"Cast Off - Diversity wars are raging in the knitting world'

[AncientLights]

I've kept the title from the article in the print version of The Spectator 28 Sept, as I can't improve on it.

It's the most astonishing piece - well, astonishing and yet horribly familiar to us here. I'll summarise as it's not the done thing to do a big c&p job and would also be a kick in the financial teeth of the Speccy, who have done so much, via James Kirkup, to publicise the illogicality of the trans movement.

There is a knitter called Nathan Taylor whose online name is 'Sockmatician' - he sounds an interesting character, shall I say. Sockmatician seems to have cause huge offence (and here I will quote as it's so bonkers) by posting 'a poem on Instagram about 'diversknitty' in which he boasted it was a year since he had founded this hashtag, and asked that people use it kindly, rather than attacking one another'. Seems Taylor was committing violence against Bipoc (black & indigenous people of colour, it says here) by telling them how to make their arguments about inclusion, tone policing from a white man - utterly unacceptable.

The war started & raged on. Sockmatation has MH problems, was hospitalised, messages from his husband held no sway. Things got really bad with the yarn festival: yarn producers & other knitting personalities (who knew?) couldn't believe Sockmatition hadn't been uninvited, someone was glad she hadn't been able to attend after all as she'd have been unable to teach her session knowing he was down the hall. Unsupported allegations online about an assault. His patterns have been dropped from two books, one of which was the first official Harry Potter knitting book - the cover was reshot to remove Sockmatition's work. His business has suffered a 75% drop in sales.

There's a similar story about a Kate Davies who is based in the Scottish Highlands. She wouldn't join in denouncing people for their 'transgressions', so she's been attacked, too.

I read it thinking it must be an allegory but have come to the conclusion it's genuine. It is total, stark-staring madness and I can only keep saying to myself and to anyone else who will listen 'How on earth have we come to this?'

FlaviaAlbia it happens a lot when you get men in female dominated professions such as midwifery as well.

As to what will happen next- no idea with regards to the content creators who are being put through the wringer; or with regards to the people initiating the dogpiling. I hope KD and Sockmatician's businesses survive and thrive despite all this and that they recover from the horrible stuff they've been put through.

On the consumer side, I doubt the majority of knitters and crocheters give a shit about identity politics, they just want to do their hobby. It will probably breed more resentment towards the left though, if people are pushed out of hobby communities - especially if they don't feel 'privileged' because they're suffering under capitalism. The witch hunters seem to forget, you don't change people's outlook by shaming them and making them feel like shit for asking a question or refusing to participate in a mob; and people who are driven out of communities for woke nonsense like this don't just vanish into thin air- they still exist, and they go away and maybe start to think that the Right have a point, because they can't even do their hobby without being called a racist.

I have knitted since the early 2000s and was around when Ravelry first came into being. Before that, it was all Craftster and Knitter's Review. Ravelry was just so big and excitingI spent a lot of time on there. Yes, it was definitely left leaning (but in a sensible way, for the most part)and yes, it was US-centric, but that was OK. It never stopped me from enjoying the site.

Since having two kids my knitting and crocheting dropped off quite a bit and I discovered MN so that took over most of the time that I am able to spend idly web surfing. I kept my page open at Ravelry but hadn't checked in there for the longest time. My idea was to get back into knitting and crocheting once my youngest was in daycare and sleeping through, and I just confidently assumed that the same old Revelry would be there and just as much fun as ever.

So this is... interesting to read. And at the same time, just so bloody depressing. Like, OK, so the stupid woke culture has spoiled yet ANOTHER thing that we all used to enjoy. Time to go and dust off the Knitter's Review site and see if it's still going? At least the conversation there was actually about knitting and crocheting, not white tears and tone argument accusations.

From my rabbit hole research into the Ravelry issue there was at least an element of snobbery involved in the Trump ban, I didn't archive it but I came across a screenshot of someone saying something along the lines of the Trump ban having the bonus effect of removing some of the acrylic afghan fans from the site.

See, this gets on my fucking tits. Most people can't afford to buy lovingly hand-dyed 100% wool from an artisan that costs £10 a skein and frequently runs out of stock- especially if they're making something like an afghan; you might need 10-20 skeins depending on how big it is.

The classism is staggering.

The tablet recipe was originally in a food mag so should be searchable on Google, mine is scrawled illegibly on a filthy scrap of paper at home, if I can find it I'll put it up.

Yup @BeardedVulture, it's plain unkind, I myself have knitted everything from handspun lace shawls and proper fairisle but last year I made a huge crochet granny square blanket in acrylic, it would have cost a fortune in wool. It was supposed to wean me off my phone, ha!

I doubt the majority of knitters and crocheters give a shit about identity politics, they just want to do their hobby.

That's certainly true for me. I have a ravelry account but I use it just to access patterns. I never join in the chat.

However, I do feel like I need to start caring now. I do like to support small businesses who dye their own yarn, I like to support pattern designers. I don't like supporting swivel eyed loons who drool at the mouth at the thought of destroying another human being.

Aye wigglybeezer Plus, costs aside- you have to take wash-care into account especially if you're making baby clothes, toys and blankets. Acrylic is easy to wash and stain resistant!

user1477391263

Well to be fair, if you didn't use the forums on Ravelry or follow knitwear designers on Instagram it might have passed you by altogether. It doesn't change much there, you just can't create trump supporting patterns or posts. Browsing the patterns is unchanged.

