The Great "Smelly Yarn" Debacle

Okay...some of you have heard or read about a certain yarn having a funny smell to it. If you know the one I'm referring to, great. If you don't, it doesn't matter now because it turns out to be an isolated incident.

And that's my point.

Every once in a while a manufacturer might have a production issue. Or a problem that occurs during shipping. Or there's been a mistake with storage once it gets to a distributor. Usually, these issues are discovered and resolved immediately.

We had a similar incident once when we opened up bags of yarn and they had a funny smell. Funny's not quite the right word. Horrible is more like it.

It turns out that they were produced and packed under very humid conditions, so they hadn't dried properly. Well, you should have seen our place! Everywhere you looked we had skeins hanging up to dry. In a couple of days, all was well and the yarns were perfect.

In this recent case, a certain color seemed to have a smell. But this was not in the United States, and the yarn had a different distributor than what we have here.

Still, when we learned of the concern, we ran out into our warehouse and started sniffing. We opened bags and bags and were snorting wool. (Hint: It doesn't get you high.)

We found one bag that we thought smelled like the plastic it was in, so we laid it our for a few hours and it was just fine. But that's about it.

Soooo...if you're concerned about this brand of yarn smelling funny, it doesn't. We've got some of the best sniffers around and they assured me it was perfect.

I do have to let you know that there are some yarns that have an absolutely delightful smell. I'm sitting in my office right now inhaling the gorgeous Aveda fragrance that Natalie uses for her Namaste Farms yarns.

Ahhhh...