Untangling the Shocking Tale of Mystical Creations Yarn

[@chrixtine]

me, fully aware MCY stands for "Mystical Creation Yarns": my chemical yomance...

[@anaisanais4626]

Stop 😂

[@ashleyelizabeth6094]

My chemical yomance, a studio orchestra extravaganza brought to you by your favorite 2000s pop punk band and the cellist with the objectively coolest name.

[@puttiplush]

Yarn people scare the living knit out of me none of then care as long as someone will weave so mordant your clothes and strike a violent pose maybe they'll crochet at home but not me

[@sageybug3868]

your mind....

[@sofiesusi]

marvel cinematic yuniverse

[@theNorthMoonco]

"you can just file for bankruptcy, you don't have to die" cackling

[@bridgetdunleavy3549]

If I had a nickel for every time an artisan in a niche community on the internet in the early 2000s faked their own death after becoming overwhelmed with orders and created sock puppet accounts pretending to be grieving family members to deal with the people they screwed over I’d have… a surprising amount of nickels

[@artsyscrub3226]

Its disturbing how often people online fake their death and pretend to be family i can think of at least 3 non craft related dramas that went very similar to this

[@donnakawana]

Indeed it was a thang a ling a ling..... ✌🏼💗😊

[@kasi.crafts]

Yes you would. A similar thing happened in the bellydance community in the early 2000’s with a costume/veil fan seller. I don’t think people ever got their money back either…

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

You could probably get an entire fast food meal for that price

[@delilahandaria6198]

I would love more examples just so I can find more video essays haha

[@TheSnugglySquid]

My mom was (and is to this day) an avid knitter who bought some mystical creations yarn back in the original wave of popularity back in 2007. She knitted a beautiful, colorful shawl which turned into an incredibly sedate shawl when she washed it to block it! She complained about it on her wordpress, but either she was among the first people to do so or else the complaints weren't particularly widespread at the time, and she got so much hate from people claiming their knits turned out fine and acting like she was just attacking MCY for no reason. When she reached out to MCY all she got was a very clipped response accusing her of washing it "wrong". I was 15 or 16 at the time and I still remember how furious she was about it, and her nearly-monthly updates about the growing drama. Neither of us have thought about it in nearly a decade now but the mention of a zombie sighting brought it all rushing back!

[@munchyy_]

Thats hilarious!

[@Boing2699]

That’s crazy!!! You should show your mom this video, she’d probably love to learn she was right!!

[@draconicfeline6177]

And she could give her "I was there" insight

[@makadoodledoo]

for future reference, if the dye is running and its a protein fiber (wool/silk ect) use vinegar to set it, if its not then use salt

[@mortal-enemy]

Never knitted a thing in my life, not a crafter, but if you say the words "drama", "2003", and "livejournal" then I know it's going to be a wild one and I will be transfixed.

[@CatholicZola]

I miss those wild west days

[@patchopossum9414]

Same. I do fursuit stuff but have never knitted anything. I want to see old fursuit making drama vids like this. I remember a lot of wild shit in fursuit.livejournal back in the day

[@delusion5867]

I don't know why I'm obsessed with the 2000s-early 2010s drama, there is just something so interesting about the culture and limited internet resources that created the perfect storm. I wasn't even born when some of this stuff happened 😭😭

[@ggl2253]

​@@delusion5867the drama was just so high quality back then.

[@frogsquared7867]

@@CatholicZolai think it really does remind me of the wild west haha very obscure and lawless forums

[@sanpellegrinolimonata]

CACKLING at Deborah’s blogpost at 15:32 💀💀💀 just the fact that this cheery knitter lady is saying that her washed shawl looks like a dead poodle or a severed limb, and her dog staring at it in concern, and then the ‘bad mystical creations yarns! Bad’….. bahahahhahahs

[@meaverly]

PEAK aughts yarn lady blog. the relentlessly cheery tone, the gory description, the (accidentally?) _incredible_ photo. i miss a lot of aspects of the internet of 20-30 years ago, but i do not miss that blogging style.

[@sanpellegrinolimonata]

@meaverly 'relentlessly cheery' is the perfect way to describe it! honestly her blog is so camp I love it. I wish there were more Deborah's today, just for the sheer drama

[@ariwoodshany4308]

Wish I had the guts to write like that these days. Also if you want unyieldingly cheery writing:authors notes at the end of fanfic chapters.

