The weather today is dismal. It’s grey, rainy, cold and dark. When I woke up this morning it was raining, and there was so little light that I thought it must be still the wee hours. It wasn’t, it’s just that dark and I was dismayed for a little bit, until I realized that this day really just marks the beginning of knitter season. In the height of summer, I knit because I am a knitter, but when the weather turns, and everything about a day calls for an infusion of cozy, I just don’t know how people manage that without knitting. I worked this morning (very productive writing day, if I say so myself) and got a lot done, and this afternoon, instead of being bummed about the weather, I’m celebrating. I put on a very big pot of tea (tea is more cozy than coffee. I feel certain of this.) slipped a pair of woollen socks onto my feet for the first time since probably – May, and put together a pot of tomato sauce to simmer for the afternoon. The house smells wonderful, the rain is falling outside, and I’m cozy on the chesterfield, cup of tea beside me, about to take up my knitting and ponder for a while.
Last night I went to Lettuce Knit, and took the stinky green Donegal Luxury Tweed yarn that I got to knit Jolie back with me. (Sorry about the Ravelry link guys, but I couldn’t find a better one, my apologies to anyone who can’t click it.) Oddly, after a careful sniffing, it would appear that only some of the colours smell like kerosene and after two glasses of wine and a good long think about it, I returned the green and took a pretty not-quite navy blue. 
Exact same yarn, all those great qualities I really liked about it, and no smell except for wool. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why some colours in a shipment would smell and others wouldn’t, but it really doesn’t matter now that I’ve got one that works. (I do regret the loss of the green though.)
I was returning the yarn, and telling Denny that this is a first. That I’ve never, ever returned yarn before, that I keep all my leftovers, and I’ve always found a use for all my yarn, and that I can’t believe I’m returning yarn now… and Den laughed. "You’re not returning it now" she said. "This is an exchange!" and I looked down, realized I was leaving with exactly the amount and type of yarn that I came in with, and I laughed too.
My record is still perfect. Technically, I’ve still never returned yarn.
Have you?
I think I have but it may have been an exchange too. And now I have a project where I wish I had that yarn back….
Lesson learned — do not return yarn.
You can RETURN yarn?
Return wool…. ?
I didn’t know this was an option….. haha
I am at work, dreaming of a cuppa tea and a good knit…. good for you.
ooooh! and I’m first! Also forgot to post that I thought that the green was lovely, as I’m currently working with green yarn. But I also really like the purply-blue too.
That sounds like a perfect day. And I also love when I make those realizations.
P.S. – SUPER excited to write the first comment!
You can return yarn? No, really? I’ve never done it.
Nevermind…
Is it terribly wrong for me to be jealous of your grey, rainy, cold and dark weather?
My LYS doesn’t take actual returns, just exchanges for credit. OK, that’s a technicality. Once, my mother requested a blue tweedy sweater, so I bought single skeins of several possibilities that they had in sweater-quantities for her to choose from. The sweater ended up being in Takhi Donegal Tweed, in a green colorway called, I think, celery (which isn’t at all what it looks like, but that’s another story). The blue tweedy yarn was exchanged for some of the green. (And, eventually, I made her a heathered blue vest with some yarn I bought on vacation in Nova Scotia.)
I’ve *tried* to return yarn. I did the buy-four-extra-balls-just-in-case routine, but when I went to return the ‘extras’ the woman at the shop (my local) pointed to a little bitty sign by the counter and explained that they only take back yarn within three months of purchase. Even with a receipt and still in the bag. I thought that was a bit miserly since many folks don’t finish a jumper in three months (or a year) so how are you supposed to buy enough to be sure. I was a bit miffed. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll find ways to use the rest.
No, I cannot remember ever returning or exchnging yarn. Your day–pot simmering on the stove, rain on the rofftop, slippers and hot tea–is exactly what I wanted today; but, alas, I am in the office reading about yours.
Yeah, I’ve never returned yarn. I just can’t bring myself to do it, no matter what. I do think that if I found myself in your shoes, though, I might do it. Never say never.
Never! That would be scandalous. It also explains the condition of my dining room table right now!
I’ve exchanged too..but usually if I change my mind I gift it to someone else.
So…nope, not yet. 🙂
I like navy! Enjoy your tea
Return Yarn? How is that possible? You bond with it, love it, smell it, squeeze and rub it, how do you return it?(That sounds a lot more x rated read back) Impossible! It just has to wait for a different project that is perfect for it!
Wish I had a day like that! It’s almost 90 today and humid! Tea sounds lovely – except the thought makes me sweat.
I did return yarn once. I had yarn from shawls that were selling like crazy in a local shop. After about a year the sales just dried up. After having knitted 120 shawls I wasn’t planning on making any more so I returned the unused yarn.
I think I may have done an (coughcough) exchange ONCE, but as for an actual return?? Nope, can’t say as I have. If, after a little while (if you count several years as a little while) of hanging out in the stash and not being used, I find my tastes have changed, it’s donated to someone for their stash enhancement, or to some other worthwhile cause.
I’ve exchanged yarn – like when I bought too much for a given project – but I can’t recall ever out-and-out returning yarn. But then, I have never had yarn that smelled like diesel.
Denny is ALWAYS right.
I am glad to hear your record is still perfect. Rationalizing events to be in your favor is what good friends do.
Haven’t returned yarn yet, but hey, I’m only 65 – there’s still a chance I might. Especially if it smelled like diesel fuel. Almost certainly in that case. The exchange for the blue was a good choice. Knit on, dear Harlot, and have a blessed day.
Only once. For some reason I bought a novelty yarn. This was several years after the fad wore off and after I’d discovered real wool. I have no idea why I bought it, possibly I was dazzled by the shiny.
I brought the single skein home, went to put it in my stash, realized it went with NOTHING else in there, and put it back in the bag to return to the store.
Although since I didn’t get money, but rather some other, nice, wooly yarn then next time I was at the store, I don’t know if that counts as a return or an exchange either…
I have only returned wool when I think someone else might be short a few balls. Of course, this only happens wehn I haven’t bought out the entire dye lot of something fabulous in case I want to knit a king-sized blanket out of it.
Most of my leftovers go to a friend who knits hats for the homeless- something I should do, but I satisfy myself with providing Ruth with the raw materials.
I’m intrigued by you exchanging for the exact same amount. Did you return the yarn you’d knitted?!
So I’m not the only one who has a dining room table covered in yarn??? And no, yarn never leaves this house except as a gift or knitted up.
I think I returned an extra ball once, but came out with others for another project. Does that count?
I don’t think I have ever returned it either. I think I’ve gotten yarn I didn’t use, but didn’t return it. Even the extra skein the yarn shop says get just in case, and you can return? I have those still.
