"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?'

I’ve clicked it. It’s not a joke. There is a cartoon sex pup…it’s not even knitted.

Cassidy one of the founders of Ravelry is trans, I've seen knitted penis 'packer' patterns for kids on there. 30% of pattern sale fees this month are being donated to trans charities for Pride month. They banned the sale of patterns for Trump hats. It's all quite bonkers. This is their front page for this month.

Isn’t it ironic and also utterly typical of purity spirals that Sockmatician was punished by being dropped from the first Harry Potter knitting book but by the time the second comes out Harry Potter itself is unclean due to the crimes of its author?

Nope @NecessaryScene , it's there on the home page

www.ravelry.com/account/login

I think there's a butt plug on that image I've posted unless it's some knitting implement I'm unaware of .. only on Ravelry.

This issue seems contained to Instagram so far, and a few posts on the Rav forums but I don't really use those.
There is a serious issue with purity spirals/social contagion in the indie dying/knitting community. Makers are falling over themselves to put up posts denouncing this book, the author and JR. So far I've seen her described as the 'figure head' for anti trans campaigning, been told she is funding the gender critical movement and that she advocates actual harm to trans people. It absurd. The general consensus is that even if she doesn't get royalties, she gets air time and that will help her fund her persecution of trans people? I can't see any info online about where she donates to these causes, although I can find lots about all the other charitable work she does and funds for various very good causes.
I would hazard a guess that most people have never read her website/essay, but they've been told she's unclean and anyone who doesn't instantly denounce is also at risk of being shunned. It would be funny if so many qomens livelihoods didn't depend on it.
On that note I'm also seeing loads of calls for Tanis to donate all the profits from this book to trans charities. Because presumably she doesn't have bills/a family to feed/a mortgage? And elsewhere I've seen it mentioned that the bereavement she has suffered may be a parent. So it's no wonder she isn't responding to people on this issue right now. But hey, that's just 'ww weaponising mental health. According to Instagram.

If you're not a knitter, this probably sounds totally made up. But it's a huge deal in the 'community'.

Ffs. I'm a mad keen knitter and crocheter and get pretty much all my patterns from Ravelry. I knew they were woke and that Cassidy was trans, but that Pride Month page is appalling. It would be with a very heavy heart that I'd boycott Ravelry, but I might have to!

@Mollyollydolly

I think there's a butt plug on that image I've posted unless it's some knitting implement I'm unaware of .. only on Ravelry.

A butt plug and a bottle of poppers. No wool or knitting needles though

I think I need to scour Ravelry for my favourite knitting patterns and designers, find out where else I can access them, save the patterns in my Ravelry library elsewhere, print out the saved catalogue of what needles and hooks I have, and then de-register.

Yeah, the current cover page is shocking. I can see what it's trying to be - an online zoom-type meeting of ALL of queerdom - but really not sure what fetish pups, butt plugs and poppers have to do with LGBT KNITTING AND CROCHET FFS

I think the very fact that cover art was commissioned and is up there speaks volumes about the extent to which the site owners take for granted the mindset of what they see as the average Raveller. Rav is and has been massively woke for years now and occasionally surfaces as an example of purity spirals in mainstream press articles (usually to choruses of 'I never knew 'knitting celebrities'/knitting communities/cult yarns were a thing!' - which boils my piss a bit, I find it fairly dismissive. Imagine, an entire community built up around a pastime that you're not interested in! ).

But actually there is NO 'average Raveller'. They come (or used to) in lots of different flavours. Elderly and middle aged women (and some men), used to be quite a strong streak of US conservatism on there too (I believe a lot of that was purged and there was a bit of an exodus), and loads of people like my mum who aren't politicised or woke or captured, just getting on with knitting and crochet and playing word games with online friends on sub-forums there. I've often described it as analogous to Mumsnet. It's absolutely massive, and all of human life is there!

So Rav's site owners take a hell of a lot for granted.

I'm a crocheter and use ravelry, not as much recently so I missed all this. WTF has happened to it? Has there been some kind of take over? I'm used to seeing someone my edge modelling their latest knitted jumper,not a post about supporting APOC (whatever that is) and blogs about being Queer.

Honestly. I want the old rav back. I just wanna read about wool

That cover art is bonkers. What on earth does pup fetishes and butt plugs have to do with knitting?