As someone who was on Ravelry as a teenager and listened to the Lime and Violet podcast, it was VERY COMMON to have this level of dark humor 😂 The craft was in a resurgence with women who were younger and didn’t want to be associated with “granny’s” it was PUNK ROCK in 07 to knits 😂

[@theregoesyvonne]

The dog took me out 😂😂😂

[@rosie3946]

"Was Mystical Creations Yarn a scam?" - the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate

[@Nymphadora45uvyu]

Those were the days

[@Thenoobestgirl]

For real???

[@egg4666]

hehe thread

[@SaintShion]

Well if you look at any Japanese websites, its literally still that. All their websites look like their from 2005.

[@bribro23]

@@SaintShionand how do you do that?

[@FGSFDS]

Good god, the part around 28 minutes 15 seconds where somebody suggested unraveling the project, washing the yarn, and then re-knitting the project literally made me make an audible sound of despair akin to a socialite clutching their pearls at the mention of something vaguely debauched.

[@nyxnotnicks]

i believe in my heart they were being sarcastic, but i wouldn't bet on it. That would be one of the only ways to use that yarn and not have it run the rest, though.

[@FGSFDS]

@@nyxnotnicks I am holding out hope as the eternal optimist I am that sarcasm was their MO but…ahhhhh, still made my skin crawl 😂😂😂

[@jasmyncarey6855]

It looks like that part was cut from a long list of suggestions with them acknowledging she probably wouldn't want to do it lol 😂. I know I damn well wouldn't!!

[@FGSFDS]

@@jasmyncarey6855 I just finished crocheting a shawl, and it took me the better part of a month. If I had to unravel it and start over I’m pretty sure the yarn dye would be running solely from my tears as I frogged it 😅

[@jasmyncarey6855]

@@FGSFDS I crochet too!! I would probably just call it a wash and be like...well that's nice to look at lmao 🤣

[@GirlfriendReviews]

Knitting??? Drama??? Channel!?!?? I’m so in.

[@espeon871]

WHAT R U DOING HERE???

[@nailinthefashion]

​@@espeon871obviously sipping tea w us peasants

[@cyclos12]

It feels like a April Fool's day prank...but straight up, I was watching dark animated shorts and this is super unrelated to my ENTIRE life. Which is an odd thing for the usual KZbin algorithm

[@O2BAmachine]

It's girlfriendreviews! I love thinking this is the bf commenting, he's just obsessed with knitting drama (and channels, obv) 🤣🤣

[@corallopez7573]

Husband review on what it's like to live with a fiber artist?!?!

[@marionundertaker6307]

‘The family recognizes it’s inability to fulfill their obligations’ absolutely killed me. Living for this organized crime family POV.

[@Broken_robot1986]

My fave was her self-obituary. "If love alone could have saved you"!

[@Lucifersfursona]

@@Broken_robot1986 if love alone could have saved her she’d have died earlier smh

[@angelamaryquitecontrary4609]

Well, that unnecessary apostrophe in 'its' has made me drop a stitch. I'm cross now.

[@drewgoodenfan68]

My mom has some mystical creations in her stash and she tried to make a scarf but the dye leaked onto her hand while she was knitting so she hasn't touched it since and its quarantined in the basement.

[@jasmyncarey6855]

I wonder how much of her improperly dyed yarn lives in basements for the same reason!! That is so crazy 😅

[@drewgoodenfan68]

@@jasmyncarey6855 my parents are moving soon so we will see.

[@jasmyncarey6855]

@@drewgoodenfan68 I mean more like how many different moms have done the exact same thing and banished that crappy yarn to their basemen!! I would be curious to see how much your mom has left that just ended up being a waste though!! That's so crazy!

[@mak3960]

I’m currently knitting with yarn that’s leaking on my hands >.< it’s not MCY it’s from a local store that I’ve bought several skeins from without issue… trying to power through and hope my item is usable >.< I won’t have enough yarn if I don’t use what’s leaking, and I don’t have the money to not use it 😅

[@jasmyncarey6855]

@@mak3960 Yeah you are gonna have to soak out the dye that is leaking

[@FrenkTheJoy]

"Silk... has always been a dry clean only fiber" so what did people in Asia do with their silk clothing before dry cleaning was invented...?

[@TamarLitvot]

Yep. That was such a ridiculous response from MCY. Weavers use silk all the time and we wet finish our work. And for cleaning delicate fabrics, soaking and gently pressing out the water is exactly what you do.