I just finished a 100% alpaca cabled sweater. So soft! so cuddly! BUT… I live in North Carolina, the days of cuddling in a new sweater are a few weeks off yet. Enjoy the tea!
Your weather does sound dismal. You make me wish I was drinking tea instead of cocoa (tea is definitely more cozy than coffee). But today in Yellowknife we woke up to snow (most of it has melted now but they are promising some rain to take its place) so cocoa was a must.
Count me among the readers who wish for your weather (and mode of spending the day). For I am rather stuck at work on this 95 degree (Fahrenheit) day in Phoenix.
And tea just is cozier than coffee, it’s the way it is. Hot chocolate even more so. It’s like a coziness continuum.
Yes. I have returned yarn. Acrylic yarn!
She had a very good point about returning it! No, I’ve never returned yarn.
Only the past couple years have I started returning food if a server brings absolutely the wrong meal. So it definitely would have taken me 5 times of washing a swatch to return stinky yarn!
Never! I think it is unethical.
Nope. Not even all those “one extra just in case I run out” skeins…Any suggestions for a project requiring only one skein of a variety of yarns???
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever returned yarn . . . I always figure I can use it for something . . . 😉
I’ve exchanged yarn that I ordered when the color was not what I expected. Even if I buy too much, I just save it and find a use for it.
I haven’t returned anything, including acrylic. I find a use for it or it eventually goes to charity knitting groups.
I’ve never returned yarn,beer, or my children. Even though the thought has crossed my mind on one of these. But I digress….
I personally like the blue even better! And I think a dark and stormy day is just perfection! It’s what knitters live for!
Return yarn? Surely you jest.
You know there’s a lawsuit that Coates & Clarks was involved in where they sued the warehouse because a lot of cotton was destroyed when a large bail came in that apparently was on fire in the middle of the bail and caught the rest of the stock on fire and destroyed a large amount of stock.
You almost wonder if something like that happened, that the yarn was being stored in a warehouse and/or distribution facility and some type of fuel was accidentally spilled on an area of stock and it was never reported simply cleaned up to the best of the ability of the staff of said facility. Not even thinking about the fact yarn is absorbant!
But then, who knows.
never, but I’ve only been knitting for 50-some years – might happen yet.
Returned yarn? No, never, but not out of virtue. It turns out that I have a bit of a yarn stashing addiction. I tend to buy yarn that I simply must have and then find a pattern to fit afterwards. Thus, no reason to return my precious. The sad thing is that I often love the yarn too much to sacrifice it on anything less than the “perfect” pattern….which is why I’m currently in the market for yet another stackable yarn storage unit ;-)))))
I have exchanged it, once; it was SWTC Karaoke and it was so poorly spun it came apart as I was knitting it. The LYS replaced it with another ball.
Ah… thinking about it, no.
I do have some regrettable big box-ish ribbon yarn which looks very artistic in the skein and is horribly itchy when knit up, which I would return…if I hadn’t happened to knit it all up already.
Back in the days when I was still crocheting acrylic blankets, I found The Most Beautiful dark red (no brand names). I just looked and admired for a couple of days, then I started the project. I returned it posthaste — it truly felt like I was stitching with cardboard, and I hated it. That was the project that turned me into a natural fiber snob, and I’ve never looked back.
My guess as to why the green was stinky and the blue was not. I’m guessing they may have cleaned the dye machinery with diesel (or some other diesel-y smelling chemical) when changing colors and may have contaminated the green dye solution. I wonder if the green smells in all the shops or if you were just lucky to get one of the early contaminated batches at your shop, and the green is actually wooly smelling at some other shop, and the blue is stinky there.
Too bad, because green is the perfect color for everything. However, the blue you got is the next best thing!
I haven’t returned yarn yet (or exchanged it). But I do almost everything but roll around in it when I look at it in a shop (and get a few odd looks while I’m at it). On the other hand, I do buy some yarns online, and if it came smell of diesel, I’d do an exchange as well! 🙂
I think you picked a lovely replacement color. This has been optimal knitting weather here for the last couple of days. I’m looking forward to this weekend, when I’ll pick up my green sweater to be and the large needles to go with it. Maybe I’ll blog about my project infidelity 😀
hmmm… a warehouse accident, I like that theory too…
No, I have never returned yarn. Am also glad to know I’m not the only one who reads this while at work!! In 90 degree F and humid South Florida.
You had me a Navy Blue. Please keep us posted.
Return yarn? Whatever for – I can always find a better use for it than the yarn shop.
Eventually.
Love the dark blue! Blue is always right–goes with everything, too. And, nope, I’ve never returned yarn yet either. I love when I finish a project with just enough left over to save for potential mending (and enough so I don’t feel horrible anxiety during the last leg of the project), but not enough to qualify as stash.
Once. I returned yarn once and still don’t feel right about it. I think it brings bad yarn karma. Once you offer yarn a home, it belongs to you and you have a responsibility towards it. I agree that yours was an exchange.
NEVER! 🙂
Just a thought on the yarn… Perhaps, in the mill, some diesel was spilled prior to the packing? Or the spinner in the mill is powered by diesel and exploded? Or, worse yet, the day they were spinning the green yarn there was an exhaust issue?
Never. Not even the “novelty” monstrosities I bought as a new knitter. I did donate some yarn to charity though, but that’s not returning it.
Oh, I miss autumn! It’s still a glaringly bright, absurdly muggy 90(F) plus here. If I’m lucky, it’ll be down into the 70s by Halloween.
Smell is our most primitive, early sense of the five we ordinarily recognize, so of course it is very important in our physical world.
My plumbing froze last December when I was out of town and we had an unusual PNW hard freeze. A couple of days after returning I needed laundry done and I had a lunch date at a friend”s. She said, “Bring your laundry and do it here while we have lunch.” I forgot to take my own laundry soap. Big mistake.
I was ever so grateful that she washed my clothes but she uses a popular, highly perfumed variety. I could not wear a single piece next to my skin because 3 minutes after I put one on I could taste the soap. I had to rewash everything, twice, before I could wear them again.
Good choice not to taste diesel . . . but it IS a lovely color.
Without going into too much detail, when a lover’s or husband’s smell is no longer luscious, it’s time for a change.
I have never returned yarn. There are times I should. Times I even didn’t like the yarn and still not had the heart to return it because “I will use it someday!” Though I am moving soon and might go through and get rid of the worst, scratchiest, ugliest acrylic yarn. 🙂 Smaller apartment.
I’ve definitely never returned yarn! I’ve given loads of it away – but that has nothing to do with yarn quality or loveliness and everything to do with the fact that I’m a huge enabler.
I doubt I have ever knitted a sweater within three months (well maybe a 1980’s, two-at-a-time mohair creation that knit-up super fast), I have never returned yarn, and I still have 3 small balls of bulky yarn from the 1980’s when I knit DH a jersey.) I need your ‘Knitting for Speed and Efficiency’ Class.
