Hey there, yarn Busty. It's Jeff from Hobby here, and
you are listening to skiing until the podcast that unravels
it all. Today's episode.
Well, we are zooming in on something tiny but mighty die
lots. You know that little number
hiding on your yarn label? It might not look like much, but
believe me, it can make or break a project.
Now, this sneaky number that has the power to turn your dream
sweater into a patchwork nightmare or save you from a
crafting meltdown is the subject of today.
So grab your whip, pour yourself a cup of something cozy, and
let's unravel this colorful mystery together.
Now, I want you to imagine this. You've been working for weeks on
the coziest cardigan or sweater or blanket.
And you know, let's, let's just for the sake of keeping things
simple, let's just say it's a cardigan.
The fit, you know, it's perfect. The yarn feels like a warm hug.
And you're already picturing how fabulous you will look when the
first chilly day of fall arrives.
And you walk into the office or your job or wherever wearing
that beautiful, beautiful cardigan you've made.
You know, so you're just, you know, you're knitting along
happily or crocheting along happily when suddenly disaster,
you run out of yarn, but no problem, right?
You, that's nothing. You just, you know, you go on
the Hobie website, you order more of the same color, right,
same brand, everything right? But when it arrives a few days
later and you decide, OK, let's let's get going, you know, take
the label off. Bam, you're you know, you attach
that new scheme and after a few rounds, or actually not rounds
because it's a cardigan, back and forth, something feels off.
One sleeve is exactly, you know, dusty rose.
You know the dusty rose color you started with.
And the other one, well, it's more like dusty Raspberry or
dusty dahlia. So instead of 1 perfect dreamy
cardigan, you've got an accidental color block
experiment. And sure, you know, you could
pretend it's intentional. You might think to yourself, I'm
just going to wash this and the colors are going to blend or
something. But let's be real, sometimes it
just, it's just a mistake. It just looks like a mistake.
And that, my fiber bestie is the chaos that dye lots can bring
into our lives. So let's let's look at this,
let's dive a little deeper and understand what a number of a
lot actually means. And what what, what is it
exactly? You know, let's let's look into
it. So this mysterious lot number,
basically it's like a yarns family tree.
Every time a yarn company dies a batch of yarn, that batch gets a
number. Think of skeins with the same
lot number as siblings. You know, they grew up in the
same house, they share the same snacks, they went through the
same dye bath together, and they are, well, 99% identical.
You know, skeins from a different lot.
Well, they're cousins. You know, they might have the
same last name, but one of them inherited grandma's red hair and
the other one, well, didn't. So even when the color name and
the number on the label are the same, like ocean blue, you know,
a new dye batch might, it might just be a little bit more
turquoise or a little bit more Navy.
You know, the human eye is extremely sensitive to those
subtle shifts, and in a big project like a sweater or a
blanket or a cardigan, those tiny differences can stand out
more than you'd expect. It's kind of like baking
cookies. You can use the same exact
recipe, but sometimes one tray just comes out a little lighter
or a little darker. You didn't do anything wrong.
It's just the magic of dying, and I think we should just take
a moment to actually look at why colors can shift from one dye
bath to another, because I feel like that's also something that
is a must. We must consider this in order
to understand the dye lots. Now, why do these differences
happen? Dyeing yarn is obviously part
science, obviously part art, but also a big part chaos.
There is honestly so many little variables that can affect the
outcome. It is absolutely insane.
And it's really, really, really small things.
So take for instance, temperature, the temperature of
the water right for once, or consider also the humidity in
the air on that specific day or how long the yarn sat in the dye
bath. Even 10 seconds too much or 30
seconds too much can change the outcome.
And for the sake of simplicity, even the sheep.
And like I said, you know when when yarns are made from fibers
from different animals. So even that can have a huge
impact because some, sometimes some fibers from some sheep take
very, very differently than other sheep.
So when you hear that your skein of dusty rose looks more like
dusty beige this time around, it's not because the yarn, the
yarn producer decided to troll you.
You know, it's just the reality, reality, reality of working with
fiber and with color. Sometimes the differences are,
like I said, so, so, so, so subtle.
You'd never even notice until you held the schemes side by
side, or even worse, until you actually start working with that
yarn. And sometimes it's super
obvious, right? But we can outsmart the dye
lots, the dye lots gremlins. So let's talk a little bit about
strategy. Is we have to have a strategy.
If you want your project to look seamless, obviously the safest
move is to buy all the yarn you need all at once.
And yes, that means planning ahead, even if you're not sure
exactly how much you'll need and even though you might end up
with a skein or two extra laying around.
So always, always, always add an extra scheme or two.
Think of it like buying snacks for a road trip.
You rather have too many snacks then run out halfway and having
to make another stop at the gas station.
And then you get there later and right.
So when your yarn arrives, don't just dive right in.
Take a moment to compare those lot numbers, make sure they
match before you start your project and keep those labels
somewhere safe. I cannot stress how many times
it made a huge difference to my project when I was running out
of yarn. And then I figured, well, now I
need to find a label. Where is the label?
Where did I put the label? Oh, it's in the trash because of
course I am a smarty pants. So I think that, you know, take
a moment to make sure that you don't throw away the label right
away until you have at least finished the project.
That's definitely a must, must, must do.