It all kicked off there when some designer made a pattern for a hat with "build the wall" on it then when someone objected to the pattern the designer encouraged their family and followers to send abuse via Ravelry and Instagram. If they hadn't been such a dick it might have ticked away without changes.

I knit a bit and go on Ravelry occasionally and completely missed the knit wars stuff. I've also made a kimono recently, but have worn a kimono style dressing gown since the 1980s, and agree that Japan is as wealthy a society as ours and both societies take fashion ideas from each other.
You can't have both a multicultural society with cross fertilisation of ideas and a society where everyone has to stick to their national dress. The woke seem to be perpetuating national stereotypes by supporting the concept of cultural appropriation.
Is knitting FairIsle gloves in Shetland yarn cultural appropriation because I was born in England?
It's all just stuff. People should make and wear the stuff they like.

unbound.com/boundless/2019/09/23/knitting-up-a-revolution/

Journalist Alexandra Hemminsley has recently discovered knitting. She praises Ravelry's decision to ban Trump supporters as "inclusive". Someone had better warn her - the poor woman's marriage just ended because her husband "decided to transition" and she sounds pretty devastated about it. Better stay away from knitting woke hell, Alexandra, you may well say the wrong thing and have them come for you

There's definitely businesses I wouldn't buy from now, but it's not the BAME designers, dyers and shop owners, it's the ones where white people were vicious when they turned on "called out" other white designers and companies who hadn't followed their script.

Thank you wigglybeezer! I found the recipe here shewolfinthevalley.com/tag/sue-lawrence/

Enjoy!

Tbf, the Trump supporter ban on Ravelry was for items and patterns showing support, usernames doing so and any talk in the chat threads supporting him. Which, I can understand, if people were feeling unable to post there because of that. I rarely use it, so wouldn’t see any of that side. It would have been better to ban all political talk, however, if that was becoming a serious problem.

I sat through the Sockmatician video. I would like a 🏅
He could power a couple of airships with his ego! But of course he is going to put all his personality in a piece like that, why wouldn’t he? The facts as he lays them out can be verified, as to what happened at Yarningham . He’s been hung out to dry by someone, or group of someones, with help from their little keyboard gremlins.

Oh, and his ‘asking for it’ rape analogy was out of order.

It would have been better to ban all political talk, however, if that was becoming a serious problem.

But I suppose if you ban all political talk, would that mean banning crafts or discussions of civil rights/ social justice campaigns like Black Lives Matter, or feminism, or gay rights? There'd be no more rainbows or pink pussy hat patterns.

You could confine it all to a political topic. Or you could define it more narrowly and ban party political discussion while allowing politics more broadly.

I know, it’s tricky. Like Flavia said, someone just took it too far and sort of forced the reaction. Everyone was still able to access their paid for patterns though, no one removed that from anyone.
I’m printing off all my patterns and not buying from any designer who only offers via Ravelry since the founder’s personal decision. Which is my choice and not one which will trouble a site that large, but we all have our boundaries and that’s mine.

Banning only one political view from a website seems bizarre and I can't imagine it happening the other way in modern US society. It does seem to be trump supporters who get banned from websites , cafes etc. That just polarises an already polarised society more. Agree confining political chats to one bit of the forum people can avoid makes more sense. I just go on there for the patterns and to see what other people have made with the wool I have and read how other people got on with a pattern I'm struggling with.

That tablet does sound good. Reminds me of our family kulfi recipe. We don’t have any Indian heritage, but I have childhood memories of being taught to make Indian ice cream by my mum. My job was crushing up the cardamoms. adds to sin list

I think quite a few Rav users deleted their accounts over the Trump thing (which, incidentally, KD supported, as did my fav dyer, Countess Ablaze :/). My impression is they were mostly not Trump supporters, just knitters who understand “he who would make his liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression...”. Iirc one of the big RPG sites did it too, which is where they got the idea. Gaming has a big problem with woke intolerance (and misogyny)

I wrote to Ravelry about why I was taking 6 years of projects, photos and notes off their platform. They didn’t see fit to respond.

The aftermath seemed to prove the point about the dog whistle accusations.

Anyone I saw posting on Instagram with doubts or outright disagreement soon had their feed flooded with viterol and racist comments that assumed the poster would agree with them.

So based off that, I think banning posting and patterns of Trump support was the right thing to do. It'd be like inviting your Jewish friend to dinner knowing there's a neo Nazi in the basement and then wondering why they didn't feel welcome.

@FlaviaAlbia
in that logic gender critical feminist also de-platformed.

Nearly half of America voted for Trump though. It's not a minority viewpoint and saying all Trump supporters are racist neonazis is like saying all Brexit supporters are.
You cant just ban half the population.
Stopping all political party views would make more sense.

Only if you think feminists support Nazi's, but Ravelry is a privately owned website and the right of freedom of speech doesn't apply. They can make whatever rules they like and the users just have to decide whether they can live with them or not.

I use it for patterns and recording projects I'm happy with that. My GC feminism is mostly done offline or on here.

I do think that unfortunately it's only as likely to survive as the marriage of the founders and with the husband coming out as trans, who knows?

2Rebecca has a point- distasteful, corrupt and racist though Trump and many members of his cabinet are, he was legitimately and democratically elected. Telling Trump voters that they're all awful racists that don't deserve to be on a crafting community is only going to do Right wing extremism more favours.

i thought mumsnet is private site, too.

and also the twitter. facebook. yutube,
and private college.

so banning megan murpy and Lindsay Shepherd was also okay in
yaniv saga?