I am not sure that you will be wearing the blue though, it maybe gifted on. Delightful, but somehow not you.
Interesting comment about cleaning the machinery and the diesel smell coming from that – it wasn’t something I had thought of.
If I had spent $$ on yarn that smell like diesel fuel or cigarettes or poop, I would return it. Otherwise, it’s mine.
I must say, I have never returned or exchanged yarn. I have heard of people doing it…I’ve just never done it myself. It almost seems like sacrilege to return yarn.
However, I would probably do something similar if I were in your situation.
No.
I wish it were already raining here. I’m tired of baseball practice (fall ball league) and I’d like a night off.
Nope – have never returned yarn – or exchanged! But I did take back some needles one time that I wasn’t happy with.
Must have been something in the dye that smelled so bad, but the blue is lovely – despite not being green.
I have never returned yarn, even it turns out to have been the wrong yarn for a project. I figure I can use it for something else someday. Hmmmm… maybe that is why my stash is growing so fast!
Hummmm, I know what the word “returned” means and what the word “yarn” means but for the life of me they make no sense together. 🙂 (i.e., nope, never returned yarn; exchanged yes.)
repurpose, pass-on, recycle, reuse, yes. Return? not yet.
Gaah! I am just ACHING to join you on that chesterfield, knitting and cuppa in hand, or maybe just for a nap.
Alas – I’m at the office. Grrr.
Yes – I’ve returned yarn. Seldom, but yes.
In a metaphorical sense: I bought every blue skein in stock at my LYS of a particular yarn for a shawl aimed for publication, and on the last skein–there was nothing to exchange it for–there were five big knots in 150 yards (after one to three in all but one of the previous skeins). That, I’m sorry, is a little too cottage-industry for me.
Being nearly done with the thing, I used it anyway and I finished it, but I reknit that shawl with their nearest competitor’s similar yarn instead and will give Malabrigo the publicity they deserve for their higher quality. The original shawl, I’ll simply give away.
Even when I have enough yarn for a sweater and can return the extra skeins (yes, I bought extra, doesn’t everybody?), I’ve never bothered. What if I want to make a cute hat to go with the cardigan that is heavy enough for the early fall chillies? Or maybe it is a beautiful yarn that has been discontinued. Can’t let that get away!
I’ve never returned yarn to the store. I’ve given yarn that I know I’m not in love with anymore to other knitters, though. They usually insist on giving me some of their no-longer-loved yarn in exchange, so in terms of stash size it’s no difference.
No, have never returned yarn, heaven forbid. I did return some yarn that was a gift though, but it was an exchange for yarn I liked better. I like the blue you got even better than the green, and I usually choose green over blue. that blue really is gorgeous.
Return YARN?! No way! Once I’ve got yarn you’d have to pry it out of my hands with a crowbar! LOL!
It’s a lovely blue! I don’t return yarn; I cherish the sad delusion that I am able to knit faster than I can shop………
Hmmmmm…I have never returned yarn and it never occurred to me to return it. However, I am a big returner. It is my indecisive nature – there is always a bag in the car of something to return. Yarn will never make it into that bag!
No, but then I’ve never needed to. I’ve never actually bought BAD yarn before. Of course, after I’ve been knitting as long as you have, I’m sure I might!
Nope – it’s against the law – I’m quite sure the paddy wagon should show up and take me away. So, I find a way to use it or give it to someone. However, in your case, I would have done the exact same thing. I mean you can’t go around wearing a jumper that smells like diesel fuel. You’d make yourself and everyone else ill for sure. I like the blue, but you’re right the green is lovely. Enjoy!
I’ve been tempted to return yarn leftover from a project but have always talked myself out of it and found a good use for the yarn instead.
I’m so glad it worked out for you! The people at Lettuce Knit are delightful. We stopped by there on a recent trip to Toronto.
We checked the Yarnmarket inventory of Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed just to be sure we didn’t have the same issue. We thought that one batch smelled a bit like the plastic bag it was in (we were being meticulous) so we set it out in the air overnight and it was perfect when we smelled it again the next morning.
It was suggested to us that Febreze works well to eliminate the odors from yarn, though we haven’t tried it ourselves. Apparently, a shot of Febreze and in 20 minutes any odor is removed.
I hope this is an isolated incident. I know that the yarn in the US comes from a different distributor so perhaps if there is an issue it’s confined to a few skeins in the Great White North.
Isn’t there a law in the knitters code that governs agains the return of yarn? 🙂
Never returned any but I’ve given some the old heave-ho in the Goodwill box. It was acrylic, I was young, I was inexperienced, I was impulsive.
I really don’t want to talk about it.
Before I took up knitting, hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows fulfilled many of my cozy needs. Knitting is cozy, but I can still work while drinking hot chocolate, and not working isn’t always an option.
I have not returned yarn, just found a way to make it work for something else. (Charity knits have gotten some really nice yarn that way!) But I’m fairly new to knitting, so there haven’t been many opportunities so far.
Not for money, no. For exchange on other yarn, rarely. When yarn comes into my house, it usually stays..and stays…and stays. (Some of it actually gets knit.)
It’s a shame to lose that beautiful green (green is my most favourite colour!) but the blue is also very lovely.
We never really had a summer here in England aside from a couple of warm days so it stayed solid knitting weather throughout and I even wore woollen socks in August!
Never returned yarn, but I have returned tea.
Re. the wool socks — FINALLY! We’ve been wearing wool socks for the past couple of weeks up here.
Re. the wool — you got a bad dye lot, one which smells bad. I can actually understand how some colours smell and some don’t.
Re. the returning of wool — That’s possible?!?! Really?
No and proud of it I am. I have sold or given yarn away though does that count.
I did return yarn once. When I first started knitting, I didn’t know any knitters, so I had to figure out stuff for myself. My first project was a sweater, and the pattern called for cotton, and I wanted to use wool, so I just substituted the same amount based on weight. I knit the sweater and only used up about half the yarn. I didn’t really want another entire sweater of the same yarn, and I was poor so I needed every penny. Back to the store it went.
It’s pretty dismal here too. I took a nap this afternoon and woke up with the rain coming through the window onto my face.
I don’t think I have ever returned or exchanged yarn.. and I’ve got a closet to prove it.
Returned yarn? Yep – once – when the very young lady (11 or 12?) assisting in the out-of-town LYS accidentally didn’t charge me for an extra skein I didn’t need. So technically, it was NOT a return (as in for a refund), but returning something that wasn’t actually mine to start with. 🙂
By the way, the lady behind the counter the day I was back in that town was STUNNED that someone would bring back something they’d been “given” by mistake. Isn’t that a sad commentary on her general perception of knitters’ honesty??!!
