I would honestly reach out to the company to complain and see if they might comp you a new one. 10 (TEN!!) factory joins alone is insane, but then seeing how some of those joins are to add literal scrap pieces into the ball makes me wonder if there's any kind of QA going on at all.
I would be furious if I were in your shoes. Finding one or two factory joins is frustrating enough, but can't always be avoided; 10 feels like they're trying to scam you by selling you their waste.
I had never had any issues with Caron.... Until recently. I'm currently working with a Caron cake to make a birthday gift (first cardigan) for my roommate and good lord.... The amount of factory knots in these two cakes is RIDICULOUS. There were four in the first cake and so far I am up to 3 in the second and am only 1/4 into it. I'm not amused. (They've also made frogging this particular yarn a pain in the a--. I believe it's one of those damn cinnamon roll Caron cakes. Its cursed I tell you)
At least there’s some good store brand copycats of Simply Soft. I like the Big Twist Shine a lot and made some lovely cabled gloves and matching hats with it for gifts. No factory knots!
However… Simply Soft was on a really good sale for awhile there this winter and I knew better and yet…
For some reason this just made me picture a bunch of people in a yarn factory running round cutting through skeins and cakes randomly, while doing evil plan laughs 😈😂 “Why? ‘Cos fuck ‘em, that’s why!”
there's whole subreddit for it if you're interested in seeing examples! the second pic in the post is an example of planned pooling -- OP didn't do color changes, but figured out what gauge & dimensions for a project would turn 1 variegated yarn into the plaid pattern
r/Planned_Pooling
It’s when you use a color change yarn and more or less measure how many stitches you can do before the change and then use a pattern that coincides with the changes. I feel like that’s not a great explanation but that’s as far as I understand it lol 😂
Wow y'all been unlucky. Bernat blanket with 4 knots would make me mad since it's only like 30-50 yards to begin with.
80-90% of the balls I've used are 0 knots. Recently a Walmart Mainstays cotton yarn had 2 knots which I thought was unusual.
Big Twist is pretty dang good in this respect. I was just commenting about their Shine which is their Simply Soft dupe. I am almost always happy with Big Twist- few factory knots, none of that weird Lion Brand thick-thin thing going on- just the best dang value yarn on the market and some of their limited edition yarns have been my absolute favorites.
And oh gosh Bernat Blanket. I have this insane skein of black blanket yarn where I could never find either actual end but the yarn kept snapping endlessly as I tried to untangle or gently tug an end. I think I had 12 artificial ends and no joke- never did find the actual end/start of it!
How do you figure out the planned pooling project? I love the effect you have and want to try it since I don’t have any better ideas for how to use ombre/color-changing yarn, but it seems intimidating!
The r/Planned_Pooling sub has good resources. I do a test swatch with the yarn then play around with different sets in [Crochet Color Pooling](https://mathgrrl.com/crochet-color-pooling/) to find the pattern I like. Give it a try!
It looks like moss stitch. (Sc, ch1,) then sc into the ch1 spaces from the previous row. I personally chain 3 to start my next row, but some people find* 1 or 2 better for them.
*Edit: spelling
I think it's Caron honestly!!! I'm making a blanket using their acrylic yarn cakes right now and each skein had at least 5 factory knots, it was horrible!!
I HOPE it's just some batch issues and this won't become an ongoing thing, because their yarn is such a go to for me, great colorways that aren't too pricey. I wonder if they have a customer feedback form anywhere because it's actually getting ridiculous at this point, and if I wasn't almost done this blanket I would have just switched to a different brand already. Won't be buying Caron anytime soon again I'll say that much.
Wow that's a beautiful pattern! 10 KNOTS? I would be furious. Reach out to the manufacturer in an email and ask it to be escalated to a manager immediately. The least they should do is send you a box of yarn.
I had a ball of Lion Brand Pound of Love that was full of knots, and even had a few loose bits of thread stuffed in it. I was so mad! I ended up bagging it and throwing it in a scrap pile for stuffing things. My sanity was worth it. Your color-pooling looks great!
"Not fit for purpose", they are well outside their own stated tolerances so this product is defective and they need to be refunding or replacing. Fight the good fight for all of us!
I was using a blanket weight fuzzy yarn, it was self striping, and one skein, EVERY SINGLE COLOR CHANGE was knotted, or some other weird join. It was so odd that it was that one skein as the others I used weren't that bad.
Me, a newbie, discovering that factory knots are a regular thing and thankful I haven't encountered them so far.
