KnitCosmicStrings

Our yarns are superwash but we recommend you hand wash yarns in cool water and dry flat to extend their life and prevent felting. As our yarn is hand dyed, each skein will differ slightly, even within the same dye lot, therefore we suggest that for larger projects you alternate between skeins.

Some colour bleeding may happen when you first wash your yarn, particularly if you have yarn with intense colours, so it is best to wash your items separately. You may want to avoid using light coloured yarn with more intense coloured yarns, until you have tested for colour bleeding by washing your skein first.

We use Royal Mail 1st class for standard shipping in the UK.

We ship internationally using Royal Mail International Shipping service which aims to deliver within 5-7 business days. International customers have the option to upgrade to a tracked service.

Shipping days are adjusted according to the volume of orders but are usually on Tuesday and Friday.

*All times are estimates of the shipping companies and we cannot guarantee the delivery date after your package has been dispatched*

We stock 4ply weight yarn, which is also known as fingering and sock yarn. All our merino wool is sustainable and cruelty free. We have various blends of wool, nylon, silk and yak. Some of our yarns are normal twist, some are high twist and we have single ply yarn, which means that it is spun from one thread, so has fewer twists and is softer. They can all be used for any 4ply pattern, just check your tension with a tension square first.

Sometimes, we may have a small range of DK yarn, which is a very versatile weight yarn, used for a wide range of projects and we sometimes have "chunky" yarn (UK), also known as "bulky" (US).

Colour pooling happens when the same colour clumps together on repeated rows, and flashing is when the clumping shifts slightly along. This can happen with all yarn that is not one solid colour, depending on the number of stitches you are working and project size. In order to prevent pooling and flashing, you may wish to test your gauge before knitting your final piece. Otherwise, you can alternate your knitting from either end of your skein. If you are making a larger project, consider alternating every few rows between skeins - this also solves the problem of variation between skeins. Try not to think of swatching as wasted time: "swatching is like meeting someone new for coffee before going on a week long camping holiday with them"!

We reskein all our yarn before dyeing it and we ship our yarn to you with ties on to maintain the center of the skein. It is very important that you place your skein on whatever you are winding from (e.g. a swift or chair), BEFORE cutting off the ties! Otherwise, you risk losing the perfect center and the yarn will tangle as you unwind it, creating a messy nightmare! If some strands seem to be folded, please double check that you have found the exact middle. The most common reason for tangles is caused by looser winds of the skein that have dropped down from your swift. We recommend you cake or ball your yarn slowly and check that this has not happened. Alternatively, we offer a caking service!