Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Pet Peeve #143

I've gotten pretty good at ordering yarn online. My initial attempts resulted in some pretty peculiar purchases, like 40 large balls of coarse, magenta-colored thick-and-thin wool, 20 balls of really ugly orange and purple viscose, and a whole lot of some rather frightening bulky weight green acrylic that I deny ordering to this very day. And when I entered the world of hand-dyes, it took a couple of disasters before I realized that colors that look wonderful on the skein may look nauseatingly like a bad tv test pattern when wound into a ball. But I take full responsibility for these learning experiences. One must learn to read descriptions with care, estimate yardage needs accurately, be realistic about one's knitting habits, and curb the frenetic buying impulse sparked by the words "discontinued" and "sale." The occasional stubbed toe is inevitable.

But I do not take responsibility for what I have come to think of as "Pet Peeve #143": online yarn sellers who post pictures of yarn that bears no resemblance to the actual yarn that will be arriving in your mailbox.

Case in point:

I ordered some lovely silk for a summer top based on this photo:

It looks like red, purple, and green, with some pretty gold, right?

This is what arrived today:

The picture does not do justice to the true neon brilliance of the warning-sign yellow. The red, purple, and green? It's there. See that little stripe on the left side? That's it. Now, I have nothing against yellow. It makes for lovely flowers and attention-grabbing "Yield" signs. It does not, however, work well with my bright red hair and freckled skin. I would never knowingly have ordered this particular shade of yellow for a garment for myself--or, to be honest, for anyone.

And now I'm faced with a Hobson's choice: I can either box it all up, get a return authorization, find the right address, make a label, take it to the post office, wait in line, pay for postage, insurance, and a return receipt, and wait a month (or two or three) for the charge (minus shipping both ways, of course) to be reversed to my credit card--or I can suck it up and put the yarn in the stash for that day when I am finally ready to knit really expensive summer tops for a whole swarm of honeybees.

21 comments:

Criquette said...

I should probably apologize for having a good laugh at your expense, but you do have an entertaining style of writing! And you have done a great job of reinforcing why I avoid ordering yarn off of the internet.
Have you thought about overdying it?

Anonymous said...

Check out this Bee Field shawl. It might be perfect to go with that yarn: http://www.knitspot.com/?p=428

I like the yarn. It would make a cute cardigan.

Anonymous said...

You could always find someone near you who would be willing to trade. Do you go to an SnB? Or maybe a local yarn shop would be able to send you in someone's direction. Not knowing your personal situation, I don't know if this would work for you, but it's a thought.

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Return it if you're not 100% satisfied with it. Case closed.

Quail Hill Knits said...

Great Story ---- I have so been there and done that!

Olga said...

Or you could have a little contest and pawn, I mean, reward the winner with the yarn.Everybody happy!

Mother of Chaos said...

GAH!! Oh, now, that ain't right. That just ain't right!!

I hate it when that happens.

knottykitty said...

Yes, I really hate when they post those little close-up pics, too! And then they try to blame it on the yarn being hand-dyed! I can totally sympathize with the bright yellow with red hair and freckles! I have the same situation--nothing like competing flame colors to make one stand out in a crowd! LOL!

Anonymous said...

The picture totally misrepresents that yarn!!
If it was me I would return it as a matter of principle. Making it very clear to the seller that I was not pleased with their product. That being said the effort required to get it organized to send back would likely make me cry.

Lydee said...

That ain't right. You're not alone. I just bought a oversized oil painting from the goodwill website that looked blue and green. In reality it's blue and peach, and I really dislike peach. Figured I'd just suck it up and give it away on freecycle. (I probably didn't spend as much as you did on your yarn though.)

Anonymous said...

I'd return the yarn as it is so off-base from the picture. Although I actually think it's kinda nice yarn. I like yellow and it can look great on the freckled and red haired if you got the right shade. I had similar buying habits in the past and I'd like to have a swap but no one I know would want to swap for it. I can picture a whole table of weird bulky unwanted yarn (from me & my SnB pals) and no would want to take anything!

MelissaKnits said...

You know why that happened? That's artyarns. It's hand dyed. I have never had 2 skeins the same, even when they came out of the same bag, and even had one "pair" of socks in which one foot wore red and the other pink. Exhausted dye bath would be my guess.

Send it back! And only buy hand dyes in person - they're sneaky as he double toothpicks. I have 3 skeins of Silk Rhapsody in my stash, all the same colorway, and all entirely different colors.

Karen said...

I hate it when that happens. Maybe you could offer it for sale on your blog. I bet it's a perfect color for someone out there.

Sarah said...

Ugh, that sucks! But that stuff should overdye nicely.

Anonymous said...

Send that yarn back - stat! Before it burns holes in your retinas.

annmarie said...

or, hey, now that you're on ravelry could you put it up for sale there? I don't know since I just got *my* invite last night and haven't had a chance to figure it all out yet. :)

...Sarah said...

I hear you, I have the same red hair problem. Looks like they took the picture before it was rewound I forget what Scout of Scout's swag calls it. It does look luxuriously soft.

Sharon said...

not to sound redundant...but if you don't like the color now, you probably won't ever like it and won't want to use the yarn. As much of a pain in the hiney as it is, I'd send it back and make sure they know it wasn't what you expected. I hope the retailer will try to make it up to you.

Tammy said...

What you should do is send it back... right away! But I'm so with you on the whole post office thing. I can barely get a letter in the mail. Thanks for the laugh! Now send it back!! :)

Yarnhog said...

Okay, okay--I sent it back! Thanks for pushing me.

5elementknitr said...

Or you could have a destash sale!