Friday, March 12, 2010

Question re: basement 'Quality Control' on wool content

I am wondering how best to communicate the wool content of the garments I send to a4A so as to minimize guesswork/wasted effort. I always enclose a note stating the wool content of each garment, but is this sufficient to assure you? Should I also (where possible) enclose the yarn labels of the yarns that I have used for each garment? Or is there some other method that I have not thought of? I am thinking this must be an onerous (but necessary) part of evaluating each garment that is received, and I would like to do whatever I can to make it as un-painful an activity as possible!

8 comments:

Bloo said...

This is a great question - I have wondered this too. I used to label each item, now I just include a cover note. But if there is something specific I can do (like including a ball band), to help the basement sorters, I'd be happy to do it.

Annette said...

Either a note or a label is fine (and would be appreciated). We read all enclosed notes when packages are opened.

LyniHop said...

What a great idea -- since I've never used anything but all-wool, as asked, I've never thought to include a note or ball band to verify this. I feel badly that I have not, but is this specified or requested in the guidelines on the a4A site? Perhaps if it is we would all do this to help out our wonderful packer-volunteers. In all naivete, do you test all unlabeled materials (wow!) and if so, WHAT do you do to them? If I am unsure, I just wet a little bit -- if it's wool, I'll smell it!

Gwyneth said...

Good idea! I forgot a note this time, but I'm happy to do that.

Judy said...

Thanks -- this is something I have wondered about as well. In some cases I don't still have the ball band but can id usually id the yarn. (For instance, I am now using leftover Lion Brand wool for mittens. ) I am usually using up stash.

Laura said...

Don't sweat it. As Annette wrote, a note or a bandball are great, but like many, I have a lot of wool in my stash with missing labels. Basement workers are knitters/crocheters, so we are familiar with wools and at times we recognize the exact brand and colorway! Plasticky/glittery yarns are the ones that give us pause. Luckily we don't encounter them that often.

cti said...

I always like to include labels from the yarns I use, although sometimes I might not have one available if it is leftover yarn. In that case I always put it in a note.

I expect the experienced staff in the basement can pretty much tell what the yarn is by look and feel. I know I can and I'm sure I don't see as many things as they do!

MargoLynn said...

I always wonder if the basement crew laughs when they open a package of mine and are greeted with a shower of yarn labels! If I have some banded/tagged yarn (such as a leftover bit, or the coned yarns that are marked inside the cone) I tend to include a note. Otherwise, it's ball bands, skein wrappers, and hank tags.

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.