Honestly I should have expected it coming from cross stitch, but even then those skeins will OCCASIONALLY have ONE knot, where they obviously had to switch from one batch to the next. Why on earth would there ever be a need to have more than one though? It looks like instead of having 10 skeins with one knot as the batches ended, they took all the ends and wound them together into one super garbage yarn ball. That ball should literally be the ends they sell in bulk for next to nothing, not something that actually gets sold normally in store.
I would absolutely continue to follow up with customer service until they give you some sort of solution, this is absolutely ridiculous!
Contact the CEO instead of customer service. I doubt they would be happy, especially when mentioning how many yarn groups etc you belong to.... suddenly changes their perspective on things.
Right now I'm extremely fortunate but Caron has always been my bane. (I'm on a blanket which requires five colors and I have 3 skeins of one and one each of the others, and somehow not a single one has had a knot.) Usually I'd say anywhere from 3-5 knots in one skein. Ten is....unfortunate. Pretty colorway, but that's a shame, really.
Frustrating and unacceptable on their part, but very nicely handled on yours! I bet this was a hassle but looking at the finished work you would never guess anything amiss.
Based on all the comments, is it safe to assume to avoid wasting money on Caron yarn ? I've been eyeing it in stores but haven't bought it because of money.
I purchased a Carron cake that had 15 (!!!) Knots. So basically a knot every 2 feet. Just because I am skillful at hiding knots doesn't mean I WANT to hide knots on my project.
Did it mess up your color pooling? If they’re having all those knots I wonder if it made some colors shorter or longer in those sections? It looks great though!
I wish I kept track. Had the same issue with the same brand. My first time crocheting in years and assumed it may be normal so I ignored and worked with it as best as possible.
I just wanted to add that I LOVE the finished product! 🥰 the colours work so well with one another! (My attempts at colorful projects never turn out this well lol)
I know how you feel. A few weeks ago, I bought a skein of baby yarn on clearance to Finnish a project, but then it was unusable cause somehow the whole center was filled with red puff paint sticking it all together. How the world did that happen?
Oh this happened to me with three or four skeins of that Red Heart Hygge yarn (the really sleek and fuzzy kind) and it made one of my very first cardigans look moth-eaten when the knots started coming undone. This is absolutely ridiculous, I'm so sorry :c
Honestly i think this is kinda why I started buying yarn off of Temu. So far I haven't found any knots in any of the balls I've bought so far. Plus all the acrylic yarn is so soft i can use metal hooks with them without getting the icky brain feel. Extra plus, even if the balls are kinda small you're paying like $8 for like 2-5 balls depending on the what you bought (just read the descriptions carefully lol).
UPDATE: I finally found the receipt for this yarn and was able to jump through the customer service hoops. They promptly gave me a coupon for 3x the value of the faulty skein.
I would honestly reach out to the company to complain and see if they might comp you a new one. 10 (TEN!!) factory joins alone is insane, but then seeing how some of those joins are to add literal scrap pieces into the ball makes me wonder if there's any kind of QA going on at all. I would be furious if I were in your shoes. Finding one or two factory joins is frustrating enough, but can't always be avoided; 10 feels like they're trying to scam you by selling you their waste.
Company stated that “up to 4 knots are considered acceptable” for their QA.
"So *by your own definition*, the product I am contacting you about is 150% out of compliance. Why do you expect me to let that slide?"
Did you tell them yours had 10?
Maybe a friendly Sesame Street video could help….
10! 10 knots! Ah ah ah
Omg I heard the Count's voice! 🥹 Good memories!!!!
1,2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10, 11,12 (oops can't use that 1) 😉
This might actually cause me to call the factory and complain.
I did actually reach out. They gave a generic response. At best I can jump through a bunch of hoops to get a coupon for the online store.
Very disappointing
I would call back and ask to speak to a supervisor because like you said their QA states up to 4 not 10 I mean come on
I came here expecting to say it’s not that bad but it IS that bad.
Caron has been notorious for this. Knot-torious? I just don’t buy their yarn any more for the generic response situation you explained.
I had never had any issues with Caron.... Until recently. I'm currently working with a Caron cake to make a birthday gift (first cardigan) for my roommate and good lord.... The amount of factory knots in these two cakes is RIDICULOUS. There were four in the first cake and so far I am up to 3 in the second and am only 1/4 into it. I'm not amused. (They've also made frogging this particular yarn a pain in the a--. I believe it's one of those damn cinnamon roll Caron cakes. Its cursed I tell you)
For me, it sure puts the “No!” in notorious.
😂 I remember being so excited about simply soft, it was… simply soft! But after 5 knots in less than 3 yards I was crying with regret.