I did return yarn once, when I discovered I loathe knitting with cotton. And tried to return some once, to an online store that shall remain nameless, but they refused to respond to my several emails; and didn’t post a telephone number. Too bad for them; they lost a good customer.
Nope. Never returned yarn. I have, however, sold yarn in my stash. Mostly to people on Ravelry who needed it to finish a project. I don’t have much of a stash. (Anyone, of course, is welcome to remedy that!)
As for the cool weather…Send some south! It was 95 degrees F today. But tonight is knit night, and knit we will do!
Oh, and may I say I think I may like the blue even better than the beautiful if smelly green wool.
Nope, never returned yarn. The only thing I can ever remember returning was a pair of secateurs. I had bought a replacement for a pair I had lost, and found the missing pair as soon as I got home from the nursery. Since they were plenty expensive, and I can’t possibly use more than one, I returned the new one.
I told my husband that you had complained about the weather this morning. On a whim, he looked up Toronto on Google Maps, and then typed in Dismal Nitch, which is the name of a lovely spot on the Washington side of the mouth of the Columbia River. Google Maps suggested Queen’s Park as a dismal nitch in Toronto. (The one in Washington was so named because Lewis and Clark were stuck there in a storm for almost two weeks, and they didn’t care for camping in the rain.)
That’s a nice shade of blue. Enjoy the new sweater you’ll have in a few days.
Never. I’ve exchanged some, having purchased two skeins of almost-but-not-quite-the-same-color, for the exact same stuff. I don’t ever see my self doing it either.
Good choice on the blue. Still…I really liked that green.
I find it a cruel twist of fate that when the weather is putting me in the mood to whip up something cozy for me (scarf, fingerless gloves, socks), it is suddenly time to really get focused on my Christmas knitting.
Exchange yarn, yes, I got home and found a band of glue on one end. Return yarn, nope, can’t even imagine it. Once had someone ask me to return yarn for them…I kept the yarn and gave them the money they would have got from the return.
Georgia, you asked about a project using only one skein of a couple yarns… I like to knit scarves with them, but use circulars, cast on somewhere around 100 stitches, knit the length of the scarf, and switch yarns every row or every two rows. Gives a delightful stripped scarf and if you use different textures of yarn it makes it all that more fun. Plus if you leave the ends long enough, the fringe is done already.
I have exchanged yarn – once. I had a luscious merino/silk mix that I just loved – but once I began knitting with it, it pilled and pilled – became unacceptable to me. I showed the shop owner who had knit something in a different shade and that had not happened to her. She contacted the yarn company and let me get something else. So sad because I LOVED that yarn. But it got returned to the company – they wanted to see what was wrong.
I’ve never returned yarn. I have to wonder if the smell from the green yarn had something to do with they dye that was used? That’s the only thing I can think of…
I like the green better but glad you had options. Wonder what the company is doing when they get all this diesel yarn coming back to them.
I have never returned yarn, but I have sold some on Ebay… and then bought more yarn with the money.
Never! I’ve never sold any yarn from my stash either. I’ve traded, I’ve gifted, but nary a return or a sale.
– Denise (dlotter on ravelry/twitter)
That weather sounds lovely… I live in Las Vegas (just moved here from Michigan in March) and it is still a cruel 100-something degrees out.
Never have returned yarn. Too much of a weenie.
Exchanged some acrylic yarn purchased because item was requested to be made out of an acrylic yarn brand not available in my area and it didn’t work. Was told I could bring back yarn(2) purchased for a project I ended up short of yarn(1) no longer available on. (yarn(2) didn’t look quite right so it was used for another project–bought different yarn(3) to finish and more to go with yarn(2).
Mills do NOT use products for cleaning or lubricating that will cause yarn to smell. Same with dyes although U.S. has very lax laws about chemical use in yarns/fabric/clothing. Yarn occasionally can be damaged by processing but is sold as damaged. Would be “spilled” petroleum in a warehouse that yarn was stored in, or spilled in a shipping container–the kind that are the size of a semi trailer–and it was shipped and stored in the container.
Debbie Bliss? I have talked to several knitters who love her patterns but have a lot of problems with them.
I don’t know it’s really possible to return yarn. You walk into the store and some other yarn catches your eye, and POOF! you exchange it rather than return it. This is something that keeps nature balanced (isn’t it Newton’s 27th Law or something?), and terrible things come about if someone actually returns yarn (though if you return to the yarn store and buy an equivalent amount of yarn within a certain time period, this effect is negated). So never return yarn – exchange it, by all means, but don’t return it!:-)
I think the blue is even lovelier than the green, though I don’t know that I’d call it Navy Blue.
Echoing some of the other comments, it might not only be unethical for a capital-Knitter to return yarn, it might be illegal in some jurisdictions! LOL
When I worked in a yarn store, the lowercase-knitters returned a lot of yarn. They even tried to return balls or skeins from which they’d used a significant amount (like, you could feel the whole center of the ball was gone) and tried to return needles so used that the print would be worn off, and the tips of the bamboo needles stained with the dye of the same yarn they were trying to return. Fad knitters.
On the 3month comment left by another Knitter, the date rule was likely because the store wanted to be sure that they could later sell the yarn – and if you take more than 3months (or whatever their time line states) it’s because they have figured out that is how quickly stock turns over in their store, and they don’t want to get stuck with 3 balls that is not in project quantity and the same dye lot as their other stock (for the next customer).
I can’t think of an occasion when I’ve returned, which is why my stash takes a public storage unit!
Many years ago I knit three or four extremely difficult aran afghans (clear across, not in strips). No problem. Just a couple of years ago, dear friends of mine married each other and said “No Gifts,” but I wanted to knit them the same afghan. Twelve balls of worsted. But I just couldn’t get past the first row of the pattern AND the yarn was splitty. The LYS owner knows me well, so, yes, I returned eleven balls. But I’ve more than made up for it in recent purchases, as my seven grandchildren keep providing me with more and more greats! (Love ’em!)
Abby
Oh dear, now that I come to think of it, I don’t even think I’ve ever managed an exchange. I’d like to think this is because I only buy the amount of yarn I need but the sweater bags under the couch full of single balls tells a different tale.
If I’ve still got tiny bits of angora and mohair my mother gave me that MIGHT someday make a finger puppet, I can safely say I’ve never returned yarn.
Nope. Never have.
:o)
I picked up my commemorative copy of Knitters Almanac today and just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your intro. Well said, well written. Thank you!
Yes – but it was Red Heart!
NEVER!!
Thanks for using the word “chesterfield.” It made me smile cuz I’ve always had a “couch.” “Chesterfield” sounds way more cozy and tea/tomato sauce/wool socks/knitting/ contemplating compatible than “couch.” That’s why you’re the writer and I’m the reader.
