Saturday, May 12, 2007

MCY - Mystically not Colourfast Yarn

I finished the cloud skein wonder, washed it and laid it out to block. An awful lot of blue came out the in the washing (water, no soap or detergent). Shmeh, I thought. It's hand-dyed. A little excess is bound to come out.
However, I didn't expect that so much dye would come out that the front of the cloud skein wonder would look slightly faded, while the back which (being 'underneath' when blocking, and thus where gravity took what water i didn't squeeze out) would end up a much more intense colour. See the line across the sleeve?


Not a shadow. A tidemark from where the dye leached from and to. After I squeezed out all excess water. That's not a little bit of excess dye. It dyed my towel too. I am seriously unimpressed, and join the ranks of those who wouldn't buy Mystical Creations Yarn again. There's more dye movement than after my DIY Kool-Aid experiments, for feck's sake! I can't decide whether to drop them a (whinging) line or not.

Anyway, here's the finished thing. Quite pretty, if you discount the dye difference. Not that i can wear it out anywhere it might get a little bit damp. I fancy my clothes not adulterated with more blue-green dye.


In better news, I've started playing with all the debbie bliss cashmerino aran I got on sale. Unfortunately, I was unaware of its reputation for pilling. however, two gauge swatches (yes, two! i'm trying to do this proper) went through the washing machine no problem. No fuzzing, no colour running (take that, MCY!) Though the yarn does feel a bit funny to work with. My fibre research has told me that microfiber (a pretty large percentage of cashmerino) is known for wicking moisture away. So I think the odd feeling is the yarn sucking away at any sweat/ oils on my fingers. This is the start of the cardigan for Arwen, from Winter Interweave Knits. Nice and casual (so if it pills, I'll still wear it to uni), but an unusual construction that I hope will teach me to understand short rows better.


I've been messing about with combination knitting, to see how I like it and how it works with my RSI. I might have tried to knit the whole thing combination-style, but I've discovered that the yarn is so smooth and regular and I'm so skilled that I can - wait for it - read and knit at the same time! Vistas open before me! Mostly vistas of spiral-bound uni readers right now, but eventually I imagine getting through books for work while making myself a useful garment at the same time.

7 comments:

BEESTLYproducts said...

wow! i'm going to jump on the wagon without buying any. this is the 3rd blog I've read about MCY troubles.

Unknown said...

I'd drop them a note, there may have been a production problem they need to fix. I'd also try washing & blocking the other way to see if you could even out the colour.

Anonymous said...

oh man! it's such a pretty little sweater too. definitely let them know. the more people who complain, the more likely that they will do something about it. and if you can, include the photos.

sheena said...

that looks beautiful! I love the yarn and little sweater is perfect for it!

Ceilidh said...

Hi, just wanted to say I'd be letting the company know about the problem too, but you can stop the dye from running further (so you can wear the sweater in the rain). Let it soak overnight in cold water with salt in it. About 2 tablesppons for half a bucket, put the top in and leave it. You'll obviously need to reblock it, but if you do it face down, it may help even the colour out. And after that, it shouldn't run any more dye.

Anonymous said...

Egad! How disappointing about the yarn, your creation is still beautiful though! I have read so many bad things about these people I don't see how they are still in business!

Anonymous said...

That is such a shame since the sweater really is quite nice. Maybe if you blocked it so the water would go to the front? Than maybe it would even out.