Dye Lots

I bought some stuff from KnitPicks.com a few weeks ago and to get my order up over the $50 mark (FREE Shipping, don't yah know) I bought one skein of "Last Chance Colors" yarn. 462 yards/100 grams of 75% wool, 25% nylon sock yarn in kettle dyed "Grasshopper" colorway - $6.99, not bad.

It arrived promptly and I liked it.

Then I stepped on my size 4 needle and broke it.
Yes, I should know better than to try on the tabi toe socks while they're still on the needles, but how else am I going to know if the toes are long enough and when it's time to turn the heel.

So, since I had to order new size 4 Harmony needles from Knit Picks, I decided to get four more skeins of that nice Grasshopper sock yarn. That would be enough to make a dandy big shawl.

The KnitPicks box arrived promptly.

The new skeins of yarn are not the same color. Nor are they in the same format. The first skein was "Stroll", the sock yarn formerly known as "Essential." The second order was that former yarn known as "Essential." Same yarn, really, except for the dye lot. The four new skeins are yellower and less variegated than the original skein. I don't like them as well.

Ah well, live and learn. And four skeins, 1,848 yards, is still more than enough to make a dandy big shawl. With the favorite skein left over for getting creative -- socks, hat, scarf, mittens, who knows what it will become.