I have, just in the past month: a sweaters worth of soft acrylic that was meant for a sweater for my little guy (I figured out that with his eczema, it was a bad idea to knit him an acrylic sweater), a skein of Kureyon sock (I can’t knit with wool), and something else that I obviously didn’t love since I can’t remember what it is. My home is too small to keep around yarn I can’t use or don’t love. I also donate a lot of my leftovers and unloved yarn to a friend who does charity knitting.
I have not returned yarn.
I have an elderly neighbor with limited income and a wicked crochet habit, so if I have something on hand that I no longer want, I run it across the lawn to her.
I think hot chocolate is even cozier than tea. But that’s just me.
That dark blue is SO pretty! If I had some money, I’d track some down right away and get it!
My answer is a quote from you:
“Yarn good. Me keep yarn.”
;o)
You know, you knit alot of green. Maybe the knitting fates were telling you to change it up and pushing you to the blue?
Good for you! The blue looks lovely. Sometimes you just got to do what you’ve got to do.
No. Not even the horrible acrylic I bought before I knew better. Not that any store would want it back, but then no self-respecting store would sell it. (N.B. Not all acrylic is horrible.)
return yarn? never!
I haven’t read all the comments, but I think that one conclusion can be drawn: sniff all yarn before it leaves the store!
Green is best but the blue is a lovely blue.
I’ve never returned yarn, ever. I seem to be incapable of throwing any away either. I’ve given it away rarely. Once it’s mine, it’s mine until it becomes a finished object. The whole spontaneous combustion burning bale thing in the warehouse scares me. I’ll be sniffing around and poking at my stash closet every time the neighbor lights up his barbecue now sure that the interior of my stash is smoldering. Must knit faster!
I’d be willing to bet that particular batch had an accident. All their green yarn can’t possibly be stinky — at least not as stinky as you describe.
I have taken back extra skeins on a few occasions, but it was yarn that was a PITA to work with that I had no desire to work with again. I normally keep the leftovers and have so much yarn that my father gave me an article about hoarders last week. (This from the man who owns two boats and three freestanding toolboxes.)
oh sure, I’ve returned yarn. Only to somehow walk out of the store with much, much more….. 🙂
Nope – never returned yarn and I’ve still got the Fun Fur to prove it 🙂
exchanged but not returned. Some of it I wish i had retuned because I need the money, but…well, there it is, waiting for me.
bjr
I’ve returned yarn… for store credit. That’s more a long term exchange. Oh, I think I have returned some red heart to Walmart/Leewards/Michaels when I was done with a project. I bet partner would be surprised to hear such a thing had happened.
p.s. the weather sounds lovely. I’m quite jealous.
I have returned yarn. But it was in my crocheting infancy, long before I taught myself to knit.
It was terrible stuff, some sort of novelty that would frequently split and then the splits would split. I felt justified.
I have HELPED someone else who wanted to return some yarn. They had ordered Malabrigo online, and the color that came wasn’t the color the label said it was. LOL…in the long run, I think she never did follow through with the return….so, nope, I’m good, too!
We had that kind of day here too. I woke up to my alarm and thought that it was set for the wrong time because it was so dim! I knit a few rows of a baby blanket, then decided to re-organize my sewing area so that I can get some projects out of the way this weekend.
That gray rainy weather is here in Portland, too. That would probably make you feel right at home. But it’s not going to be that way for Sock Summit, just for your planning trips!
I return yarn, sometimes. I don’t stash, so if it’s not what I need for the current project, I return it. And exchange it for what I do need for that current project! Does that count as not returning, too?
I wanted to finally tell you that I really appreciate your blog. It is a constant source of entertainment and advise that I really love! I am recently 18 years old and in my last year of high school and your blog helps me to keep my wandering attention on knitting which I love (I am currently working on an approximately 4 foot by 5 foot blanket I don’t really know how big it will be). Thank u for being an inspiration and I look forward to every post u make! 😀
-Celine in Oregon
I’ve never returned but I have exchanged on rare occasions. It all eventually gets knitted up.
dont you just love technicalities?
Oh I also wanted to say that I love the blue and have never return yarn…I’m too attached to it c;
You can RETURN YARN!!!! Wow, never knew that and now that I do, I can honestly answer your question. No I have never returned yarn. Not returning yarn is a good thing.. Yes?
Yes, I’ve returned Malibriggo silky wool when I had knitted enough of a beautiful shawl, in a golden, hand-dyed varianced wool. At $11 a pop, I was OK w/ that.
Nice exchange, tho.
Just the other night, I was at a knitting class. We were chatting, and I observed that I always buy an extra skein for my projects, and the yarn shop owner never winds that skein, so that I can bring it back if it turns out I don’t need it. I have never ever returned those unwound, unused skeins – they just sit in my stash, waiting for the right project…
Nope. The very thought appears to be giving me hives…
The smell probably comes from whatever they use to set the dye color. that is why some colors don’t smell and others do. So sad though that you fell in love with the color and now you are doing it all over again.
You did a very good thing to return/exchange yarn that was simply unusable by anyone. Very bad karma (or bad juju as they’re saying now) to have it taking up space plus the flickers of resentment that would no doubt hover around you if you threw money out by just tossing out the yarn, would also produce bad karma (although not as bad as holding on to it). So now you can go forward with renewed creativity and really own that “Joli.”
Please don’t hold it against me, but the only time I ever truly enjoy a hot cup of tea is when I’m watching British detective shows on public television on a cold rainy night. Then it’s as cozy as all get out.
Yep. I returned the dozen-and-a-half or so Red Heart Super Saver (super scratchy eww, too) skeins to the big box store. They were from an aunt who did not live nearby, and returning that pile of “yarn” was one of my very best decisions.
Never, not once. Been knitting more than 40 years now. But if I ended up with diesel-stinky yarn, back it would go.
I’ve never returned yarn, but I once had a customer come into my yarn shop and ask if she could return yarn that she had purchased somewhere else. True.
I too have only exchanged yarn. Your day sounded wonderful. too warm here for such coziness yet.
no, but I have a friend who keeps giving my yarn I’m not going to use. What do I do? pass it on.
Hmmm, in that regard yarn is a like a book – I would really have to not want it, not like it, to return it. Even extra yarn somehow seems my responsiblity to find its destiny. I am thrilled that knitterly weather is coming back, please send the rain over here.
I returned extra balls of *gasp* acrylic from knitting kids’ hats for gifts last December. I think that was the first time ever.
I have considered returning Debbie Bliss yarn before – if it has more than two knots in it then apparently it fails the quality control requirements and you are entitled to a replacement. In the end I think I just put up with the knots.
PS Jolie is very jolie. There are so many things from that book I want to knit.
