KnitCamp 2010
I'd say something about how who would have expected that such a genteel and respectable pastime as knitting could generate drama, but I think everyone knows what a crock that is by now.

Recently, there was a large event called "Knit Camp" that was held on Stirling Campus in Scotland. It failed hard. We're talking 6.5 on the TwiCon Fail Scale here. In the interest of full disclosure, I have only the vaguest idea of what went on because I joined Ravelry a week or so after the debacle, and the Cult of Nice is strong on there, so I'm sure I've only accumulated a very small amount of the information that's out there.

Much of the drama happened on the Ravelry.com forums, and you need to be a member to read them, but it has open membership. Links that go to Ravelry.com threads will be denoted by an asterisk. (*)

Anyone with more information/links/screenshots, please let me know, and I'll add it to the post.


Our story begins sometime last year when (apparently) some people said they wished the UK would have a large Knit Camp, such as is apparently common in the US. (I'm a new, and rather hermetic knitter, so I have no idea if this is true.) A yarn shop owner, Jo Watson of the now defunct British Yarns, decided to try and make it happen. People were enthusiastic, and the KnitCamp was scheduled to take place at the University of Stirling in Scotland 9th August 2010 - 13th August 2010, with a "Ravelry Weekend" taking place after that.

The first hints of something going wrong was Ravelry "pulling out" - but I am foggy on how they could pull out if they had never given permission for KnitCamp to use Ravelry's name in conjunction with their event. I'm not sure if said "Ravelry Weekend" ever took place, or what it was supposed to entail.

Then quite a few instructors canceled, but their names remained on the list of tutors, leaving students confused about what would happen to their classes (many people had already prepaid by this time) and who, actually was supposed to be teaching.

However, any threads that even had a hint of dissatisfaction were ruthlessly locked and archived by Jo on the UK Knit Camp and Ravelry Weekend 2010 group* on Ravelry. People with concerns were dismissed as negative nellies who would hate anything no matter how awesome.

Why are you all being so MEEEEEEAN?*

Then the week of KnitCamp arrived. The tutors from North America did not. Well, they arrived, and were denied entry because Jo had not properly filed the paperwork to get temporary work visas for them*. But don't worry! Instead of working on sorting things out, she's reassuring everyone that A few of the people are here, really!* EVERYTHING IS FINE YOU GUYS.

Things went downhill from there, I'll let the links speak for themselves.

The full story from instructor Lucy Neatby, one of the instructors who was denied entry along with an abridged version Basically, final versions of contracts were not what had been agreed upon, and she has not been paid anything, and is not out-of-pocket for her flight as well.

Some instructors choose a more metaphorical way of communicating their dissatisfaction with what went down.

Someone who was, in my opinion, press ganged into being free labor writes about their experience.

8/11/10 blog post about not being able to attend the one class she signed up for, because of last minute schedule changes.

Series of posts on UK Knit Camp, again with the metaphorical photos.

What is amusing, however, is the about-face some of the KnitCamp boosters do when it becomes clear that they won't be paid for their time and expertise:

WoollyWormhead's immediate post-KnitCamp blogpost. ...and a decidedly less-than-happy post after it became clear there was no payment forthcoming.

Hooray! I loved teaching at KnitCamp! Not enough to do it for free, though!

And what was our intrepid organizer doing while all of this was going down?

She took a vacation. Afterall, bilking people out of their money and time is hard work, y'all.

She also got her nanny or someone to post about how all of the negativity surrounding the event is affecting Jo's health!*

When the above accounts from the tutors came out, people were of course appalled. And everyone knows that the solution to your money disappearing is to send more money to someone you know online who SWEARS it is a charitable collection for the tutors who weren't paid for KnitCamp. Despite the fact that we have no way of knowing who was paid what.*


However, recently some people have been getting "paid", for a certain value of "legal tender" in some cases, which makes one wonder if it was really a scam all along, or just incredible shortsightedness about what actually has to be organized for an event like this to be successful.

Please accept this token of my appreciation for the time and labor you gave me.

Refunds in yarn?

Oh, another good way to find wankery is to look at all of Jo's old posts on Ravelry.*