Just wanted to follow up on a previous post I made about Mystical Creation Yarns. They’ve since closed their Etsy store, after all the hullabaloo about bad yarn experiences and equally bad customer service incidents. (MCY’s official position, stated on their blog though, is that they don’t have the resources to keep up with all the orders. Maybe it’s a combination of both.)
I made an order several weeks ago (actually, two orders) and have kind of been on pins and needles, waiting to see if A) my yarn would even arrive and B) if it did, what would the quality be like and C) if I had any problems, how would MCY handle them?
Well, the yarn arrived yesterday. Four out of five skeins, that is. I immediately checked what I did receive, and they’re all correct. Correct colorways with correct fibers. (Cashmere, tencel, silk.) So I hopped onto my email and asked Danielle, who runs MCY, if she could help me with my missing skein. She replied not long after that and said that they’re sending me my missing skein. yay! 
Honestly, I’m really perplexed by other knitters’ horrible experiences. This is my third order with MCY (first was through their Etsy store, second was through their Ebay one), and I’ve never experienced the nightmares that other people have reported. True, shipping is slower than I would like and what I’m used to from other sellers. But other than that, I’m ok with my purchases.
I think maybe MCY has just grown so huge and does so much business that they get behind in dyeing (which is understandable), and which explains slow shipping times. Also, I’m wondering how the other knitters are addressing their concerns with MCY. I’ve read reports on Danielle being rude in emails, but she has never been rude with me. Email etiquette gets kind of fuzzy sometimes, so maybe some people are sending her emails like, “where’s my stuff??” and she’s taking that as offensive, or something. It’s possible.
At any rate, I have most of my yarn and the other one is on the way. I immediately wound a skein of tencel laceweight in the Grapes colorway. I am actually going to attempt lace. Real lace! I cast on the Candle Flame Shawl from Knit Picks. I’m hoping it turns out ok, since this is my first non-sock lace project and just seems so much more challenging. The lace chart, however, is VERY confusing, at least to me. So I dug in my saved patterns folder on my computer, and I found the original PDF file that Knit Picks posted for the pattern. Its chart has every repeat shown, rather than the one that’s currently online (if that makes sense). It’s not as easy to see since the grid is smaller, but it’s easier to read because every stitch is shown.
Anyway, back to MCY…normally, I’m influenced by other people’s experiences and opinions when shopping online, but in this case, I think I might break from the pack. As long as my missing skein does show up in the next couple weeks, I’ll probably order from them again. Maybe I’ve just gotten really lucky, but this is my third time buying from them and I’m pretty satisfied as a shopper. I do think it’s sad that other knitters have had negative experiences with them, but personally, I haven’t had any and I really enjoy their yarn. I should add, though, that I haven’t washed any of their yarn and I have heard about bad bleeding issues with some of their fibers, so I’ll see how that turns out.
So I’m using the Candle Flame Shawl as my guinea pig for knitting with MCY’s yarn, and so far, I’m enjoying it. Working with laceweight is so different since I’m used to fingering weight or thicker. It’s kind of like knitting with thread. But this tencel yarn is so strong, so I’m not worried about snapping it. And it’s sooooo shiny. I lovelovelove tencel!
I will keep posting updates on how both the shawl and yarn come along, so stay tuned for that.
Lace knitting is really fun. There is something that feels so right (hehe) about knitting with really thin yarn and tiny needles
I’m really glad that you’ve had such a positive experience with them, but the one thing that really concerned me was how many people had issues with the dye running out when they washed/blocked it. Have you rinsed any of your yarn to see what happens?
Good to hear that your experience with the MYC has been good and satisfying. I haven’t ordered from them since I’ve seen so many not so friendly reviews. Maybe when things start slowing down, I’ll give them a look see.
Can’t wait to see your finished project.
kc: I’m still trying to get a hang of the Candle Flame repeat, so attempt #1 has already been frogged.
I’m going to try casting it on again with one of the other colorways and see how that looks. 
Good idea! I just took one of the other tencel skeins (which is a really vibrant colorway) and soaked it in water. The dye bled, but I rinsed it several times till the water ran clear and the dye hasn’t seemed to fade. I’m thinking that they just didn’t rinse it thoroughly. It looks like the colors did set, though. phew!
Jennie: thanks, me too!
I’ve ordered from them once thru their etsy store. When I did it, I was living in TX. But my paypal account still had my MI bank account attached to it. I totally FLIPPED when I thought I had ordered yarn on a closed-account! Ends up it was the MI account I *didn’t* close. So I had this flurry of flakey emails to them.
To make things worse…I forgot to ever change my paypal mailing address from MI to TX.
But you know what???? They STILL got it to me within a week! And that’s with the PO forwarding it!
So yeah, I don’t know what all the hullaballoo is about either!
I’m glad it’s not just me!
Lace isn’t that hard. Intimidating, yes. Hard, no. Follow the charts/directions, throw in somelifelines (I wish I’d know that when I first did lace, they really are a life saver!), and you should be fine.