[@AgentLadyHawkeye]

The look on my face about that was just gobsmacked.

[@Grace-ms7un]

I read somewhere they washed it in milk 🥛 to give it a creamy white look

[@bluewilliams4911]

@@Grace-ms7unNah, just wash it in lukewarm water with a really like acidic substance (like lemon juice or natural soap) and air dry it. Silk is fragile but not *that* fragile.

[@VultureSkins]

@@Grace-ms7unI don’t think milk would make it creamy white, like a dye? But at the same time, I’m not an expert in silk or milk lol. I’d be interested in hearing if that was a real practice, if you end up looking into it :)

[@melissagrammatico8589]

Someone in the ball jointed doll (BJD) community must have taken Danielle's playbook to heart. They took pre-orders for dolls they make and never delivered. Now, years later (and a guesstimate of $10k in sales), their 'husband' is claiming the seller has died. Meanwhile, on Facebook, the dead seller is posting pics of their new chicken coop. It's wild someone else has done this.

[@darlingnicki9706]

I feel like I need all of the tea on this. This is what I get for stepping back from the community.... 😅

[@alexawood1588]

@@darlingnicki9706agreed. please for the love of god give me details so i can find a video on it or smthn-

[@yourpalfred]

I'm so glad to see this comment, because I got to this part and was like "oh, this is BJD level drama". I feel seen.

[@raisinbrancerealofficial]

Who was the seller ??

[@aatamiruono]

@@raisinbrancerealofficial google tells me it was jj.doll.labs!

[@kcmento4956]

as an amateur knitter but semi-expert in fandom-centric early 2000s livejournal scandals, im enthralled by the fact that the yarn community is not exempt from the drama

[@nomical89]

It's giving ms. scribe

[@kirameki]

Same 😂

[@KaguyaHimex]

Felt, I used to be a Lolita in late 2000s/early 2010s and this feels so nostalgic lmfao

[@MusicWisp]

So we are all thinning of that fanfic writer than 😂

[@LilacMoons]

The way I knew it was going to go the fake death route from the moment you mentioned the complaints lmao. It's absolutely wild how often this seems to happen with small businesses especially in the 2000s.

[@thebadpoet]

I’ve been alive since 1987 I have no idea what other fake death scandals you mean please share! I have clearly been living under an assortment of rocks!

[@carriedream101]

W H A T?!? It was a common thing? 😂😂😂

[@romancandleofthewild]

@@carriedream101 Omg if you want to listen to another one, listen to Steampunk-Ass Murder Mystery by Normal Gossip!

[@nataliet4293]

​@@carriedream101I'd say 7/10 small business dramas end in a fake death at the time.

[@RachelIIsCool]

​@carriedream101 it's not the first I've heard of it either lol. Normal Gossip podcast has an episode where it's basically the same thing. Niche internet community in early 2000s, guy gets overwhelmed by too much business, fakes his own death 😂

[@graveyardpansy]

i feel like surprised pikachu watching all this unravel having never heard of it before. what a bizarre and fascinating saga

[@emmainthemoment]

hahaha literally how I felt reading through all this stuff too

[@internetfox]

@@emmainthemoment how did you come across this saga in the first place?

[@emmainthemoment]

someone commented about it on my first (or second) video !!!!!

[@caradanellemcclintock8178]

Heh "unravel" unintentional textile puns

[@adbreon]

Was there. It was wild days man. Wild.

[@WowUrFcknHxC]

Why does the whole "contains no chemicals" piss me off so much? It shouldn't, but everytime i see or hear it i scream "EVERYTHING IS CHEMICALS. A VACUUM IS THE ONLY THING CHEMICAL FREE."

[@EncoreMama]

Idk why. It makes no sense because everyone understands it means it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals. Don’t be pedantic.

[@WowUrFcknHxC]

@@EncoreMama all chemicals can be harmful. Some moreso than others, but even "harmless" ones will kill you.

[@Crochet_by_mic]

The chemical thing is wild, saying you only use natural dyes is one thing, but damn, no chemicals? That's impressive! Not even water?