At least there’s some good store brand copycats of Simply Soft. I like the Big Twist Shine a lot and made some lovely cabled gloves and matching hats with it for gifts. No factory knots! However… Simply Soft was on a really good sale for awhile there this winter and I knew better and yet…
Your prize is more knots! 🫶
Every.single. Caron skein I’ve ever purchased has been this way 🤦🏽♀️
What the hell are they doing over there?
For some reason this just made me picture a bunch of people in a yarn factory running round cutting through skeins and cakes randomly, while doing evil plan laughs 😈😂 “Why? ‘Cos fuck ‘em, that’s why!”
I have a Caron skein now and I’ve had three so far.
People who can do planned pooling are fucking deities to be honest. Sorry you had to deal with all the scrappy bits 😭
right and this would simply drive me insane 😭 imagine you get to an ugly factory knot and the colours go backwards
Literal magic. I don’t understand how people do it nsdbxhdb
So… I’m new to crochet. What is planned pooling?
there's whole subreddit for it if you're interested in seeing examples! the second pic in the post is an example of planned pooling -- OP didn't do color changes, but figured out what gauge & dimensions for a project would turn 1 variegated yarn into the plaid pattern r/Planned_Pooling
It’s when you use a color change yarn and more or less measure how many stitches you can do before the change and then use a pattern that coincides with the changes. I feel like that’s not a great explanation but that’s as far as I understand it lol 😂
This makes perfect sense to me. Thank you!
Oh god I had one like that recently but thankfully it was a solid color yarn and nothing like this. This is so upsetting. 😭 your prize is... Misery.
My lowest was zero in 12 skeins of big twist living. Max was 4 in a skein of bernat blanket
Wow y'all been unlucky. Bernat blanket with 4 knots would make me mad since it's only like 30-50 yards to begin with. 80-90% of the balls I've used are 0 knots. Recently a Walmart Mainstays cotton yarn had 2 knots which I thought was unusual.
Big Twist is pretty dang good in this respect. I was just commenting about their Shine which is their Simply Soft dupe. I am almost always happy with Big Twist- few factory knots, none of that weird Lion Brand thick-thin thing going on- just the best dang value yarn on the market and some of their limited edition yarns have been my absolute favorites. And oh gosh Bernat Blanket. I have this insane skein of black blanket yarn where I could never find either actual end but the yarn kept snapping endlessly as I tried to untangle or gently tug an end. I think I had 12 artificial ends and no joke- never did find the actual end/start of it!
Anger issues
How do you figure out the planned pooling project? I love the effect you have and want to try it since I don’t have any better ideas for how to use ombre/color-changing yarn, but it seems intimidating!
The r/Planned_Pooling sub has good resources. I do a test swatch with the yarn then play around with different sets in [Crochet Color Pooling](https://mathgrrl.com/crochet-color-pooling/) to find the pattern I like. Give it a try!
This is the first I'm hearing about planned pooling, or colour pooling in general, I love it!
I didn't know this had a name, but I do this when I make wearable with any kind of color changing yarn lol.
The prize should be for you actually managing to make something so flawless out of such a mess!
Hey what stitch is that if you dont mind me asking?
Moss stitch. Works really well with planned pooling.
I use this for double thickness pot holders. Love love love it.
It looks like moss stitch. (Sc, ch1,) then sc into the ch1 spaces from the previous row. I personally chain 3 to start my next row, but some people find* 1 or 2 better for them. *Edit: spelling
The prize is making up new swear words
I think it's Caron honestly!!! I'm making a blanket using their acrylic yarn cakes right now and each skein had at least 5 factory knots, it was horrible!! I HOPE it's just some batch issues and this won't become an ongoing thing, because their yarn is such a go to for me, great colorways that aren't too pricey. I wonder if they have a customer feedback form anywhere because it's actually getting ridiculous at this point, and if I wasn't almost done this blanket I would have just switched to a different brand already. Won't be buying Caron anytime soon again I'll say that much.
Wow that's a beautiful pattern! 10 KNOTS? I would be furious. Reach out to the manufacturer in an email and ask it to be escalated to a manager immediately. The least they should do is send you a box of yarn.
I had a ball of Lion Brand Pound of Love that was full of knots, and even had a few loose bits of thread stuffed in it. I was so mad! I ended up bagging it and throwing it in a scrap pile for stuffing things. My sanity was worth it. Your color-pooling looks great!
So many factory knots in a POOLING yarn?!? Blah! My condolences.
There's knot one.
That pooling is so pretty
"Not fit for purpose", they are well outside their own stated tolerances so this product is defective and they need to be refunding or replacing. Fight the good fight for all of us!
