Caveat Emptor, right?
By now the knitting blogosphere is swirling with controversy about a certain brand of yarn marketed as carrying cashmere that actually doesn't. (Or it will be, maybe it's too early yet.)
This to me is no big deal because I've used it for several projects and y'all, if there is cashmere in that yarn it is the shortest-short-staple fiber ever to be used in yarn, because it pills like crazy. I mean, Gnarls-Barkley-crazy-hello-pilly-goodness. Except it's not good.
But I do feel badly for a company being put under by a "helpful" competitor (whose actions should be immediately suspect) that had the yarn content analyzed - and because the distributor didn't conduct its own counter-analysis...well, if you were a yarn shop owner, what would you do? You have to listen to somebody, and the loudest voice in the room gets attention, never mind accuracy. (I think it's questionable when your competitor does its own "expert analysis.")
Anyway, read about that here and here.
A little bloodthirsty on the part of the competitor, if you ask me. But like I said - for me personally the yarn wasn't all that great anyway, so it's hard to get too upset.
Except that my friend asked for a pair of Fetching for Christmas...so...I'm thinking Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran. Possibly might have to get some today.
I am all over the map with mojo now! I started a hat on Saturday with some Manos, and last night I knit 3/4 of a little bitty sweater for you-know-who, the Porch Princess (sounds real trashy, hey?). If you don't remember, last year I was crazy enough to buy Fiona a coat, because she wants to be outdoors in 20 degrees or 90 degrees...but when it's 20 she plays this little game called "In and out kitty". So I bought her this funny little dog coat, but she never could walk in it right. Real low to the ground and slinky, and I could tell she wasn't feeling the love so it went to the Good Will.
This year I went to Old Navy and was going to buy her a pretty little faux-shearling number, but I stood in line and watched one clerk walk away, a customer at another clerk return AN ENTIRE BAG of clothing, and the customer in front of me return items from TWO DIFFERENT sales receipts. Y'all, I live in one of the richest counties in America, and definitely the wealthiest in Tennessee, but that was just plain trashy. So after ten minutes of fiddle-faddle by the clerk in my line, I walked up to the counter, put the coat down and said "I wanted to buy this but the wait was too long." And little miss I'm-folding-clothes-now-instead-of-helping-people-buy-stuff looked up and was mildly alarmed to see me leaving, but did nothing. Service, people! And who needs a $25 dog jacket for their cat ANYWAY?!
So, I took Fee's measurements and, inspired by that Knitter's Almanac spirit of fearlessness, cast on! I knit a few inches of ribbing flat, joined it in the round to form a split V collar, counted off a few stitches for her armholes and bound off, then cast back on and knitted a few more inches. Now I'm to the final ribbing, which I am making a bit longer than the neck ribbing, and I should finish tonight.
I'm inspired by this, just a little bit...
Billy Bag did in fact send me a replacement bag! I'm happy to report that, but unfortunately although I emailed the person back who helped me to stress that I wanted another shopper style bag, they sent me a different style bag with the same fabric pattern as mine. (In their defense, they warned me that they might not be able to find an exact replicate, hence my email to them about style over color.) I tried using the new bag, but it isn't really usable for actual shopping (it's one of those where the top folds down and very hard to get into). It's more of a cute-date-bag. So I found a brown corduroy bag just like mine on eBay UK and bought it. For too much money, probably, and can you say "cat hair magnet" but I didn't have the $400+ to get a leather one.
So I am hoping that that turns out to be a good thing, and will probably list the other bag on eBay soon. I'll post pictures here, though, on the off-off-off chance somebody might want to buy it.
This to me is no big deal because I've used it for several projects and y'all, if there is cashmere in that yarn it is the shortest-short-staple fiber ever to be used in yarn, because it pills like crazy. I mean, Gnarls-Barkley-crazy-hello-pilly-goodness. Except it's not good.
But I do feel badly for a company being put under by a "helpful" competitor (whose actions should be immediately suspect) that had the yarn content analyzed - and because the distributor didn't conduct its own counter-analysis...well, if you were a yarn shop owner, what would you do? You have to listen to somebody, and the loudest voice in the room gets attention, never mind accuracy. (I think it's questionable when your competitor does its own "expert analysis.")
Anyway, read about that here and here.
A little bloodthirsty on the part of the competitor, if you ask me. But like I said - for me personally the yarn wasn't all that great anyway, so it's hard to get too upset.
Except that my friend asked for a pair of Fetching for Christmas...so...I'm thinking Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran. Possibly might have to get some today.
I am all over the map with mojo now! I started a hat on Saturday with some Manos, and last night I knit 3/4 of a little bitty sweater for you-know-who, the Porch Princess (sounds real trashy, hey?). If you don't remember, last year I was crazy enough to buy Fiona a coat, because she wants to be outdoors in 20 degrees or 90 degrees...but when it's 20 she plays this little game called "In and out kitty". So I bought her this funny little dog coat, but she never could walk in it right. Real low to the ground and slinky, and I could tell she wasn't feeling the love so it went to the Good Will.
This year I went to Old Navy and was going to buy her a pretty little faux-shearling number, but I stood in line and watched one clerk walk away, a customer at another clerk return AN ENTIRE BAG of clothing, and the customer in front of me return items from TWO DIFFERENT sales receipts. Y'all, I live in one of the richest counties in America, and definitely the wealthiest in Tennessee, but that was just plain trashy. So after ten minutes of fiddle-faddle by the clerk in my line, I walked up to the counter, put the coat down and said "I wanted to buy this but the wait was too long." And little miss I'm-folding-clothes-now-instead-of-helping-people-buy-stuff looked up and was mildly alarmed to see me leaving, but did nothing. Service, people! And who needs a $25 dog jacket for their cat ANYWAY?!
So, I took Fee's measurements and, inspired by that Knitter's Almanac spirit of fearlessness, cast on! I knit a few inches of ribbing flat, joined it in the round to form a split V collar, counted off a few stitches for her armholes and bound off, then cast back on and knitted a few more inches. Now I'm to the final ribbing, which I am making a bit longer than the neck ribbing, and I should finish tonight.
I'm inspired by this, just a little bit...
Billy Bag did in fact send me a replacement bag! I'm happy to report that, but unfortunately although I emailed the person back who helped me to stress that I wanted another shopper style bag, they sent me a different style bag with the same fabric pattern as mine. (In their defense, they warned me that they might not be able to find an exact replicate, hence my email to them about style over color.) I tried using the new bag, but it isn't really usable for actual shopping (it's one of those where the top folds down and very hard to get into). It's more of a cute-date-bag. So I found a brown corduroy bag just like mine on eBay UK and bought it. For too much money, probably, and can you say "cat hair magnet" but I didn't have the $400+ to get a leather one.
So I am hoping that that turns out to be a good thing, and will probably list the other bag on eBay soon. I'll post pictures here, though, on the off-off-off chance somebody might want to buy it.
posted by Jen at 7:43 AM
1 Comments:
oh good for you. who needs something crappy from old navy? i rarely have the patience these days to do business with almost any chain store. their service is horrible. can't wait to see what you make instead.
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