A Million Pieces

IMPORTANT - Xmas delivery expectations

Summary: Delivery in time for Xmas for orders which are not yet placed (as of 27th Nov) is now slim to none - gift vouchers are available here instead! Please do still place your order if it's nothing to do with gifting, or if you're more than happy to give it as a late gift. More details below.

Orders for dyed to order yarn placed between 27th Nov - 12th Dec will not be worked on until 13th Dec onwards as I am having time off until 12th Dec. Please remember my dyeing lead times are 2-3 weeks, so if you place an order during that time which is for a Xmas present, I cannot get these orders to you before Xmas and it will have to be given as a late present (which still counts!) 🥰 

Ready to ship orders placed between 27th Nov - 12th Dec will not be shipped until I am back to work from 13th Dec, and are likely to be packed between 13th Dec - 15th Dec. Please note that I cannot guarantee these will reach you prior to Xmas if they are for Xmas gifts, due to the volumes going through the postal system.

As usual, any orders containing a mix of DTO and RTS will be posted once the DTO yarn is ready - please do not expect me to split parcels to send your RTS separately as I can't afford the extra postage costs. You can place separate orders if you'd like to order a mix and need the RTS sooner.

Clearly there are many people who aren't ordering for Xmas, and don't need it to arrive by 25th December, so just place your order as normal if this is you!

Order processing times (delivery cost info below, scroll down)

I am a neurodivergent chronically ill creator working full time on this beautiful yarn business alongside, so please do allow me some lead time 'wiggle room' for your order, to enable me to pace myself if I am feeling more unwell than usual on any given day 🩷

I will of course communicate my expected order processing times to you if I'm having difficulties or if I've had a large volume of orders to work through, if I find I'm pushing into what I consider 'overdue' territory (usually 3 weeks since you placed the order), but if you're unsure what's happening with your order at any time, please do just email me to ask 🤗 

Please also check your junk folder for any shipping confirmation before getting in touch about an overdue order, as some email providers like to rudely put me there.

Current lead times

The current lead time for shipping yarn which is Dyed To Order is 2-3 weeks (unless a more specific preorder date was stated on the product listing). Please note upcoming holidays mention above, and below, which will impact on the lead time for orders placed after 20th November.

Anything you have purchased which is Ready To Ship doesn't mean immediate despatch, but it does mean I'll usually get them posted within a week or so for you depending on my order volumes. Again, please note my upcoming holidays and the cut off dates given for RTS orders.

Pattern purchases

After ordering, you will receive the PDF via email manually from me. You must ensure the email address you are using is valid as I will be using it to send you the PDF. I will be emailing them at least once a day.

Patterns are also available as an automatic download in my Patreon shop.

Upcoming holidays which may impact orders 

I will be unavailable to work on outstanding orders from 5th December to 12th December, and will pick up all outstanding work from 13th December onwards. 

Pattern PDFs will still be emailed once a day.

Customs/VAT

Customers are responsible for all customs VAT/duties fees on receipt of Goods. 

None of my prices include VAT, so you may be charged VAT by your country's customs authorities before the parcel will be released to you, according to the goods value threshold in your country. I am not in control of this, and I do not control the admin fees you may incur on top of the VAT charges. Please take this into account when ordering.

Delivery information by region

UK orders

UK parcel P&P is currently £4.00 on orders up to £79.99, free postage applies for UK orders over £80. All are sent tracked with Royal Mail.

Europe - no shipping available

I am currently unable to ship to Europe, please accept my sincere apologies. If I am able to change this in future, I will in a heartbeat.

International orders excl. Europe

Please note, I will try to keep orders over 2kg in one parcel, but they may be split into multiple parcels if the size goes over the maximum dimensions.

Below is a table of postage costs based on the weight of your order. I will refund any overage of P&P you paid at the time of ordering after I have generated the postage label (though most of the prices below are at a slight loss to me, so overages are unlikely).

Care instructions

I would always recommend hand-washing in cool water to keep your finished items in good condition for as long as possible, though with any Superwash yarn you can of course pop it into the washing machine if required (I have washed my socks on occasion in the washing machine, they're still looking good colour-wise, but I only do it maybe once or twice a year, doing hand-washes for the most part).

Bleeding and crocking

Before we begin, bleeding and crocking are totally normal (though don't necessarily happen with every colourway or every skein) and can occur with both hand dyed and commercially dyed yarns. They happen when loose dye particles which couldn't heat set into the already-saturated yarn come out in water (bleeding), or onto your hands as you're working with it (crocking).

I rinse as many excess dye particles out of my yarn after it has finished the heat setting process as I can, but due to the way some dye particles behave, there could always be some left behind that will release during the lifetime of the yarn. They may not always come out in that first rinse, despite thorough rinsing before it leaves me and gets to you ❤️

Bleeding: I don't usually encounter any bleeding when I block my yarn swatches, or any finished objects I actually complete in my yarn (using a light amount of Soak, always in cold water), but due to the nature and behaviour of some dyes, and other variables such as the hardness of your water compared to mine, you might find some bleeding may occur when soaking.

You can use a colour-catcher when you are soaking your finished item to try to catch loose dye particles which may bleed out of the yarn. 

Crocking: I also don't usually encounter any crocking, but this is said to vary for each crocheter/knitter as per the pH on your hands (and if you've recently used any hand cream). Any dye transferred onto your hands while working with any yarn will wash off with soap.

Sheep welfare

The yarn wholesalers I use are committed to sourcing all of their wool from farms which comply with high animal welfare standards.

My main yarn base - BFL, Bluefaced Leicester - is a British breed of sheep and is all sourced from individual farms in the UK by the British Wool Marketing Board, and graded to ensure its high quality.

Any Merino I use is certified as mulesing free, mainly from Australia, and they source the remainder from South America and South Africa where mulesing is not practiced. Their Kid Mohair is sourced from South Africa, and Alpaca is from Peru from small family owned smallholdings.

Superwash

The Superwash yarns I use are treated using the Hercosett process, and my wholesalers only use reputable companies to superwash their fibres, who hold ISO14001 accreditation and/or engage in best practice with regard to environmental performance and waste water treatment and re-use.

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to get in touch using the Contact form.

Tracey 🌈

Email me at tracey@traceymustard.com, or submit your query here.