Ride2Rebel.London

Sometimes these grades will be included on the label, but sometimes not. Some less-scrupulous retailers may also grade them according to different criteria, passing off Grade B as Grade A for example. To ensure a quality product, you must know what to look for.

The Feeling Test

Tough the material. It should feel luxuriously soft, and not have any coarse fibres mixed in with the fine ones.

If cashmere fibres are not treated with proper techniques, or if low-quality chemicals or dyes have been used during the manufacturing process, the fabrics will become rough. Check for this especially with darker-coloured garments.

If you are quite new to buying and owning cashmere products, it is safer to stick with lighter-coloured garments at first. The fibres chosen for light-coloured products are often of better quality, and the dyes used are less harsh, so damage is less frequently inflicted during the production of lighter-coloured items.

The Stretching Test

Gently stretch the material by pinching two points and pulling them away from each other. Hold for a few seconds, then let go. The material should return to its original shape and show no deformity. If it pulls back into the original shape as if it hadn’t been stretched, then it’s a higher-end cashmere.

The Price Test

The ticket price for cashmere jumpers can vary a lot, from about £100 up to £500 is a normal range, even without the added cost of a designer’s name on it. If a cashmere item is extraordinarily cheap, ask yourself why that is.

In rare cases, a retailer may simply be clearing out room for new products, but this is seldom (never?) the case for cashmere – it’s simply too much in demand. More often, cheap cashmere is just that: cheap — grade C, poor processing, inferior design, perhaps.

Just as a very low price is a nearly-sure indicator of a sub-par product, a high price tag – from a reputable retailer – is a pretty good indicator of a superior one. You get what you pay for, and if you want the true value of a high-quality cashmere garment… it’ always worth paying that premium price.

Cashmere blends?

Cashmere is a great fibre, and it’s true that the presence of coarse outer hairs and other impurities can greatly diminish the quality of the resulting garments – but that doesn’t mean that blending cashmere with certain other fibres will not result in a great luxury product. In many cases, it can even take much of the sting out of the cost, without a notable drop in quality or comfort.

A 30%/70% cashmere/Merino blend, for example, results in a garment that is very nearly as soft as 100% cashmere but at a fraction of the cost. Likewise, a 10%/90% cashmere/cotton blend takes the durability of cotton and adds a luxe softness to it – creating a cashmere product that works as summer-wear.

Why choose a blend?

Not only does a skilful blend of cashmere with other suitable fibres drop the price down considerably, but it can also add some additional benefits.

Travels Very well

Any garment can be well-travelled, but few travel well. Cashmere is one of the few garments that can take being stuffed in a suitcase and still come out looking much as it did when first lifted from the drying surface after cleaning… this good look lasts all day, too.

Cool and Warm

Cashmere is a great insulator. Usually, we understand that to mean that it keeps us warm, but it can also keep us cooler and comfortable in spring. This is because it is not just a good insulator; it is also breathable, so your body heat and moisture can escape.

Good Strong Colours

Cashmere soaks in the dye, taking it into the core of the fibre, not just the surface. This means that colours stay true and rich for years.

References:

https://www.opptrends.com/why-you-need-to-have-cashmere-clothing/

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-29148-7_73

https://demotix.com/why-cashmere-is-the-right-choice-for-your-clothing-style/

https://www.acewebdirectory.com/italy-in-cashmere

It’s that time of year again here in London, where we’re looking at spending lots of time outdoors, be it at a family BBQ or watching the football!

The company called Garden Centre Shopping is providing weatherproof outdoor benches to buy online, and they come in a range of 2 seater benches, 3 seater benches, memorial benches, love seat garden benches, and others. They are made from a new material called Winawood™, which is a composite wood-effect compression of polymers that creates a wood like feel without having to maintain it.

They have several colours available, including this white garden love seat found on their store here:

The product has been received well by UK customers, and you can see examples of reviews of Winawood here: https://winawoodreviews.co.uk/

You can also find out more about building Winawood furniture if you’re having trouble at this link: http://buildwinawood.co.uk/

About Garden Centre Shopping

Garden Centre Shopping sells garden furniture online with UK home delivery, including a range of weatherproof Winawood furniture, luxury rattan furniture, and reclining garden furniture for outdoor and indoor use (such as a conservatory). They are based at Sapcote Garden Centre in Leicestershire, a business that’s been going for over 18 years.

You can contact them using the details below:

01455 274748

[email protected]

Sapcote Garden Centre, Hinckley Road, Leicester, LE9 4LG

www.gardencentreshopping.co.uk

You can read some other news here.