Also, write it down. If you don't want to keep the
label, write it down. You know, just a little maybe on
your on your project sheet or something, write it down, write
the the lot number because the little yarn journal with notes
about the brand, the color and the lot number can save you so
much heartache later. So those are definitely must
do's, I think if you don't want to end with, you know, color
blocks. So keep them in mind.
Make sure you buy enough yarn, add an extra scheme just to make
sure, if not 2, just add that extra scheme.
If you're just oh, just right there and you're thinking to
yourself, OK, I'm going to have you know, 20 feet left of yarn,
20 yards left of yarn or 20 meters or whatever system you
you are using. Do keep in mind, please, please,
please just add that extra skein because it's going to make a
huge, huge, huge difference to Yeah, just making sure that that
you don't run out of yarn from the same lot.
And hey, if you have that extra skein laying around and you, you
think to yourself, Oh my God, Jay, seriously, why did you tell
me to buy the extra skein? My gauge is always perfect.
And here I am now with a leftover skein of yarn.
Well, then in that case, babes, in that case, you're going to
make yourself a nice little tiny scarf or a headband out of it or
even turn it into granny squares.
So like I said, don't forget also about the little journal
notes, whatever you want to call it all, add it on your phone.
Take a picture. Take a picture of the of the
it's even easier so that you have it because if you do run
out and say, for instance, you go on the hobby website to buy
more, but that lot number is different, then maybe some of
your friends have it or maybe somebody in your community has
it and and that can save you a lot of headaches.
So let's look actually at just a little bit more creative fixes
for mismatched lots. Let's say that that yarn doesn't
exist, they don't produce it anymore and you ended up with
five schemes of lot number 0025697 and 0025698.
So if it's too late, you've you've got yourself already
mismatched die lots. And yeah, you just have to go
through with it. You don't have time also to
maybe order more. You have to get this done.
There's options. OK, don't panic.
There's options. One approach is to fade the
schemes together. So that means that you alternate
between them every couple of rows, you know, so you're
blending the color so the shift looks intentional.
And then suddenly, you know, it's not a mistake.
But what if I'm almost, what if, what if you're almost, almost at
the end of the project and you're missing, you know, you're
missing 20 rows and now you have to start the new scheme.
But it's a different lot. And when you don't, you don't
want that ombre effect. And well, another approach is to
turn the, the, the, the new dye lot into a design feature.
Use it maybe 4 cups using maybe four colors or maybe the border
of your blanket. That way the difference is
framed as maybe part of the style.
I mean, it's not ideal. And I know some of my friends
would be like, what are you even talking about?
I would never do that. But you know, honestly, hey,
it's, you know, it's just the name of the game.
And maybe even some people might think, wow, that's really,
really cool that, you know, there's just a subtle difference
between your, your border or your edges or your cuffs and the
rest of the of the piece. And if you're feeling bold, of
course, you can pivot. Maybe that big throw blanket
becomes a stylish slap size version, you know, or the
sweater that has mismatched sleeves, or it's cropped, or you
know, you turn it into a kids sweater or you just frog
everything. I'm just joking.
But you know, remember that crafting is creativity.
It's not not perfection. I cannot stress enough how
important it is to just remember that crafting is creativity, not
perfection. And sometimes the quirks end up
being the best part. Sometimes it's the quirky parts
that make you stand out from the crowd and make others actually
notice you. I mean, after other crafters
might notice that something is handmade when it's mismatched,
when it looks a little wonky, chunky.
You know, I think that really, really need to remember that
crafting is creativity, not perfection.
And also remember a little bit that back in the days before all
this modern dye technology appeared, you know, mismatched
dye, lots were even more of a nightmare.
People dyed yarns with natural materials like matter, rude, you
know, for red or indigo, for blue.
And the problem was that those colors could swift wildly
depending on the season. So the soil, even the weather,
of course, influenced how the dialogue looked that year.
So imagine working on a massive shawl in 1850 and halfway
through your red, beautiful red yarn, suddenly it kind of leans
more towards brown because I don't know the matter.
Harvest changed that year. There was no checking lot
numbers back then, no ordering an extra scheme, just vibes and
disappointment I guess. So honestly, as frustrating as
it is when asleep doesn't match, we modern crafters have it
pretty easy I would say. So the bottom line on dialects,
obviously, is that yes, yes, you don't want to deal with two
dialects, but they're not scary, you know?
They're just something to be aware of.
So if you want consistency, buy enough yarn from the same lot
right from the beginning, right from the start, check your
labels. Just do it.
Just take all your labels and check them as soon as your order
arrives. Keep a little yarn journal or
take pictures. And if you end up with
mismatched schemes, try to have them changed, Try to swap them.
Maybe somebody in your community has the old dye lot that you
need, but know that you're not doomed, you know?
You're just being handed more of an opportunity to get more
creative. Because at the end of the day,
your project is still a piece of art, and you made it with your
own 2 little sweet hands, so no little number on a label can
take that away from you. So Bessie, I hope this episode
helps you feel a little bit more prepared and maybe a little less
panicked next time you're squinting at yarn labels.
Oh, that tiny little lot number. Remember, every dialogue tells a
story, and you are the one weaving it into your stitches.
So yeah, that's pretty much it. If you enjoyed this episode,
share it with the fellow yarn lover, leave, review a comment
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on Amazon Podcasts, on Apple Podcast, wherever you're
listening from so that you never miss out on another, you know,
cozy, shoddy chaos. Until next time, keep your
colors consistent, your skins untangled, and your projects
full of love and joy. OK, I love you, bestie.
Bye.