Frequently asked questions

I want to buy your yarns! Where can I find them?

Fyberspates are now a wholesale-only company, so we do not retail directly to the public, but we have a whole host of lovely retailers who sell our yarns! Check out our map of retailers here mainly with physical stores for the UK, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, the U.S.A and the rest of the world.

Do you do single patterns?

We prefer to sell single patterns through Ravelry, there are links to each pattern on the pattern pages. If you are a retailer, our patterns are also part of the Ravelry LYS in-store programme.

Can I buy a single pattern from one of your books?

Some patterns from our Fyberspates books are available as single leaflets or Ravelry downloads. Patterns from independent designer books are not available individually.

I’m struggling to find one of your products, can you help?

I can’t see one of your yarns or shades on your website, is it still available?

Usually, if a shade or yarn is missing from our website it has been discontinued. We constantly review our yarn ranges to keep them fresh!

I want to stock your yarns! How do I set up an account?

Awesome! Please contact us using this form and we’ll get back to you!

How accurate are the yarn colours on your website?

We try our best to make our photos as accurate as possible but every screen displays colour slightly differently, so we cannot guarantee complete accuracy. Hand-dyed yarns vary from one batch to the next so there will always be some variation between the photo and each individual skein.

I’m knitting a larger project with your hand-dyed yarns, will the skeins be identical?

As with all processes done by hand, no two hand-dyed skeins can ever be absolutely identical, so we strongly recommend striping your yarn in when using more than one skein in a project. When using any of our hand-dyed yarns (Vivacious 4ply, Vivacious DK and Gleem Lace) work two rows from one skein and then two rows from your second skein, carrying the yarn not in use up the side of your work, this will minimise the difference between skeins.

I’m planning a project using more than one colour, should I swatch?

We would ALWAYS recommend swatching for any project, to check your tension and yarn choice works with the pattern you want to make, but when planning a project that uses two or more colours, it is even more important, especially if you are using a lighter shade with a very dark or saturated one. Regulations on dyes now are very strict, while this means that dyes are now non-toxic, it also means that they cannot be guaranteed to be 100% colourfast, so always wash your swatch as you would your garment, to make sure the colours won’t bleed before you commit to a full-sized project.

Some dye is coming off my yarn onto my fingers when I knit with it, what should I do?

Dye transfer from dry yarn as you are knitting with it is called crocking. This doesn’t happen because the dye isn’t fixed properly, but is due to excess dye particles which loosen as the yarn rubs against your fingers when you knit with it (a bit like blue dye rubbing off a new pair of jeans).

Our Vivacious and Gleem yarns are dyed in layers of colour, the yarn is boiled as each layer of colour is added (fixing each layer), then rinsed to remove excess dye and finally steamed to ensure the colours are fixed. Sometimes the top layer over-saturates the yarn on the stronger colours, so the yarn fibres can't take all the dye in. In darker shades, crocking tends to be more common because the yarn is saturated and cannot bond with any more dye molecules. It’s also more likely with blue dyes. All the dyes we use are non-toxic, so the colour is harmless and should wash off your hands. Some knitters experience crocking more often than others as it is partly due to your individual skin pH.

If you experience crocking when knitting with our yarns, we would recommend washing your finished project with a delicate machine washing detergent either by hand for our lace-weight yarns (Gleem Lace and Scrumptious Lace), or in the machine at 30 degrees on a delicate or hand wash cycle for Vivacious 4ply, Vivacious DK and Scrumptious 4ply, which should remove any excess dye particles. Add a colour catcher sheet to the wash if you've used more than one shade in your project.

My yarn is bleeding when I wash my project, what should I do?

Most colour bleeding is caused by excess dye molecules (see above) which will rinse out.

First, rinse your project a few times in clean cold water (not warm or hot water). If the yarn is still bleeding after rinsing, we would recommend washing your finished project in the machine at 30 degrees on a delicate or handwash cycle (or by hand for Gleem Lace or Scrumptious Lace) with a delicate machine washing detergent, which should remove any excess dye particles, and adding a colour catcher sheet to the wash if you've used both shades together in your project.

Don't be tempted to add vinegar to the water and heat the yarn especially if your project uses more than one colour as this will only set the excess dye molecules from the darker yarns onto the lighter yarns in your project. This is because the darker or more saturated shades have already taken as much dye as they can so the dye molecules will fix to the lighter yarns which are not yet saturated and have places for the molecules to bond to.

If you are still having problems after following this advice, please contact us.

What should I use to wash my finished project?

We recommend a normal delicate wash detergent (a delicate machine washing liquid from the supermarket is perfect). Avoid using no-rinse detergents, particularly scented versions as these tend to strip colour from the yarn and encourage bleeding. If your project uses more than one shade we would recommend using a colour catcher sheet.