The Trial
Enter the defendant, TOFUtsies by SWTC.
I bought this yarn in January '07 and about the April time frame, of that year, I knit a pair of plain toe up socks. The first time I washed them, disaster struck. The dye washed out and my vibrant socks were merely a shadow of their former selves. I was devastated, ladies and gentleman, simply devastated. Here I had put all this work into my socks and with one wash they went from Beautiful to Blah.
I wrote to SWTC (attorney for the defendant) told them what happened, gave them the info on the ball band but received no reply. The socks were left to defend themselves on their own without representation from the company.
THE VERDICT
I vowed to never buy another ball of TOFUtsies and told the requisite 12 people of my bad experience but while I was at STITCHES MIDWEST this past August I met Audrey, public defender for this yarn.
THE APPEAL
After dropping off a load of yarn into the car, Kathy and I returned to the vendors' area to continue shopping. Kathy likes TOFUtsies and stopped at a booth to purchase a ball. This is where I met Audrey, owner of Needles & Knobs. I complained about this yarn and told her the story of my ill fated socks and why I have a hate-on for this yarn and the company.
Audrey was determined to get me to change my mind, to rethink my position and to exonerate this sock yarn. She believes in this yarn so much that she gave me a ball to try out.
I was leery and doubtful but who am I to turn down a free ball of sock yarn. I knit and knit and knit. I even designed a sock pattern for this momentous occasion. Mind you all the while thinking that if history repeated itself I would be severely ticked at myself for putting in all this effort.
THE VERDICT
The socks have been washed and they look great. My faith has been restored in TOFUtsies but SWTC still on my black list for their lack of customer service.
So if you are ever in St. Petersburg, Florida go see Audrey at Needles & Knobs. You'll be glad you did!
Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic
- Make your yarn purchases while on vacation. You'll be able to justify them as souvenirs.
- Even better, while on vacation, without your DH. If he must come along, distract him with a computer store or food.
- Use cash whenever possible, it eliminates the paper trail.
- When packing for the holiday, pack only the essentials to leave as much room in your suitcase, as you can, for the trip home.
- When packing for the trip home, layer your suitcase. Yarn goes on the bottom, then clothes with the gifts for the kiddies on top.
- Distract family with gifts and bring suitcase to your room.
- Unpack the next day, when no one is around.
50/50 Alpaca/Merino bought from WEBS
one ball of 3ply fingering that I won, three skeins of Noro Transitions that were so cheap, you'd think they were stolen
A full bag of Ella rae bought from a place that was selling their yarn in full bags. In their booth they had a fenced off area and had it piled high with the full bags. According to one staff member, a lady actually jumped into the pile and wallowed amongst the fibres. They weren't pleased as she destroyed many labels. some people have no respect.
Of course there was sock yarn purchases. According to Tink, this doesn't count at all for stash. I did get another ball of sock yarn, but there is a story behind that which deserves its own blog post.
Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic
Guess what DH's name is.......and you'll find this as funny as I do.
Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic
ME: I've been invited to go to Chicago for STITCHES MIDWEST and stay at a complete stranger's house.
General response: WHAT??? Are you crazy? You don't know anything about this person. This person could be a serial killer. Your children need their mother.
Complete Stranger: I've met someone on the Internet and invited her to come to STITCHES and stay at our house .
General response: WHAT??? You did what??? You don't know anything about this person. She could be a crazy homicidal maniac.
You get the picture. From both camps we had people looking for ways to lock us up for our own protection for clearly we had lost it and gone loopy with this hair brained plan.
Funny thing is, the only person who didn't say anything about this plan was my DH. He may have thought it, but did not say word regarding the state of my sanity.
Thursday the 21st, the sock and I headed off to Chicago for our latest adventure. Kathy met me at the airport and we headed off to her place for lunch. On our way we told each other of the secret plots to have us committed because of the plan.
Kathy( after lunch): Look, all kinds of knives lying around and no one got stabbed.
A STITCHES event.
It's hard to describe. Maybe this is the place that good knitters go when they die. Aisle after aisle of yarn, needles, books and knitting gadgets, it was enough to make even the hardest hearted knitter cry. There was even an underlying scent of vinegar from all the hand dyed skeins. More than once Kathy caught me smelling skeins of wool.
I did my best to purchase only the yarns that are not locally available. However when you find Noro Transitions at 1/3 of the price you can get it locally, you just have to go for it. I did take classes, one on the Estonian Patent stitch with Merike Saarniit and math for knitters with Edie Eckman. Both very informative and both very useful. I can't wait to impress everyone in the near future.
The sock was overwhelmed by the whole thing and was very emotional when I told it where we were going and who we would see. I was able to calm the sock down by starting to knit the heel. The sock did okay and managed not to embarrass me despite being severely star struck.
Merike Saarniit, queen of the Estonian Patent Stitch.
Edie Eckman, simplifying math for knitter's everywhere.
Stay tuned for more from my Chicago adventure.
Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic
