and protect me against the sun. When I want to dress up (sometimes I wear it as a skirt) or I just use it to rest my head on." With other words: A clever way to increase your wardrobe - and comfort - for everybody that travels a lot in work.

Fancy your own shawl?
The online shop Mypashmina.se has specialized in clothes and accessories in luxurious cashmere. Now Mypashmina.se offers you that read Femina 10% discount on the classic pashmina shawls. They are available in 5 sizes, in over 50 colours and costs from 299 kr. To get the discount, which applies for all products, you use the code 2009femina2 when you order on the web site www.mypashmina.se. The offer is valid until January 25th, 2009

For you English lot we also have a discount code that is valid now available somewhere on this blog, which you'll definitely find if you read it carefully :)

The code will work on Mypashmina.co.uk and you can use it for all items there.

New! Frilled Edge Cashmere Scarves

These pure cashmere frilled edge scarves are now available at www.mypashmina.co.uk (in the accessories section)

The price is a very reasonable £79.50 , and there are 4 colours available. Not only that, you can have it made to order in any one of 117 colours !

There is no extra charge for having this item custom made.

/Paul

Power Shedding in Nepal up to 16 hours

This is the guy in charge of Nepal. His nickname is Prachanda.

He is a useless prime minister - absolutely rubbish.

Now, the people of Nepal have to live without electricity for 16 hours per day!

In 2008, in the country with the largest Hydro-Power potential in the world, this is just stupid. Nepal is also a country with huge Solar potential (they tax the import of solar panels 43% - duh!)

This idiot is in charge of a large gang of idiots that ruin a very nice country full of great people. GRRRR !