Allocate Yarn Orders Without Breaking Up the Only Large Dye Lot

The total stock for a color does not tell you whether one project can be supplied from a single dye lot. Keep the lot label beside the skein count throughout picking.

Try the larger project first

Suppose lot A contains six skeins and lot B contains four. Two orders need four and six skeins. Filling the four-skein order from A leaves two in A and four in B. The second order now needs a mixed lot even though six skeins remain.

Assigning the six-skein order to A and the four-skein order to B fills both from single lots. This is a simple example of why the sequence of allocations matters. Largest-first is a useful manual starting point, not a guarantee of the best allocation for every combination.

Reserve only after review

Create columns for yarn line, color, lot label, physical location and available quantity. List pending orders by internal order ID and requested quantity. Preview an assignment, inspect it, then subtract the reserved quantity from that lot. Do not reserve the same skeins twice.

Unknown lot labels should remain unresolved. A matching printed label also does not replace a visual check of the yarn. Customer requests and your actual fulfillment policy still govern exceptions.

Use a fresh stock count

A 2026 yarn discussion includes a seller describing same-lot picking and contacting customers when lots must be mixed. POSIM already supports detailed dye-lot inventory.

LotTogether is a planned $19 one-time allocation worksheet. It would work from a manually verified snapshot, so it cannot prevent online sales from changing stock while you plan.