I received a reply today, only 12 days after e-mailing my complaint. Not too shabby. For those who didn't see or have forgotten my "Complaint" article:

The more I looked at my new teal socks the more dissatisfied I became. It's OK for socks but what if I had knit a baby sweater out of these two balls? It would have turned out awful. I wouldn't give it away, let alone try to sell it. Therefore, I have sent off a letter of complaint along with a photograph of the socks. I await a reply.

To whom it may concern.

I recently finished knitting a pair of socks with Patons Kroy Socks FX and I am very displeased with how they turned out. I purchased two balls of the same dye lot (210978), at the same store, at the same time.
My first complaint is that they do not appear to be of the same dye lot. There is an oatmeal colour in one sock that is not in the other.
My second complaint is that the order of the coloured bands is reversed. At least, they would be if they were of the same dye lot. At first I thought I had started one sock from the middle and the other from the outside but I always start my balls from the middle as I don't like the balls rolling around as I knit.
This was the first time I have used Patons Kroy Socks FX and I am most reluctant to purchase it again if this is typical of this yarn.
Thank you for your attention.


This is the reply I received today:

"Dear: Margaret,

Thank you for contacting our company. With regards to your concern about the pattern in the Kroy FX yarn, there is no perceivable problem with the yarn itself the FX is a random patterning yarn. It is meant to create an interesting ‘effect’ – hence ‘FX’ and the socks will not match exactly in terms of the patterning-colors remain the same but the way they flow together creates the effect.

This product is a 4 ply yarn and it is combined of four different strands of a variegated yarn which is all different as well and they are spun together making each ball a little different and unique. That is why two socks will not be identical.

We sincerely apologize for the difficulties you have experienced, and appreciate your comments. It is not our policy to replace yarn as we sell to the retail stores and they in turn sell to the consumer. We will make an exception this one time and send you some complimentary yarn if you would like to forward your address. In the future if you have any products that you feel are defective please return to the point of purchase.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention and thank you for using our products.

Yours truly,

SPINRITE INC.

Leah Cherrey
Customer Service"


Perhaps I should have pointed out to Ms Cherrey that I got their e-mail addy off of the Patons website. "General Inquiries
For all other concerns such as membership, quality issues, newsletter etc. Please contact us at inquire@patonsyarns.com or call us at 1-888-368-8401." It does state "quality issues".

And this is my reply to their reply:

"Dear Ms Cherrey,
Thank you for taking the time to explain the FX yarn to me. However, I don't understand the point of having dye lot numbers if the yarns aren't necessarily supposed to match."

And YES, I did include my address for the complimentary ball of yarn. After all, I'm a knitter and no true knitter would willingly say no to a free ball of yarn, no matter how grudgingly it is given. It will probably be some acrylic cr@p that I can knit another charity hat with.