George Bennett as well as Robert Gesink headline LottoNL-Jumbo’s eight-man squad at following month’s Giro d’Italia. The group additionally brings Danny van Poppel for the few sprint surfaces that litter the mountainous program.

Bennett will be the group’s major basic category leader at the Giro d’Italia but Gesink will give some solid assistance in the hills and provides the team a viable second choice if points fail for the Kiwi.

Bennett’s Giro d’Italia practically went up in smoke simply over a week back after he struck an auto that had actually all of a sudden become his course while he was out reconnoitring the stage 16 time test training course ahead of the Scenic tour of the Alps. The 28-year-old unbelievely got away severe injury, despite being flung over the cars and truck yet was left with wounding as well as swelling as a result of the incident.

Also see our page on the Tour de France here.

He still took care of a solid week of competing at the Scenic tour of the Alps, finishing fifth general a min behind the general victor Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ). His colleague Koen Bouwman, who is additionally named in the team, finished the week solid and confirmed himself a crucial teammate for Bennett in the mountains.

News on Nieve Return

The Tour de Romandie, with its diverse surface, will certainly be Nieve’s initial stage race given that in 2015’s Vuelta a Espana, and his ongoing healing is centred around finding type for the Giro d’Italia, where he will line up as Esteban Chaves’ essential hill domestique.

” I had a bad collision. I remained in Sierra Nevada, getting ready for Catalunya and also Pais Basque, however I had two cracks in my hip from the loss. That suggested that I needed to pick up a few days. It had not been ideal prep work for the Giro d’Italia and now I’m below, as well as I’ll try as well as do my best, “Nieve informed Cyclingnews ahead of Romandie’s prologue, where he would certainly take place to end up 105th.” I was off the bike for some time but can gradually begin to progress, going from half an hour, to an hour, to an hr and a half. I lost a lot of good training days however.

” I’m not too bad. I’ve had a good training block as well as Liege was my first race back. I want to improve this week, as well as we’ll see where I am by Sunday. I’m right here to obtain my race pace back, build up some kind and also get ready for the Giro. I wish to arrive at the Giro in the very best feasible shape. I should see where I am during this race though. I could really feel all right yet it’s different when you actually start competing, and begin comparing yourself to other people. Maybe at the Giro, I can take the initial week less complicated, however we’ll need to see.”

Remember you can get all of the latest cycling gossip on our website Ride 2 Rebel London.

Sources

You can read more about is on these related websites:

http://www.federation-fampo.org/916df6dabccb420c1ee355d7dd7dd89b/passport-check-and-send-service-gov-uk.pdf

he decision was made yesterday to match San Jose’s four-year $14 million offer sheet to Niklas Hjalmarsson. That will be a $3.5 million cap hit. I still think it’s a little much for the 23-year old Swede, but the Blackhawks do have a couple over valued contracts on the books that overshadow this one. If you do compare it to other deals signed by free agent defensemen this summer, Hjalmarsson’s contract doesn’t look so bad.

As expected, the Hawks are in a tough spot (again) in regards to the salary cap. With fifteen players under contract next season, the organization has only $113,410 (source: cap geek) to spend on five to seven more players to fill out the roster. Teams do have the luxury to go up to 10% over the cap ceiling in the off-season. Antti Niemi’s arbitration hearing is July 29, and it appears as though the Hawks will need to use the extra space this summer until Cristobal Huet’s contract is removed from the mix. If that were done today, the Blackhawks would have $5,738,410 salary-cap space to work with.

Signing Hjalmarsson to an offer sheet, and forcing Bowman’s hand was a tactic that is Machiavellian in nature. The Blackhawks’ cap issues are well known around the league, and San Jose general manager Doug Wilson did all he could to screw the reigning Stanley Cup Champions the best he could within the parameters of the collective bargaining agreement. It’s an evil, yet brilliant strategy. Wilson was able to set Hjalmarsson’s price tag, and now Bowman and company will find it hard to keep Niemi around as a result.

If the Blackhawks opted not to match San Jose’s offer, the Sharks would have added a solid, smart and young defenseman to their roster for relatively little. It was a win-win situation for Wilson.

Coaching staff set

The void left by John Torchetti was filled yesterday by Mike Kitchen, and Mike Haviland signed a contract extension to remain with the Blackhawks as an assistant coach. Kitchen was on Joel Quenneville’s coaching staff when he was in St. Louis years ago.