Three movies for a 16 year old. One would be Pride and Prejudice, the A & E version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. A second would be Sense and Sensibility. Yeah, I like Jane Austin and her happy endings. Can’t think of a third, but those two are long enough to count as 3 or 4.
Only one: Reynolds Garden Tweed. I had been enamored of it in my LYS for months, and when I got a gift certificate, I bought 4 skeins of it. Oh, how it twinkled and shimmered in the skein! I wound two of them into a cake… and hells bells, everything I knit wound up looking like a washcloth. Didn’t matter the stitch or the size of needle I used: washcloth. So I made a washcloth out of 1 skein, returned two, and the fourth one is sitting in the back of my stash. I think I’m hoping it will morph into … anything else, really. (Movies for a 16-year-old – how about Rocky Horror? Wait; don’t listen to me – I’ve never had kids.)
I never in my life returned any inch of yarn. Buying yarn is like adopting a child for me. Even if I sometimes wish I could return my kids, I never had such a thought about my yarns. Some are clever, some are lazy, some like me, some don’t, but they’re all mine. I know I can cope with everyone of them. It might take some time but it will happen. Why should I return them???
😉
Dear Stephanie
Your description of cozing up with tea and knitting on a grey winters day reminds of my old aunt talking about being a young mother in the 2nd WW. Her husband was away training soldiers in Ireland and she had a small house and a toddler. She said on winters evenings, when the baby was in bed, she adored curling up on the sofa with a pot of tea, the dog tucked in behind her knees, a good play on the radio and her knitting! Why do we women love this? xxx
Nope, never.
I even have a hard time letting go of yarn that I don’t even LIKE (usually gifted to me by non-knitters cleaning out their mom’s attic). That’s sick, isn’t it.
Any yarn I do purchase myself is carefully considered, researched online and then handled and fondled (and yes, smelled) before I eventually buy it. So there are hardly any regrets there.
Weather: same here (Netherlands)
Tea & chesterfield: would love! But sadly stuck in the office until 5. Lucky you!
Three movies for a 16-year-old girl:
The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down a Mountain
Enchanted April
Much Ado About Nothing (1993 verson)
This is assuming the 16-year-old in question is a hopeless romantic and has a box of tissues handy. (From a 46-year-old hopeless romantic)
Are you kidding? The one time I tried it, I couldn’t even bring myself to exchange the yarn!
I didn’t have enough of one dye lot, so I intended on bringing in the yarn I had, and exchange it for the new yarn, buying the extras I needed.
I ended up coming home with ALL of the yarn, figuring I’d use the not-enough-of-it dye lot on something eventually!
I decided that perhaps using the term “bad juju” was a little overstating it. Violating the principles of feng shui (which is about encouragng the flow of good energy) might have been a better term. Anyway, I’m glad you got rid of it.
I never returned yarn, but recently have switched to all-natural yarn and sent the majority of my acrylic to a local knit group (that I am part of) to be used for charity work. Good Job, Steph! LOVE the Blue!
Not only have I returned yarn…. I’ve even GIVEN yarn away 🙂
I’m a chemist. I don’t know what they used for the the dye, but there is no reason at all why they wouldn’t smell different.
What I can’t believe is that no one detected this problem before you. Unless everyone in their plant and their QC department are men.
Ever heard the one about the secretaries (that’s what they were called then) who complained about the high-pitched whine coming from their new-fangled PCs? The men had no high frequency hearing left, and couldn’t hear it. I had the same thing happen with a TV at my in-laws. I couldn’t stay in the room with it on a visit. Within the following week the power supply in it went dead.
When I first started knitting (again), the kind yarn shop that was leading me into this tempting world allowed me to return some chenille yarn that was giving me the fits. I think I cast on seven times for a rolled brim hat, dropped a stitch before round three each time, and threw my needles across the room more than once. They were so kind. Since I’ve spent at least 100X what that chenille yarn cost, I think they are still ahead of the game!
:O)
Nope. Never returned yarn. I’ve donated it. Gifted it to friends. Swapped it. But I’ve never returned yarn. Not even to exchange it. I don’t think it’s humanly possible!
I never really thought about it until now, and the answer is NO!, I have never returned yarn.
I know that I get emotionally attached to my yarn, so it would be like giving your children back. Well, maybe not to that extreme, but I do have a hard time parting with my yarn…so I have a cedar chest, closet and wardrobe filled with “my babies”.
Wow, we had an amazingly parallel day yesterday! I am 2 1/2 hours east of you, and we had the same weather. The big difference is that I put my 3 3/4 yo on the school with her sister for her first real day at JK. It was my first day kidless in a very long time! I did some paperwork, cleaned a bit of house, put on a big pot of spaghetti suace, made a pot of tea and sat down to knit. Except I didn’t exactly get knitting other than a few rows on a scarf because I was looking at patterns – lovely cardi I made my little one for school is still way too big.
And then the bus came back at 3:00. Much too short a day.
No, never, even though I haven’t been happy with a color. There is always someone out there who would like it as a gift or a gift made out of it!
*hangs head in shame and mumbles* Yes, I have returned yarn. In fact, I returned yarn just the other day – it was malabrigo.
Nope, never returned yarn (or fabric, or art supplies, or any fibre-related item).
Reminds me of the infamous clever-housekeeping tip, to freeze leftover wine into ice cubes for later use in stews, sauces, soups etc.
Leftover wine? Returning yarn?
Steph,
After reading prior posts about your penchant for green, I must congratulate you for venturing out into the blue spectrum! The yarn looks lovely and I hope you have hours of fun working with it. Wish I could join you for a cuppa…
Yes, I’ve returned yarn. It was when I was more of a beginner than I am now (at age 57, having picked up knitting this year for the first time since I was young, I’m STILL a beginner).
Silly, but I don’t know if my return counts.
It wasn’t wool, it was acrylic.
It wasn’t from a yarn shop, it was from a chain craft and hobby store.
Somehow, that return just doesn’t seem the same. Yes? No?
I love the yarn but I am a blue person, never returned yarn ever, but never had purchased stinky yarn either.
Nothing is better than a rainy or stormy fall/winter day to knit with a pot of tea . . . true bliss!
When I was young, my mom would complain to my dad about the scrap lumber piling up after each project. He said, “I might need it”. I take the same view with yarn. Nothing ever goes back. Some of my best designs are made with leftovers. Dad on the other hand, never did anything with the scrap lumber and my sister and I would have to schlep it from the outside storage area to the cellar when winter was approaching, then back out in the spring. My sister and I used more of the lumber than he did. Birdhouses, sawhorse teeter totters, etc. Excuse the ramble, I haven’t thought about that in years!
I have returned yarn once. I misguidedly bought a varigated yarn for a cable patterned bulky knit cardigan. I knitted a swatch up and couldn’t see the cables for the yarn. I know I could have made something else with it but I was cleaning my sewing room at the time and felt just a little guilty about another bag of un-knit stuff. I did keep the skein that I had used for the swatch to make a pair of mittens for those northern ontario winters. Just like Toronto winters only colder.