That's just unacceptable. The 4 they allow is already a lot.
This makes my eye twitch. Sorry
Shame on them.
man you fought that skein and WON !!! Dear lord
I was using a blanket weight fuzzy yarn, it was self striping, and one skein, EVERY SINGLE COLOR CHANGE was knotted, or some other weird join. It was so odd that it was that one skein as the others I used weren't that bad.
I thought 4 was bad :O I'd be so frustrated
Me, a newbie, discovering that factory knots are a regular thing and thankful I haven't encountered them so far. Honestly I should have expected it coming from cross stitch, but even then those skeins will OCCASIONALLY have ONE knot, where they obviously had to switch from one batch to the next. Why on earth would there ever be a need to have more than one though? It looks like instead of having 10 skeins with one knot as the batches ended, they took all the ends and wound them together into one super garbage yarn ball. That ball should literally be the ends they sell in bulk for next to nothing, not something that actually gets sold normally in store. I would absolutely continue to follow up with customer service until they give you some sort of solution, this is absolutely ridiculous!
Contact the CEO instead of customer service. I doubt they would be happy, especially when mentioning how many yarn groups etc you belong to.... suddenly changes their perspective on things.
Right now I'm extremely fortunate but Caron has always been my bane. (I'm on a blanket which requires five colors and I have 3 skeins of one and one each of the others, and somehow not a single one has had a knot.) Usually I'd say anywhere from 3-5 knots in one skein. Ten is....unfortunate. Pretty colorway, but that's a shame, really.
I remember me and my friend taking our whole entire lunch period to rewind her yarn that was given by another friend.
Omg what
Frustrating and unacceptable on their part, but very nicely handled on yours! I bet this was a hassle but looking at the finished work you would never guess anything amiss.
Based on all the comments, is it safe to assume to avoid wasting money on Caron yarn ? I've been eyeing it in stores but haven't bought it because of money.
Edward scissorhands must be working the factory line!
It's funny how the Chinese branded "Caron cotton" I buy is better quality than the actual stuff
I purchased a Carron cake that had 15 (!!!) Knots. So basically a knot every 2 feet. Just because I am skillful at hiding knots doesn't mean I WANT to hide knots on my project.
Did it mess up your color pooling? If they’re having all those knots I wonder if it made some colors shorter or longer in those sections? It looks great though!
Yeah, I have to rejoin at each knot to get the colors to line up.
I got 12 in a 50m skein once 💔
My big twist rave yarn was pretty comparable. i didn’t get any shorties thankfully so they were all usable but it was still frustrating
I wish I kept track. Had the same issue with the same brand. My first time crocheting in years and assumed it may be normal so I ignored and worked with it as best as possible.
Wow, that is infuriating!
They really did the most to reach the weight the label says 🤦🏾♀️
Oops! All Factory Knots
This is so frustrating, I'm sorry.
When I saw it was a planned pooling project I almost cried for you
okay but my mind is blown by the pattern you created. how did you achieve slide 2?
Planned pooling
I find Caron is so bad for this and I have no idea why. One of my blossom cakes has like six knots.
I just wanted to add that I LOVE the finished product! 🥰 the colours work so well with one another! (My attempts at colorful projects never turn out this well lol)
Omggggg amazeballs
Geez, I got 3 once and thought that was bad.
I know how you feel. A few weeks ago, I bought a skein of baby yarn on clearance to Finnish a project, but then it was unusable cause somehow the whole center was filled with red puff paint sticking it all together. How the world did that happen?
Oh this happened to me with three or four skeins of that Red Heart Hygge yarn (the really sleek and fuzzy kind) and it made one of my very first cardigans look moth-eaten when the knots started coming undone. This is absolutely ridiculous, I'm so sorry :c
Honestly i think this is kinda why I started buying yarn off of Temu. So far I haven't found any knots in any of the balls I've bought so far. Plus all the acrylic yarn is so soft i can use metal hooks with them without getting the icky brain feel. Extra plus, even if the balls are kinda small you're paying like $8 for like 2-5 balls depending on the what you bought (just read the descriptions carefully lol).
https://preview.redd.it/fqj2ysb63n9d1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=826a32d772d57c7a3a4939734a0b74e7a9ac6277
UPDATE: I finally found the receipt for this yarn and was able to jump through the customer service hoops. They promptly gave me a coupon for 3x the value of the faulty skein.
This is why I got a yarn winder. It makes neat little cakes and no knots.
I’m so disappointed with Yarnspirations. I’ve had problems with their products in the past.