Fiber Dreams

A history. In June I said:

I got one of your swifts through Patternworks a number of years ago. It worked *great* up until recently. It no longer spins as easily as it should, and when used with a ball winder (which works fine on its own) makes impossibly dense/tight balls, way over-stretching the yarn.

After a couple email messages back and forth verifying that it is indeed one of their swifts, they said (please pay special attention to the last sentence):

If you would like to send it to us, we can determine what is wrong, fix it and send it back to you. Our address [address removed to protect the guilty]. There is no charge for fixing it.

That was all back in late June and early July. As I posted late last week, I finally got a box, verified that I could still send the swift to them, and mailed it out. This afternoon I got this:

     We received your umbrella swift in fine shape. I have just put a skein of yarn on it and wound the yarn into a ball. Your swift worked very well. We see no problem with it. I do notice what you might be concerned about. When the yarn is gone, the center wooden part does not fall down. My other swifts will fall down when you let go, but this does not affect it’s functioning.

     [Stuff here about my swift being older, having been made at a different factory (same company, though) than hers.]

     The only way to make your swift close like mine does would be to re-make the rivets in the wooden splats. The rivets hold the splats tightly together. If the rivets were looser, then the swift would close. That would cost more than purchasing a new one and yours functions just fine. Not closing does not affect it’s functioning.

     We will send it back.

I’m sure you can imagine my response. Only early this year my swift was working perfectly, now it can hardly wind a ball. I wrote back. I wanted to know what kind of yarn she wound. I specified troubles with sock yarn and with it actually breaking lace weight yarn. I reminded her that I had a promise of free repair. Why waste my time and money if you’re not going to fix it? I got this back:

     Now I understand what the problem is. The tightness of the turning is based on how tightly you push up the holder (the one with the small screw). If you push it up very tightly, stretching the skein of yarn tight, yes, it will not turn very well, as it is just too tight. The top of the swift is pushed tightly against the wooden ball at the top and the bottom is pressing tightly against the holder with the small screw. That will happen with my swifts also. When you let the holder down a little, it spins beautifully.

     All swifts are like that. Perhaps when the swift was new, you were reluctant to tighten it so tightly.

     I put on a skein of wool yarn on it and wound the yarn into a ball and it turned as easily as my swift turns. It is simply a matter of not tightening it too tightly.

     If there was something wrong with it, we would fix it. But I cannot find anything wrong with it.

Pardon me, but it does not spin beautifully. Not any more. Not even when there’s no yarn on it. Not compared with Kristie’s swift. Hrmph. What’s with that “perhaps when it was new” garbage? What about earlier this year when it was only six months younger than it is now. It’s still only ten years old. Maybe eleven. Certainly it’s not as old as the one I used at my LYS this summer, and that one still works beautifully. She put “a skein of wool yarn” on it? What? Bulky? Or what? When I specifically said “laceweight”? Tightening, smightening. Bull. If she thinks there’s nothing wrong with that swift she’s blind as a bat. Or in denial. Or stupid.

One more thing. I only pushed it up that high for the picture. I don’t wind yarn with it that high. Please. I push it up only high enough to keep the yarn from falling off. Doh.

Most of this I didn’t bother telling her. Waste of time. She still wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with my swift.

When my swift gets home Dave’ll be more aggressive in his attempts to repair it. I mean, what have we got to lose? It doesn’t work at this point, so he can’t hurt it.

I’m telling you one thing, if Dave can’t fix it, if it does need to be replaced, then I’m getting a different brand. Anyone have any suggestions? What brand of mounted swift do you have?

Remind me not to send my computer to these people to fix. That blue screen? There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s supposed to do that.

Sorry about the rant. Had.to.get.it.out. Actually, I need to rant some more. I’m not done. But I won’t bother you all with it. Can’t without repeating myself. Often. Loudly.

Have to say, though, that the beer is helping.

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