Mystery Malabrigo?

#1

So I finally got my hands on some lovely Malabrigo! I recently moved from Buffalo, where my LYSs didn’t carry it, to Boston, where I found it at the first LYS I went to. Now I know what everyone has been raving about.

But my recent purchase was a bit mysterious. I found a gorgeous hank of purple/lilac/gray/green labeled “Pearl.” It was the only one on the shelf, but the super helpful salesgal said she thought they had more in back and she checked. Turns out that all the other hanks labeld “Pearl” were much much lighter, almost white, not anything like my hank. Then we noticed that the dye lot date on the label was from May 2005. She figured that this one hank was left over from the first shipment that the store got, over a year ago.

So what I’m wondering is:

  1. Does anyone know whether the color of “Pearl” has changed?
    OR
  2. Is my hank simply mis-labeled, and if so what color is this?

Thanks for any input!

#2

I went to a website that had the purple/gray labeled as “pearl,” and the almost white labeled as “natural.”

You might contact the Malabrigo folks personally to see what’s up.

#3

if you look here it looks more like burgundy (top row)

#4

yep but then it also looks like black forest to me too (8th row down)… :??

#5

nods

actually i think those two look almost identical but different dye lots :teehee:

it isn’t impossible that they are mislabled. I have some that is clearly a different color than what is pictured. Thankfully i didn’t need more! :wink:

#6

And the real burgandy looks nothing like that color at all.

#7

I looks like Marron Oscuro, to me. :teehee:

#8

I am not sure what happened, but I am guessing at “the moral of the story”:
If you buy Malabrigo, buy it all in one dyelot, and remember you can’t be sure exactly what it’ll look like; just because you’ve purchased that color before.
I like the unique aspect of it :thumbsup:
But it would be hard to buy online; since it varies so much…
Unless of course you like to gamble, or you just need a Malabrigo fix…

#9

malabrigo is dyed in lots of only 10 hanks (the number of hanks per bag that the yarn stores get) and they really make no guarantees as to similarities between dye lots since they kinda can’t being it’s kettle dyed by hand. i’m sure they can record the dye liquors they use, but even that doesn’t guarantee it.

however, if you REALLY REALLY love this color and you are friendly with someone of influence at your yarn store, i have heard the malabrigo guy will do special requests. when i met the local yarn rep for malabrigo, he had 2 hanks with color names that were listed nowhere. they had been “invented” for a convention and not officially continued. i’ve heard he’s quirky like that, so there is a chance you could get a bag of a color you wanted. malabrigo is in pretty high demand right now so they’re almost dyeing to order from what i hear.

#10

yeah… that’s just the nature of Malabrigo… but eeet’s preeeeety, no?

#11

Whatever it is, its a beautiful color.

#12

Beautiful yarn. What is it typically used for…Sweaters, scarves?

:eyebrow: Yet another yarn to go hunting for…

#13

mostly it is used for fondling.

#14

:teehee:

#15

Im using mine for a poncho and a scraf. The other two colors I have dont know what they want to be yet :shrug:

#16

i’ve made a scarf, a hat, and now the kenobi jacket (click below) in sealing wax is OTN.