Maybe it's something in the water?

All of my suppliers have gone insane, aparently. Last night when I was rinsing out a second batch of roving from my last order, I realized what's been bothering me about this roving... it doesn't feel right when it's wet. It's been dyeing up with streaks of undyed bits, like it's got a small percentage of plant fibers. And it *hasn't fallen apart once*. This stuff that's labelled superwash merino/tencel is NOT tencel... and I'm pretty sure the merino component isn't even superwash! It FELTED when I rinsed it. I have never felted any roving in my (admittedly short) dyeing career.

In fact, this felted so badly that two 4 ounce pieces felted the ENDS together so that it was one long piece. I had to vigorously tease the ends apart.

I am going to have to call my supplier today, and I am not looking forward to this conversation. This is the third supplier snafu I've had since January, not all from the same supplier, but still! I'm afraid they're going to get the brunt of all my frustration. It can't be helped though... I can't afford to absorb a $100 loss from their mistake. And since I've dyed up about 40% of the order, I'm not sure they're going to be able to send me the right stuff. I think the best I can hope for is they identify what they really did send me so I can label it properly. The batch that felted is probably toast, though. And by toast I mean I'm going to have to absorb that... more "Oops Collection" items for me to spin personally.

There are other, cheaper, places for me to get my roving. I *like* this supplier though because they have a great variety, and the quality is very nice... when I GET what I ORDER. :/

So, nothing on the horizon for the shop... unless some miracle happens and they send me what I originally ordered as an apology. The Batik idea I was working on has been put aside... the wax removal process is disgustingly messy. It's very labor-intensive compared to what I could charge for the pieces. I would also want to order cold-water reactive dyes to do it properly, and I just don't want to incur that kind of expense at this time.