It's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate

Or maybe it's a thin or broken or knotted string of yarn.

Yesterday was a bad day for knitting. I was quietly knitting a Drop Stitch Scarf with a gorgeous skein of Karaoke, loving the yarn and minding my own business . . .

. . . and then this happened:

I know. I couldn't believe it either. I am the Bamm-Bamm of knitting. I break needles.

I still don't quite understand how it happened. It just . . . happened. I'm pretty sure this needle was from the collection that my mother passed on to me. It was old. No offense, Mom. Maybe it was brittle with age. I don't know. After I took the picture, I set the needle pieces down on the coffee table and shook my head in disgust. I knit on with another set of needles, but the broken pieces kept distracting me. I grabbed them and jammed them into the trash. The long length of needle broke again. Yikes. Bamm-Bamm.

I decided that it might be a good idea to take a break from the scarf before I hurt myself - or someone else. I dug up a pattern for a Christmas ball ornament that I had made tons of last year. (I found this same pattern on-line, too. It's here.) I made this one with some leftover bits of the Karoaoke I used for my Calorimetry. Pretty, huh? Love this yarn. And notice the metal dpns. Can't break 'em. Tried. This was the little good knitting part of my day.

Okay, so then I looked at my scarf. As I started to knit it again, I said to myself, My, isn't that ball of yarn rather small? Hmmm. Will I be able to knit a scarf of a decent length? Hmmm. Doubt it. I figured I'd put it aside until I could go back to the store and buy a 2nd skein. I decided to start a new one with my remaining 2 skeins of Karaoke. They were different colorways, but I thought they'd work okay together if I alternated them. And I could spit-splice them. It was all good.

Once again, I was quietly knitting my scarf, minding my own business, when this happened:

What? Not sure what I'm trying to show you? Let me try to 'splain. As I got through the skein, I found that a second strand of yarn had been wound into the skein side by side with the strand I was knitting. Get it? I know I'm not making myself clear. It's as if at some point, a separate, unattached strand of yarn got balled up with mine - and it went all the way to the center of the skein. I had to separate the strands and wind them into two separate balls. Hating this yarn.

This was it. Now I was well beyond the ticked off point. The first skein of Karaoke I'd used to knit the Calorimetry had lengths knotted together AND two separate lengths of yarn - one blue and one purple - in the center of the ball, both unattached. Not even knotted. Hating.

I went to the SWTC, Inc. website and got the email address so that I could fire off a complaint. I'd spent $9 each on these little skeins. Little skeins. I explained the problems I'd found with the skeins and offered photos if they wanted to see them. This morning, I had an email from their president (!) telling me that Karaoke is not a yarn they see problems in often, so she'd like to see my photos to help her understand. I sent several, including this one. It shows the 2 projects I made with one skein and the blue and purple lengths of yarn that were stuck inside.

I also sent the picture of that mess of yarn on my lap. She emailed back, agreeing that this was weird. She said that they'll send out some yarn to compensate me and she apologized for the surprises. I was really impressed with how quickly she responded and very happy that she's going to send me some yarn. Good customer service. Loving the yarn.

So today, I'm doing a little bit of knitting. I'm staying calm. Breaks in yarn and breaks in needles will not get me today.

Be careful out there.