Oh, that sweater never stops needling me. I promised myself a gorgeous fancy Alice Starmore gansey if I lost a lot of weight (the pattern only came in one size!). At the time I wasn’t doing socks and so had no idea about washable wool in super fine gauges. I bought some man-made stuff I thought was small enough but couldn’t get anything near gauge so I had to return it. Of course I had to keep the skein I’d used for gauging.
When I found something suitable at Webs at one of their tent sales it was a flesh color and I had to dye it. Came out great, the sweater was perfection, I entered it at our local autumn fair and they trashed it! They said it was MACHINE MADE!! I don’t know, maybe the judge had never seen steeks? The humiliation of having my name showing on the ticket was horrific.
On top of that, I found out the hard way that dropped shoulders look like hell on me.
What a memory you simple question brought up.
God no. It can always be used for something.
I have never returned wool – or even exchanged it for that matter. Once wool is in my possession, it is mine forever!!!
Okay, I have overdyed wool before because I hated the color. Does that count against me?
Your day sound wonderful! I have returned yarn and I so morned over it. It was a Rowan and I love the touch and color but I swear every other row the yarn would just desolved. Not being experienced enough knit I just didn’t think I could deal with it. So I returned it with great regret. Didn’t find anything to replace it so that piece waits to be done another day, when I find the right yarn.
What is your favorite tea for those times. I live in OK and it so hot here that I drink tons of ice tea but always want to hear of a great tea for the cooler time of year. If it would only hurry to get here. PattiO
Since this was the exact thought in my head I’m going to quote
Try again since I’m computer illiterate today
Since this was the exact thought in my head I’m going to quote Lestersmama
“You can RETURN yarn?”
Smiles all.
Can’t remember ever returning yarn – If I don’t have a use for it, someone does! I give alot of stuff to my sister who is a home-ec teacher and alot of her students knit or crochet so whenever my stash needs culling – off to school it goes! no need to return a thing!
Where do beer and wine rank on the coziness continuum? And is there a different ranking for white vs. red wine?
I like the blue better. Don’t you already have several pretty green sweaters? I feel blue!
I can’t recall ever returning yarn, or even exchanging any. Then again, if I came home with a stinky yarn like the one you had, I’d probably do the same thing. But gosh, I wish you’d have been able to find some more of that green.
A long long time ago, I was spending the year in Europe and had bought some wool to make a sweater. Well, after about a week, I noticed that there were at least three different color lots in the plastic bag the wool came in!!! The difference was too subtle to see in the bag, but when knit, it just jumped up at me and everybody else who saw it. I took my knitting and the yarn back to the store and the salesladies were so mortified about it that they gave me my money back plus a new (inspected and approved) bag of wool yarn!!! Happy days!
I’m with you re your sentiments on the season; all summer as I added to my stash, I had visions of long, cold, dark winter evenings when I’d be so happy to have some yarn to use… as if there would be none available when I needed it.
I have never returned yarn, and I imagine only doing so if it had a powerful odor like your green yarn.
Of course you slightly mourn the green, I’m with you there!
The smell could have something to do with an insecticide being sprayed on the storage containers when it went through customs. That was the explanation I got when I bought a sweater that smelled that way that was made in another country.
The photo of the chesterfield is cosy in itself, all empty and just waiting for tea and a bit of a knit! After I finished marveling at how neat and pretty it is, I feel inspired to fix the living room up now (it’s only been 10 months lol!). Thank you!
So glad your smelly situation has been resolved. I know that you are a true Mother Earth, drawn to your earthy greens and browns and rusts but I adore that blue! Blue has always been my color. Can’t wait to see your progress. Hopefully your false start won’t diminish your obvious joy for this project!
The first day of Knitterseason is always worth celebrating!
I have never returned yarn. I use up the extras. My grandmother would always buy extra yarn for the sweaters she would knit for others – just in case she didn’t get enough. (I do have a white sweater from her with part of one sleeve knit with a different dye lot…) If she had a full unused skein left she would return it. At the time of her life (1894-1983) it was a natural course of events that you bought extra yarn and you would always be able to return unused skeins. I have never even tried to return or exchange yarn.
I have never returned yarn, perhaps because of my LYS 30 day limit on returns for store credit. Actually, that’s my office’s LYS. The LYS near my home allows no returns or exchanges at all.
i may have, at some time, fallen out of love with or just plain given up on some kind of yarn or other… but actually returning it in exchange for cash, hmmm… gotta say “no” on that one!
and as for the rainy day-sauce-bubbling-knitting-day… it may be all fine, cosy and romantic in theory. however, for some of us heavy precipitation only signals the one thing that turns even the most bravehearted optimists in my profession into quivering masses ….INDOOR..RECESSSSSS… AAAAARRRGHHHHH
Never return and always buy one extra skein. You never know!
Earlier this year, I took some yarn back but I exchanged it for fewer skeins of a different color and credit for the difference. A couple months later, the LYS had a sale so I used my credit and the discount to buy a swift and a ball-winder. So I guess I have returned yarn.
I would like to return the yarn I’m currently using to knit my sister an afghan. It’s awful – scratchy and ugly. She picked it out but I am so tempted to tell her that I can’t knit this stuff. It’s like knitting with steel wool. Ugh.
I must confess I used to return yarn, but now can’t part with it – ever, whatever the amount. I figure there is always a use for it, now matter how little is left.
I never have but wish I would have. I always go into a yarn shop and feel intimidated by how little i know about different fibers and how they react when knit. i have used a lot of acrylic as it is easy to get my hands on and I’ve moved on to cottons. that being said i explained the project and what i needed it for an came out with a lot of what i didn’t want, didn’t really like and tried to knit it.. and hated it. i’ve never been back to that shop. luckily i have 3 in the area.
Nope, I never have!
And no sympathy on the weather, sorry (not that you were asking for any!).
IT SNOWED HERE YESTERDAY. I kid you not.
Yes! Tea *is* cozier than coffee. And Earl Grey tea is even cozier than plain black tea. Why is that?
What is it about cooler weather and knitting? I’m a bad knitter. I couldn’t knit during the near constant 95-98 deg heat of the last 4 months. But last week it hit 50. Off to the yarn store, project underway. Whew.
I like the blue better than the green, actually. Fits better with the weather.
Return yarn? Probably. But obviously not enough judging by all the acrylic in my stash, acquired in my younger misguided years.
I’m glad you returned/exchanged the stinky yarn.
Yarn is NEVER returned – it is used, stashed or given away.
Love the new color and good because we all get stuck in a color rut – you even noticed yourself that you have been on a green binge. Maybe this is the thing you need to break out to a new colorway.
