Cashmere

Why Cashmere Suits Hats and Gloves

Hats and gloves touch the most sensitive skin you have, the forehead, the ears and the hands, and that is where a fine fiber earns its keep. A fine fiber bends instead of poking, so cashmere sits against the brow or between the fingers without the prickle of coarse wool. It is light too, so a cashmere glove leaves the fingers nimble and a beanie folds small enough for a coat pocket.

• Fine fiber. No prickle at the brow.
• Light weight. Folds into a pocket.
• Warm for its size. A thin knit that still holds heat.

Matching a Cashmere Set

A matching hat and gloves look deliberate, and with cashmere the trick is texture rather than an exact color match. Pair a ribbed hat with plain jersey gloves, or a honeycomb hat with a ribbed fingerless cuff, so the textures answer each other. Keep a scarf as the quiet piece: heather gray sits with black, camel and almost any beanie shade.

• Mix textures. Rib with jersey, honeycomb with rib.
• Gray bridges colors. A gray wrap ties any palette together.
• Gloves come last. Match them to your coat cuffs.

How to Wash Cashmere Accessories

How to wash cashmere depends on the label, and labels differ from piece to piece: some allow a cold hand wash, others ask for dry cleaning. Where hand washing is allowed, choose cool water with a gentle wool wash, roll it in a towel to lift the water, then dry it flat, never in a dryer. Lay gloves out with every finger smoothed straight while they dry, so they keep their shape for the next cold morning.

• Read the label. Dry clean where it says so.
• Cool and flat. No heat and no wringing.
• Smooth the fingers. Gloves dry back into shape.

For hats alone, the cashmere beanie page compares the honeycomb and rib knits, and the knit beanie page sets them beside alpaca and fleece-lined styles.