Kashmir Dreams

I met this woman online, and she seemed pretty cool...we chatted every once in a while, as you do with online "friends" - especially those who are far, far away. Anyhow - then she asked me to check out her webpage. I looked at it, thought the rugs were nice and left it at that.


Then, she asked me if I'd be willing to review a rug -- which I have no problem doing -- except -- the value of the rug that she sent me exceeds my $50 limit that's set upon me by BlogHer, so I'm placing a note here on the fanpage, and will copy/paste this into my Delusional Mom review blog as well.


The facebook site for Kasmir Dreams is here, or you can go direct to the website here.


The carpet came to me late last week -- and wow -- am I ever impressed! It's colors are fantastic...so deep and beautiful -- and the material is amazing. The whole thing is made of teeny tiny chainstich - you cannot see the background material of this thing. A bonus? It came with a fabulous bag (the rug was rolled up inside of it -- I don't know that this would happen for larger rugs though!)  The only drawback for me is the "wool" smell -- but that's something that I know will dissipate in time.  I took a picture of the bag, rug and my black berry -- for perspective.


Here's the great thing about these rugs -- you can wash them in the washing machine. Can you believe that? Her instructions to me are "use it, love it, get it dirty, wash it." All you have to do is toss it in the wash on a gentle cycle with a little woolite...you can even put it in the dryer! How fan-friggen-tastic is that??? I will be the first to admit that I am both lazy and cheap - so I will not pay for someone else to clean my rugs, but don't like doing it myself. The thought that I can toss this thing into the wash is a life saver to me!!


And -- something else that I want to stress -- there is no child labour used to make these rugs. Andrea knows these families...and well...I'll just copy/paste her comments regarding this:

"Most important! Our products are not produced using child labour!! So many people just assume they are made in sweat shops!grrr! I know our craftspeople personally, I have been to their homes, yes, the kids are involved in the craft because they are surrounded by it. Instead of tv (which many families do not own)after school or weekends, the adults clear a space, salt tea is consumed, the hookah is puffed and the fingers are stitching, more often than not with a pile of kids playing around them or having a go themselves as they get a little older, but not not NOT child labour!"

If I can get a quiet moment to myself later today (or this week) I'll try to do a vlog about it. These rugs are fabulous and these pictures just do not do it justice! Oh, and they also make curtains, pillow covers....whatever you need!

The rug that she sent me was what she called "prayer rug" size -- but it was bigger than that (2.5 x 4 feet).  My husband is upset that I am using it -- he thinks it's too beautiful to use and should be hung on the wall instead.  I'm not saying this isn't an option - but I plan on using this rug!!  The one that I got is made from wool, and the colors therefor, are flat.  Andrea tells me that you can also get ones that are made from cotton and have a bit of a sheen to them.

The whole system of making the rug is supporting an entire village.  One family makes the cotton (preshrunk, which is the reason that it can be washed), prints the design on it and then sends it out to other families in the village to stitch.  Other families collect the wool and dye/spin it, and then get together to stitch as described above.