How does this impact cycling?

Well the behaviour of all sports people across the world impacts the way people look at sportsmen and women in general, and so it isn’t fair to say this is simply related to hocky, as it also impacts us as cyclists in London.

In 2016, Londoners made 730,000 bicycle journeys daily, equal to 10 percent of all bus journeys, and 20 per cent of all tube journeys. Which number keeps climbing? This year, the City of London Firm found that during the early morning enter the City of London, one of the most prominent automobile is now the bicycle, having actually grown 300 percent considering that 1999. But it appears that this uphill climb is beginning to squash out.

The same City of London report also shows that the price of growth has reduced over the last five years, and that total figures for bicyclists are a little less than a year ago. London needs to act if it intends to proceed the growth of its cycling population past the two decades of increases it has already taken pleasure in.

Is it really a cyclist problem?

It’s not a problem of lacking possible motorcyclists. TfL’s 2017 Analysis of Cycling Possible record indicates that another 8.17 million journeys which are currently made in London could be cycled from beginning to end, with 6.47 million rideable in under 20 minutes. Furthermore, an additional 1.55 million journeys could utilize bikes for a part of them, rather than taking the bus or Underground.

This room to grow could also be seen in the low diversity of bike riders. According to TfL’s 2017 analysis, just 27 percent of current cycle journeys are made by women and 15 percent by BAME individuals. It additionally encompasses the variety of people taking a trip with each other, as many bike journeys are made solo, instead of in a group. Lots of bikers are commuting on their bikes, and while one in six of the 8.17 million un-cycled trips are commutes, over fifty percent of them are for buying and recreation.

The bottom line number is that 2.54 million uncycled journeys are similar to existing ones. The remainder require a greater modification than just more of the same, as the existing technique is plainly not helping in this regard.

Could TFL Help?

Just how could TfL proceed to grow bike usage? For one, add more facilities outside of the city centre. TfL’s own reporting shows that 55 per cent of possibly recyclable journeys beyond central London are made using other types of transport, as well as it is therefore looking to link up the edges to the well supported centre with more cycleways.

But you can not press cars and trucks from the city entirely. “Undoubtedly the extra facilities you place, theoretically the more people could cycle,” states Tom Colthorpe, transport scientist at the Centre for London brain trust. “However similarly you can’t just maintain doing that until there’s simply no road area.”

This would be twice as problematic anyway, as cycling is just one of the ‘peakiest’ kinds of transport. The City of London record shows that while motor web traffic is about constant between 07:00 and 11:00, biking peaks around the heavy traffic of 08:00 to 10:00 and 17:00 to 19:00, with small amounts of task during the remainder of the day. For much of the day, that enhanced capability would certainly go extra.

Conflict within senior transport for London staff?

The opposite of the infrastructure is the bikes themselves. TfL’s very own bike employing system, in operation since 2010, has actually been a strong force in popularising cycling. In recent months, the scheme has actually been signed up with by dockless bike rental given by Ofo. Both increase arrangement, but having a lot of bikes implies nothing without individuals ready to ride them. It is uncertain if having more bikes available suffices on its own to acquire new cyclists, or if it will instead be utilized by existing bikers that exchange their own bike for a shared one.

Rather than considering the equipment, one could take into consideration modifying the software. Transforming the population’s travel behaviors is hard, Colthorpe explains. “People are extremely ingrained in their travel practices, it’s a tricky one. Individuals are really unwilling to transform their regular even if the choice is marginally far better.”

Behaviours of London Commuters

Traveling behaviors may be in part dictated by safety problems. The use of segregated framework on London’s roads – seeing to it that bikes and autos are kept apart as high as feasible makes cyclists feel more secure as well as bringing much more riders – but the concept still has a bad credibility. “There are places in other places in London, where there are extra serious cases each kilometre travelled than in the City or Central London,” says Colthorpe. “The centre appears extra harmful due to the high quantity of web traffic, so there’s a public understanding obstacle.

However also reasonably easy changes in behaviour could have a major effect: altering exactly what times individuals start and leave work would maximize ability and let existing infrastructure carry more cyclists over a longer peak duration. Motivating people to exchange out a tube or bus link for a bike flight instead will minimize the requirement for more contaminating types of transportation. Getting people to ride with each other or use bikes for uneven journeys, will certainly transform TfL’s potential journeys into real ones, and is something that plan, through creating more cycleways and docking terminals or personal bike hire firms, can assist with.

