To whom it may concern

Notorious Sock Knitters | February 05, 2009
By Tina

Dearest Mill
Also owners and operators and any commission that supposedly regulates and issues standards for yarn production in this country. I am writing to you yet again to inform you of the knots and unplied or slubby areas in the yarn that you spin for me.
Please consider this just another attempt on my part to educate you on how different it is for the hand knitter as opposed to the design and garment houses that use your services.
As you know I sell a lot of sock yarn for hand knitting. I have a sock club with around 2,000 members that I ship said yarn to every other month with a pattern, the yarn and a few other things. January was the first shipment of this year. So we just sent out a whole lot of yarn and a pattern to make a pair of beaded socks. What this means dear mill person is that beads need to go on to that yarn. Are you getting just a hint of an idea of where I am going here. Oh yes, again with the knots and I know, I feel the same way. I was informed recently that we had this whole knot issue under control.
Well I beg to differ…you so DO NOT have this issue any where near anything that I would call controlled. Which leads me to believe that you and I must be defining control differently.
Here is where I believe we have not understood each other. I think by “control” you mean that because you sell more yarn to the garment industry ( I guess everyone wears clothes and not everyone knits, I will concede to this fact but know that we are working on it) and that is where your $$ is, you hold all the cards ( control/power).
What I thought you meant by you having it “under control” was that you heard me, your customer of long standing who pays you well for this product, when I told you of this problem and that you had corrected it and we were moving forward.
Do you see how these two definitions differ?
I am hoping dearest mill person, against many odds and a fair amount of evidence, that in fact this is still just a misunderstanding between us. I am hoping because I am a optimistic person that you are not sending me the message that because the bulk of your sales are greater in one place you just do not care about the quality that is sent to another. Especially since I believe we pay you the same.
You should know that I have had to replace a whole lot of the yarn I just shipped to these knitters. I am replacing it because they paid me in good faith to receive a high quality sock yarn made and dyed well for them to knit socks with. I am replacing it because I do care about the quality of the product that bears my companies name. I am replacing it because I believe that when you make a promise, sign a contract that you hold up your end of the deal.
In all honesty I cannot understand how you would not. I do not understand how you can sell someone a product that is riddled with knots or uneven plies or slubs.
Maybe you are not understanding the hand knitter and how we feel about our yarn and our knitting experience.
I have shared with you my experience about hand knitting. It occurred to me that maybe you need to hear from more of us. Maybe you need many voices, so here they are the knitters who knit with Socks that Rock, my loyal talented knitters. This group here are the ones who are in the sock club. They are the ones trying to knit beaded socks with knots in their yarn.
I hope this information helps you to understand so we can continue to work together and that we can both be proud of the product you sell.

Your Customer
Tina Newton
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Inc.
56587 Mollenhour Rd.
Scappoose Oregon 97056
www.bluemoonfiberarts.com

NSKS…the floor is yours.
Please add your voice to mine.

p.s. Hey guys, please let us know about your yarn if there are knots we will replace it. I do not want unhappy or frustrated knitters. I am carrying enough of this for all of us.
and… you know what this is besides wrong and really ironic? It’s the blues baby, totally the blues.
If I had the time I would soo write a great blues number on knotty yarn.