Yarnspirations 1 Pound Mystery Bag (Part 2)

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Hello again! Thanks for returning to check out part 2 of my mystery yarn bag adventure. If you have not yet checked out part 1 or need a refresher, you can find it here: Yarnspirations 1 Pound Mystery Bag (Part 1)

After a brief wait (although when it comes to yarn, the wait always seems long), I saw the email notification that my package was out for delivery. By far, that’s one of the most exciting emails a crafter can receive, am I right? I was eager to see what surprises were inside the mystery bag and ready to start planning what to make with it.

Let’s start with the packaging. I only ordered one so it mailed in a plastic shipping bag. Inside that, the yarn arrived nicely packaged up with basic information:

Let’s start at the top of the label. As mentioned on the website, this yarn is factory mill ends. The weight is also listed and as per the product listing, is 1 pound of yarn. Underneath that, the washing instructions are included. For this yarn, it states it is machine washable on a delicate setting but not exceeding 30 degrees celsius. You are also able to tumble dry on a low setting. No bleaching, ironing or dry cleaning. These two skeins are 100% acrylic. Other items to note is that it shipped directly from the Spinrite Factory in Listowel, Ontario and was both made and packaged in Canada.

The shade of this yarn was absolutely gorgeous. My first impressions of it were how vibrant the colours were (more on that later), how much yarn there was and that it was actually quite soft. I was excited because this was yarn that I definitely could see myself using in future projects.

I did go into this purchase fully aware that they were factory mill ends so I was keeping an eye out for any potential minor defects. I did find some inconsistency with the colour and there were quite a few spots that were darker, almost a burgundy shade. Not really a big deal for the purpose I was going to use them for and it was honestly rather pretty to have that slight variegated effect in spots.

My next step was to pull out my yarn winder to prepare the yarn for use. I tend to do this for most skeins as it’s a great way to look for any twists or inconsistency’s in the yarn and deal with them early before running into them mid project. Also, the winder puts the yarn into a cake shape which allows me to stack and store them in bins/totes in a nice and organized way. I began the first skein of yarn and got a few meters wound before I ran into a knot. Not a surprise, remember these are mill ends and to be expected.

However, after a bit of winding, I looked down and realized my hands had turned red. The dye in the yarn had run so badly and in a short time of maybe less than 2 minutes of winding. It was not a nice a feeling…it felt a little sticky and filmy and I immediately had to wash my hands. It came off easily and no stain remained which was good. I had the skein resting in a large ceramic bowl to keep it from flopping around while I was winding. That bowl and the rim where the yarn was rubbing had also now turned red. A quick wash took it out and no colour remained in the bowl. It’s making sense now why the colour was so vibrant!

I was disappointed however. I 100% expected there to be minor defects in the yarn since they were mill ends. Knots, twists, maybe some inconsistency of the thickness or colouring. That would have been fine and I could have worked with those issues very easily. I did not expected the dye to not be set in the yarn. Perhaps that is a common issue of mill ends and something I did not consider. I read a lot of reviews before ordering the mystery bag and the the dye running wasn’t an issue that I found being mentioned.

I don’t think I can use this yarn unfortunately because of this issue. It’s pretty major as everything the yarn briefly touched, ended up with dye on it. I don’t want my nice crochet hooks to get discoloured, not to mention the rubbing off on my own clothes or furniture while I work. I know there are some methods to pre-washing yarn before you use it, but these are fairly large amounts and I don’t know how they would hold up in a machine (even if they are contained within something) without knotting. I’m not even sure the dye has been set so I have that concern as well. I’m aware of some things that can be done to set the dye but that wasn’t something I was prepared to do, nor do I really have the time and space to do that at the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I have read so many positive reviews about ordering these mystery bags so please don’t let my experience stop you from ordering your own. As I mentioned above, the running of the dye was not something I saw when reading about other peoples experiences with these yarns, so it might be a one off issue. Simply for my own curiosity, I will be emailing Spinrite (maybe Yarnspirations) to find out of this is a common effect and risk of purchasing mill ends. When I receive a reply, I’ll be sure to come back here and add an update to this post. Yarnspirations has such beautiful yarn and this experience will absolutely not deter me from their lines or brands because I LOVE their yarn and will absolutely continute to use them.

So my questions for you are: Have you used mill ends? What were your experiences? You can comment over on my Instagram feed @sweet_bee_crochet or check out the Contact section of my website for other ways to connect with me. I hope you’re all having a wonderful start to 2020. Cheers!

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