If the trend shown by the City of London’s information works out as currently expected, it shows that biking development needs treatment to make it take place. Prior boosts have actually been available in fits as well as starts, stimulated on by presenting bike hire schemes, the congestion fee, or events such as the worldwide economic crisis. Obtaining even more individuals cycling is a worthwhile objective, yet much like the bikes themselves, the method doesn’t stay upright unless it’s in motion.

Further Reading:

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/facts-and-figures

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/aug/10/cycling-white-sport

Today is feeling good so far, I have a few things on my plate that need immediate action
and I’m going to tackle them head on. One being my photo for the upcoming BUST ad in the Dec/Jan issue. It’s due tomorrow and with my current camera that seems to give me one good picture out of forty it’s going to be a bit of an uphill battle I suspect. Hmmm.
But I’m creating something new for the ad. Thinking of composition and color, something that will “pop” more and therefore bring my shop more traffic. I’m going with a brooch for the ad, seems the best choice for holiday shopping and the price is quite right on. The photos of a more square or round object seem to photograph better for the gallery sized horizontal photo format, so I’m making one with that in mind.

On a more inspirational note, here is my dream studio below –

Oh Martha Stewart, you’ve got my brain all in a tizzy over this studio. I want, I need, I must have this someday. Check out Martha’s blog here, it’s a good read.

My sewing room (I need a more encompassing name for it, other than “craft room”, help me please) overlooks my backyard. This can be a good thing, though right now it’s not so pretty actually. If I look to my right I only see a giant green tarp which is covering all the scrap that belongs to my landlords, we moved in with the promise it’d be gone by now. Hopefully soon, as it blocks my light and is a huge eye sore. If I look straight ahead and ignore my peripheral vision it get much nicer looking, though it’s a bit overgrown. I’ve been so busy with indoor creative creations that i’ve totally neglected going outside much. I’m already in Fall/Winter mode I suppose, it’s time to break out the winter clothes and put the heavier duvet on the bed. Hot Cocoa I can feel you getting closer by the day…

Here are two new creations that are already in the shop. Meet Penelope and the Little Village Pillow…

Studio Residency at Virginia Commonwealth University
This Richmond, VA residency includes a hothouse environment
of concentrated studio practice along with fourteen other
talented artists.

Each week includes two seminars with Andrew Kozlowski and
Paul and Dinah Ryan, group and individual studio critiques with
Sally Bowring and Michael Jones McKean and visiting artists thus far including:
Richard Roth, Amy Hauft, Rob Matthews, Carlton Newton, and Nigel Rolfe.

The residency will conclude with exit reviews and exhibition July 24th – Aug 1st
Opening reception will be at 7pm, 1000 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA on July 26th.

Gallery 128 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Juried Exhibition 2008, April 4th – 25th

Opening Reception: Friday, April 4th 5-7pm.
Hours: 10-6 Monday through Saturday and 11-6 Sunday.
Admission is Free. It is located at 128 N. Broad Street
Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building.

Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition: Choice Abstractions 2008
Juried Exhibition, February 15th – March 18th

The Main Line Art Center presents the fourth annual
juried exhibition in memory of teacher and artist,
Betsy Meyer. This exhibition promotes the ideals of
experimentation and of pushing boundaries and
expectation, both personal and artistic.

Juror: Sueyun Locks, Director and Owner, Locks Gallery

Two of my largest paintings were chosen for exhibition.

Opening Reception: First Friday, March 7, 6-9pm
The Main Line Art Center’s Gallery & Office hours are
Mon – Thur: 9 – 9, Fri – Sat: 9 – 5, Sun: 9:30 – 4.

Also, visit the
LINKS page
for newly
installed links
to my good
artist friends!

‘One Night Stand’ 2008 January 4th
You may have missed seeing this short exhibit on the 4th of this
month at the Main Line Art Center where many young artists came together to
sell their work, co-mingle, and preview Flashpoint Theater Company’s upcoming productions.

Absolutely Abstract 2007 at the Philadelphia Sketch Club
November 9th – 25th

‘What’s coming in is pushing out’, a 9×12 pastel work,
was selected by Bill Scott and Barbra Zucker, both well-known
artists in and outside of the city.

The Philadelphia Sketch Club is America’s oldest Artist’s Club (c.1860)
Only 108 out of the 250-plus submissions were shown.

Held at its historic location in center city (235 S. Camac St.) the
gallery will be open from Sunday, November 9th through November 25th,
on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1-5pm.
For more information, visit SketchClub.org.