I’ve only returned an extra skein a few times. I tend to buy one extra to be on the safe side.
It is more fun to leave a surplus skein on the ‘free’ bench inside our library. People leave magazines, etc. there. The yarn is always gone when I walk out with my books. It is nice to think I’ve given a fellow knitter the fun of finding a free skein.
I’ve returned yarn a few times that I’ve bought on line and the actual colour was not as shown on my screen. Paying for the return shipping makes it not always worthwhile though.
Never. There has always been a use.
As much as I love my coffee, and as much as it is a MUST in the morning, I agree that tea is the perfect go-to comfort drink for a drizzly, grey day such as today! Return-free for me too so far!
Regarding the kerosene odor, I had the same problem with a sweater I made for my son a year ago. It smells like pure kerosene when wet but one dry it’s fine (it’s a superwash yarn btw)…and, no, can’t say I’ve ever returned yarn, but more out of carelessness. I always loose receipts.
I had to go to Sears to have the tires on my vehicle replaced yesterday. I sat in the waiting room, knitting (of course) and this little old man came in and said “Do you mind if I turn on the TV?” I said “No, not at all” and he said “are you sure it won’t bother your crochet there? He was so cute, I didn’t have the heart to correct him, I just replied “No, it won’t bother me at all!”. So, we sat, watching Law and Order SVU while I continued crocheting, I mean… knitting… on my cowl…
My record is also perfect after 40+ years of knitting. I’ve exchanged, but not returned. There should be some kind of award.
I have never returned any yarn, but also, I haven’t bought that much already… I think it would have been ok if you just had returned it (obviously it was not a caprice), but I’m not surprised you came back with the same yarn since you did all you could to save it! Have fun knitting it without smelling it all the time 😉 The new color is beautiful really!
I don’t think I ever have returned yarn either. Love the new color as well! And your cosy afternoon just sounds dreamy! (A word I rarely find an occasion to use.)
Nope…yarn shop owners work too hard to make a living and bring joy to us. It’s the least I can do is keep the yarn, and help it find a new home with someone else. Churches are always looking for yarn, Ravelry has been a big help finding adoptive knitters and sometimes I just give it to the Salvation Army…someone is always happy at the end.
As soon as you said “dismal” I knew it was the perfect day for knitting. Perfect. No guilt about hanging out the washing outside, etc. I was thinking today as I travelled 2 1/2 hours knitting from my parents farm to my home “what do people do in cars that don’t knit. How boring?”
We’ll be having those kinds of days here soon – I’m sure about it. And knitting (or spinning) are the best possible activities for those days. For me, I still have a barn to finish painting, and if I’m going to get it done, I need just a few more days of warmth without rain. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
As for your knitting, I like the blue better. I know it’s not so much your color but it sure is mine! Happy knitting!
Still full on Summer here and it can last until November – sigh. People of Scandinavian/UK decent really don’t belong in the hot hot South. lol
Glad your record is still perfect =) Not easy to break such a prestigious long last run of yarny faithfulness.
Now that is a record to be sure. I have taken yarn back but come out with more than I took back. Taht blue is my kind of colour and I’m glad for you it doesn’t smell.
I bet that before the yarn was in the same shipment the stinky stuff got wet or damp and and became moldy.
I remember at JCPenney how a shipment of sweaters came in and were smelly, how a couch I ordered came in 2x’s smelling s bad I had to return them
Sorry to contact you this way! I could not find e-mail etc.. on the internet.
Need HELP with a very important knitting project!
Dearest Yarn Harlot (Stephanie),
I am a huge fan of your blog (and you!) and I have a knitting problem that I need your help with–if you are willing. I live in Madison, WI (you graced our city two years ago).
You see we have this sculpture:
http://twitpic.com/2yxq7
Perhaps you had a chance to enjoy it on your way to the Knitting Tree on Monroe Street. As you can see it is aptly described as a “Shaft of Footballs”. Anyway, being a good Madisonian, I am very worried about this sculpture becoming cold this winter and maybe limp. So, being the compassionate knitter that I am, I have decided that I really should knit a nice, warm pink cover for this sculpture. Now I knit every day, but this sculpture in need is 48 feet high and wow that is a LOT of knitting. So I am wondering if you would be willing to share my story and ask knitters to send me knitted (or crocheted–yes I know this is blasphemy!) squares that are pink. I am a quilter too, so I could use squares of any size, any yarn–wool or synthetic, as long as it is PINK–and I will sew them together into a nice warm cozy cover for the sculpture.
So let me know what you think. Some might call this yarn bombing or yarn graffiti– but I think of this as a way of showing knitterly love for the fair city of Madison, WI because folks sure love their football around here and everyone and in this case everything could use a hand knitted garment.
Thank you for your ongoing passion for all things knit.
Cheers,
Michele Hatchell
kmhatchell@sbcglobal.net
2002 Ardmore Drive
Madison, WI 53713
I have returned one hank of Misti Alpaca lace, long ago, because it appeared to have been gnawed by something. Fearing that said gnawing was insect in nature, specifically MOTH, the yarn went back to the store where we quarantined it and threw it away. My stash remained safe, as, remarkably, did my LYS. Our procedure worked.
Can’t say that I have. But, if it smelled like diesel fuel, it’d be back to the yarn shop in a heartbeat!
Knitting while drinking tea with homemade bread and butter while watching the snow fall. Now that’s heaven.
I wish it were knitting weather here in Kansas…we had 90 degree weather yesterday and humidity up the wazoo.
Oh, yeah, I’ve returned yarn for the very same reason you exchanged yarn. The box the shipment arrived in reeked of diesel/some-weird-petrochemical-gruel which cleared the knitting shop after folks complained of headaches.
Returned the yarn, shipment went back (in the same stinking box) and all was right with the world until I spied this little worsted number out of the corner of my eye…
I like the blue better, I think. Clearly it was meant to be. 🙂
I think you’ve hit on the sole justifiable reason to return yarn. I really hope that the diesel incident occurred somewhere in transit, because that wouldn’t say very good things about their quality control. I mean, how could someone not notice? I envy you your cool, dark day; I live in Tennessee and the temperature doesn’t know how to not be 96F. You feel so much more virtuous knitting when it’s cool outside.
Nope, never returned. Even if I discover I really, really don’t want it, I can find someone else who will like it and use it and be happy with it. But then again, I’ve never had a yarn that had a STINK problem! 🙂
Nope….
I’m with the NEVER group – however, in my wanderings I met a Yarn Store (in Denver) owner who was expecting a shipment of the very same yarn. She will have a good sniff before the UPS man leaves!
I saw that yarn in a shop today, and smelled both the green and dark blue. I’m with you — an icky petroleum scent to the green and the blue smelled lovely.
so informative, thanks to tell us.