Saturday, May 20, 2006

Damp and leaky

Thank goodness I'm not talking about my home, I'm talking about the Deep cardigan.

I can't take any pictures of me wearing it for a while yet as it is still taking its time drying. Unfortunately J was using the sweater airer (you know the wee trampoline thing for over the bath) which means the air can't circulate the same and I'm in for a long wait till it dries thoroughly.

Anyway, this is the least of my worries because the amount of colour which came out in the wash was really excessive in my opinion. It was so bad that one commenter, Jen, thought I had dyed the item myself. No, I'm afraid that was just a fraction of the dye which leaked in the rinsing process! I hand-washed it in cool water in Tesco washing liquid for delicates. I have contacted the yarn manufacturer for advice.

P, one of the members of the Rowan forum I chat on, had a similar problem and it turned out the dye hadn't been fixed properly. She did get satisfactory compension from the maker, but I couldn't face knitting it again. It may never get to that stage, maybe it was just a first-wash thing, or maybe they can tell me what to wash it in to stop any future leakage.

Today's picture is to show you how much yarn I had left when I was finished, thought that might be quite useful for the likes of Carol, who fancied this design herself. I was left with about 10g or so of the main shade and each of the contrasts. (I used a couple of metres max of three tonic colours from the oddment stash.) This could help anyone who is thinking of doing it all one colour calculate yarn amounts. I sewed it up using Rowan Cotton DK because I was sure the Summer Tweed would split when drawing up the slack when doing mattress stitch.

Keep your fingers crossed about my dye problem- this isn't a denim yarn after all!
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathleen,
I remember tshirts handed out by the company I worked with and the wee design on them ran.
I had used non-bio, but apparently they needed Bio washing powder (probably one of those colour ones!)
I wonder if this yarn might need something like that - although it should really state it on the tag.
Hope it all works out !
Mhairi

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't have thought blue would run so much. I'm always suspicious of red yarns, with which I have a lifelong love affair.) Its bound to be a bad dyelot.