emo means potato in Japanese

Today I received my first ever order from an indie company that is new to me. They have a lovely website with pictures of to-die-for colourways and pet-able fibers like Silk and Silk and Merino and Sock.... I tried three different yarns in four different colourways. Due to their misprint of my zip code, the order took exactly one month to arrive.

This is what I ordered: in both the Sock and the Silk and Merino:

This is what I received:


Every skein was a disappointment. Where their website photos had shown subtle, artful combinations of harmonious colours, the skeins themselves were garish, clashing, opposing dyes.

There is no phone number on the website so I began the laborious, embarassing, and difficult task of putting my disappointment and dissatisfaction into words in an email without expressing just how sad and how angry I felt. It was clear that their reply to my clumsy emo email had taken an enormous effort to be professional and gracious, but at least the attempt was there. Of course "differences in monitor calibration" were cited as the culprit. I was offered the choice of replacing the yarn with something else more to my taste (but how can I do that when nothing on the website is as it seems?) or returning the yarn for a refund.

When I was in my 20's I worked as an illustrator for one of the well known NY publishers. I remember the cardinal rule of illustration: consistency of representation. If one of the characters was introduced as half lion, half rose yesterday, it darn better look like a half lion, half rose character today - unless the change of representation was justified by the story.

This, in my book, applies to yarn dying too. If you change your dye-bath or add a fourth colour where before there were only three, or decide to intensify the tones to the point that they become a different colour-set... then frackin change the photos on your website! please. I could just cry. In fact - pardon my emo - but I really think I will.

Edited to Add: The yarn company owner has emailed me twice over-night and is expressing great patience. She's offered to replace the yarn and is being extremely nice in trying to figure out what colours and tones I actually like (sea-greams, sea-foam, light teal, dark teal, aqua, marine blue, deep marine blue....) She said she would even dye yarn up special to meet my wishes - over and above service I think! So, I will post the good outcome when it happens - it will probably take a month to complete this if new dying does happen - and then I'll let you know the name of the company and sing their praises.

Also - someone from Slough, UK visited my blog today! How exciting! Shades of "The Office" indeed... ;)
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