I’m an enthusiastic (pretty bad) knitter and I love the variety of patterns on Ravelry and the ability to look at what other people have done. I’ve never ventured into the forums, though, they have always seemed a bit nuts. I remember the attempt to cancel the amazing Kate Davis for not being anti-racist enough.

Not sure if I can be bothered saving all my patterns elsewhere and deregistering but I really ought to.

Just to be clear, I have no problem whatsoever with Ravelry being inclusive of trans people. I'm just not interested in a knitting website that aggressively pushes political agendas, encourages witch hunts of innocent people with views that don't tally with the site's woke agenda, and has a homepage covered in furries, buttplugs and poppers!

I hate to say it though but the Ravelry owners can do what they like because the site offers something sufficiently useful and distinctive that users aren’t going to leave in big enough numbers to undermine it. I think the picture is appalling, it’s a deliberate trolling of the site’s older users that feels misogynistic, but it will be easy to ignore or miss if you never go to the site via the home page.
You can save your patterns and take them away with you or whatever but for me the useful thing is being able to search what other people have done with a pattern or with a particular yarn. Also a lot of the patterns simply aren’t available other than on Ravelry. I first bought from it to support Kate Davies- much of her stuff is in books but not all of it.

We need a new one that is for those who just want to focus on the craft aspects.

Used to be that we kept politics, sex and religion out of dinner table conversations in order to preserve harmony between those of differing strong opinions. It used to be the same in workplaces, and it really should be applied to businesses and some hobbies, support groups and charities. Focus on the mission for broad appeal and genuine inclusion.

This take your whole self everywhere you go is a recipe for disaster, strife and division. Better we focus on the things we have in common which are not controversial such as yarn crafts in a yarn craft group.

Does Ravellry have any competitors? These tech monopolies are perfect for those controlling them to push agendas, policies and ideologies and engage in social engineering. They have a captive audience.

You're quite right on all counts of course, TheCountessofFitzdotterel. Ravelry is an incredibly useful resource. I only found out about Kate Davies after discussing the Sockmatician thing on here, and straight away went and bought one of her books. Is there any resistance or even-sided discussion on Ravelry about its stance,do you know? Or do the mods just zap any member who dares challenge the party line?

I hope that Ravelry finds this thread and that leads Jess to the transwidow threads.

There is something really quite off about a tech designer managing to squeeze that sort of art work into a brand of knitting.

Cass' posts could do with some knitted red flags.

It was the Kate Davies thing that enraged me so much. Kate is an amazing woman, I have such admiration for her. The awful thing about the purity spirals in the knitting world was how everyone fell in line with the exception of the very few. Some did it with relish, some because they were scared for their small independent businesses. It was a microcosm of how totalitarian bullies take control. Now I just use ravelry for my knitting patterns. There were two particular British designers who behaved so appallingly and in such a bullying fashion that I cant look at their work anymore. One of them I counted as an online friend, I supported her work and recommended her to loads of people. Was shocked by her behaviour.
The other irony about Ravelry is since they updated the website there have been loads of complaints about it causing headaches and worse. I don't understand the technicalities of it but seems a lot of people cant even use it anymore without it making them ill. Ravelry ignored all the complaints, their diversity policies proving not to be that inclusive at all.

Yes, there are a couple of designers I now avoid after the whole Kate Davies debacle. I agree that she’s amazing. Her patterns always just work and turn out really well even for a bad knitter like me. I’m sure most of the motive behind trying to get her cancelled was envy. I think she’s handled the whole thing brilliantly, though I’m sorry she had to. She has some gentle stuff about diversity on her website and has entered into partnerships with some diverse people, but has refused to be drawn in to any arguments.

It’s possible to buy patterns direct from her site and get them sent as pdfs so you don’t have to use Ravelry, but I don’t think there’s as many available as there are through Ravelry, sadly.

Kate's book, Handywoman, is a really interesting read.

She's had a lot to contend with.

It looks like people are definitely looking for alternatives to Ravelry here .

They look interesting. I'm on Ravelry but I only go on it for ideas and to show off my projects. Not been on it recently as I'm more in to sewing at the moment so hang out on sewing.pattern review.com instead. I don't use the forums in either of them and am happy to use a site without them. The craft wokeness went over my head as I don't engage with it. Don't think I've been on Ravelry since it changed its colours though

Can anyone elaborate on the Kate Davies affair?

There's a 2019 article in Quilette about this, if you search Kate Davies Diversity it should be one of the top results.

Thanks ForgotAboutThis