Introducing…Shokay Yarn
www.Shokay.com
by Randy Cavaliere
I’ve got a sweet tooth and have been a candy lover all my life. So when I walk into a yarn store and see shelves, bins, and boxes filled with luscious, beautiful, colorful yarns, I think, “This is eye candy!” Now there’s a new “candy” category, thanks to Shokay Yarn: hand candy. Shokay, an innovative company with a social conscience, produces a worsted weight yarn called Shambala from pure yak down fiber from China. The result is a subtle yarn that truly glides over the crocheter’s hand as it’s worked from the skein.
Its feather weight is not its only appeal; this is one strong yarn. It’s a six-ply yarn that I put to the “RRR” test…Repeated Ripping and Redoing. Shambala held up well without fraying or pilling; there were no thin spots or torn plies. Very impressive!
Then there was something unexpected in my swatch: the yarn worked up with a dimensional, textured finish. You don’t need to take a very close look to appreciate the twists and turns of the individual strands that make up this yarn. It’s an attractive effect that adds a little something extra to even the simplest projects.
www.Shokay.com
by Randy Cavaliere
I’ve got a sweet tooth and have been a candy lover all my life. So when I walk into a yarn store and see shelves, bins, and boxes filled with luscious, beautiful, colorful yarns, I think, “This is eye candy!” Now there’s a new “candy” category, thanks to Shokay Yarn: hand candy. Shokay, an innovative company with a social conscience, produces a worsted weight yarn called Shambala from pure yak down fiber from China. The result is a subtle yarn that truly glides over the crocheter’s hand as it’s worked from the skein.
Its feather weight is not its only appeal; this is one strong yarn. It’s a six-ply yarn that I put to the “RRR” test…Repeated Ripping and Redoing. Shambala held up well without fraying or pilling; there were no thin spots or torn plies. Very impressive!
Then there was something unexpected in my swatch: the yarn worked up with a dimensional, textured finish. You don’t need to take a very close look to appreciate the twists and turns of the individual strands that make up this yarn. It’s an attractive effect that adds a little something extra to even the simplest projects.
New Yarns New Yarns New Yarns New Yarns New Yarns N ew Yarns New Yarns New Yarns New Yarns New Yar
The yarn is offered in 164 yd/100g skeins in soft colors. The color names are enough to entice a yarn lover to look, touch, and caress. Check out Meadow (a soft, sage green), Nocturne (a nighttime blue), Regal (a royal but not ostentatious purple). Even the bright colors have a toned down hue.
“Luxury with a story” is how the company describes its three yak down products. In addition to the yarn, Shokay offers scarves and throws. They’re pricey at $200 and $800, respectively, and the yarn is not cheap at $32/skein. But the luxury, comparable to cashmere, of a one-of-a-kind sweater, scarf or other wearable in this quality yarn seems well worth the price tag.
Shokay was founded by Marie So and Carol Chyau, both graduates of the Harvard Kennedy School with Masters degrees in Public Administration/International Development, working with Ventures in Development, a non-profit organization that seeks to incubate and launch social enterprise ventures. Marie and Carol spent much of their lives in Asia and understood the problems of impoverished, isolated regions such as western rural China. Together with their friend, Esther Hsu, a graduate of the Wharton School, they created a business plan to develop and introduce yak products (the other one is cheese) to the international market. Out of this was born Shokay, a for-profit social enterprise that aims to provide a steady source of income to marginalized communities in China.
The raw yak fiber is purchased from Tibetan herders, a nomadic, impoverished people. They earn income immediately by selling their fiber directly to Shokay while preserving their traditional culture and lifestyle. The yarn is marketed as a luxury fiber and as such, will hopefully command an appropriate price; the company intends to reinvest profits back into the Tibetan community. Future plans include the expansion of sources of this yarn fiber from other yak-dependant regions such as Sichuan, Mongolia, and Nepal.
Designers who want to work with this beautiful yarn gratis can take advantage of the company’s unique opportunity to generate patterns: Shokay will send double the hanks needed for a project to designers who join their Design Circle. They don’t offer a fee for designs but the value of the free yarn and the exposure of one’s work in an exciting new company is certainly worth consideration and creativity. Shokay plans to include designs in a free pattern booklet without retaining the rights to the patterns. Original models will not be returned but the designers will be free to submit the design or sell a new model elsewhere. That’s a very enticing
Shokay has also launched a competition for the best 3-piece yak suit! For details go to
http://www.shokay.com/Competition/index.asp
So, happily, crochet candy lovers like me can rejoice because we have another great reason to indulge our crochet sweet tooth. Shokay Yarn is truly a treat!
(For more information including how to order yarn and other products, please go to www.Shokay.com. If you’d like design information, send an e-mail to info@shokay.com.)
“Luxury with a story” is how the company describes its three yak down products. In addition to the yarn, Shokay offers scarves and throws. They’re pricey at $200 and $800, respectively, and the yarn is not cheap at $32/skein. But the luxury, comparable to cashmere, of a one-of-a-kind sweater, scarf or other wearable in this quality yarn seems well worth the price tag.
Shokay was founded by Marie So and Carol Chyau, both graduates of the Harvard Kennedy School with Masters degrees in Public Administration/International Development, working with Ventures in Development, a non-profit organization that seeks to incubate and launch social enterprise ventures. Marie and Carol spent much of their lives in Asia and understood the problems of impoverished, isolated regions such as western rural China. Together with their friend, Esther Hsu, a graduate of the Wharton School, they created a business plan to develop and introduce yak products (the other one is cheese) to the international market. Out of this was born Shokay, a for-profit social enterprise that aims to provide a steady source of income to marginalized communities in China.
The raw yak fiber is purchased from Tibetan herders, a nomadic, impoverished people. They earn income immediately by selling their fiber directly to Shokay while preserving their traditional culture and lifestyle. The yarn is marketed as a luxury fiber and as such, will hopefully command an appropriate price; the company intends to reinvest profits back into the Tibetan community. Future plans include the expansion of sources of this yarn fiber from other yak-dependant regions such as Sichuan, Mongolia, and Nepal.
Designers who want to work with this beautiful yarn gratis can take advantage of the company’s unique opportunity to generate patterns: Shokay will send double the hanks needed for a project to designers who join their Design Circle. They don’t offer a fee for designs but the value of the free yarn and the exposure of one’s work in an exciting new company is certainly worth consideration and creativity. Shokay plans to include designs in a free pattern booklet without retaining the rights to the patterns. Original models will not be returned but the designers will be free to submit the design or sell a new model elsewhere. That’s a very enticing
Shokay has also launched a competition for the best 3-piece yak suit! For details go to
http://www.shokay.com/Competition/index.asp
So, happily, crochet candy lovers like me can rejoice because we have another great reason to indulge our crochet sweet tooth. Shokay Yarn is truly a treat!
(For more information including how to order yarn and other products, please go to www.Shokay.com. If you’d like design information, send an e-mail to info@shokay.com.)