[@ettaetta439]

​​​​@@EncoreMamaAsk yourself, when you see "chemical free" on a tag, what do you think? What immediately comes to mind? Most likely depending on the product you may have a few ideas about what they're talking about, but most times it's not helpful. It doesn't tell you what's in the product, it just tells you that they may have left out a few ingredients that you've likely not heard of before or particularly cared about. So, by not specifying the chemicals that their products contain and instead focusing on the chemicals their products are "free" of, they are simply creating an aura of fear and misinformation around anything that could be construed as a "chemical". It's not helpful to the consumer to be vague and misleading, since everything contains chemicals. If you've done any sort of research into labeling of products then you'd know exactly how much marketing plays into creating these deceptive ideas of what constitutes as "chemicals" and what doesn't. Statements like "chemical free" are simply ways to market than an actual feasible description of the product. Furthermore, a lot of the otherwise harmful chemicals that are used in certain products have their purposes--if you intend to say "we left it out of ours", you have to specify how you reached a similar or same result without including those chemicals. Think paper vs plastic straws; paper straws are marketed solely as being an alternative to plastic, but are infamous for not being very good at their job. So in the end: it's deceptive marketing that serves to demonize anything that isn't "natural". Nothing is chemical free, including natural stuff. It's not pedantics to point out that statements like "chemical free", "all natural", "100% fat free", are all marketing tactics to convince a potential buyer, and serve nothing to attest to the actual product.

[@portobeIIa]

@@EncoreMama yes, we know, but it's such an ignorant term to use. it makes you look like the type of person that is a first world anarchist, buying ""ugly produce"" and thinking the word organic means anything on product labels. it is an way too optimistic way of thinking what harmful chemicals even are, that is. a black and white idea that "everything thats natural and not lab processed is good and healthy!!!" when thats is not the case. it makes you unreliable specially when youre a business owner, unless your target customers are also first world anarchists.

[@cartersprettybf]

the "she tried to trick her into accepting yarn as payment for work instead of money" is absolutely BAFFLING to me

[@chantolove]

“Judging by the style, I’m sure it was her.” is a normal thing to say. “Judging by the style/spelling, I’m sure it was her.” is a ruthlessly savage roast. love it

[@pearlbarley4767]

her spag irked me ! 😂

[@dismurrart6648]

Me hearing her dye didn't stick: she used the wrong mordant. An hour in: her dyer said she used soda ash regardless of the fiber. I can understand making this as a mistake but for it to be a consistent thing is unforgivable. If you take any class or read any dye book, you learn this within 10 minutes.

[@pearlbarley4767]

that's so interesting to hear. I'm sure it started as an honest oversight but when you're charging money! as soon as they found out the dye was bleeding they should have sorted it out. continuing was a choice! yarn you couldn't breathe on without it leaking is a scam product. you'd need some serious mental gymnastics to convince yourself that was a 'nobody's perfect', but maybe she did. 🙃

[@dismurrart6648]

@pearlbarley4767 yeah she'd have to know it's not adhering because you wash fabric 3 times until it's not bleeding anymore at each stage. Hot warm and cold. Like I have empathy for ignorance and fuckups, but this was an intentional scam, even if she started with good intentions.

[@sophroniel]

exactly!!

[@KatmodoDragon]

hell, you don't even have to take a class, in most cases the instructions come on the stupid bottle! I mean really! I've been dying fabric with Rit dyes since I was a kid and even I know better. I even did a historical reconstruction of dying things naturally with beets and onions and cabbages! same process! It absolutely appalls me just the lengths people will go to scam and defraud people.

[@avocadoknits2546]

and if you don't want to use citric acid for whatever reason, there's plenty of natural acids you can use. I dye yarn for myself in my kitchen every few months so I know very little, but I do know you need to add acid...to acid setting dyes...

[@ThimsNire]

to satisfy anyone's curiosity, 1lb of yarn is about 5 100g skeins (fingering weight, like sock yarn) so 20-30 lbs of yarn will be about 100-150 skeins

[@paper_maiden]

Thanks! That's so helpful to know

[@thebadpoet]

The “hand wash” means “spot clean” thing is absolutely the wildest part of all of this. Can you imagine bringing a hank of hand dyed yarn to the dry cleaners and just going “yeah, so… can you just dunk this in your vat of chemicals? I’m not supposed to submerge it in water.”

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

Dry cleaning also isn’t gentle at all

[@margo7055]

Plus how is she expecting a shawl to be blocked? Majority of people wet block.

[@wolfegirl1013]

Yeah, I'd argue a spray bottle felts yarn more than full bathing it, since it agitates the fiber more

[@taleef1760]

Omg yes this. I'm just like wtf!?! Don't "soak" your hand crafted finished object because wool / silk can only be "dry cleaned" I realize this was like 10+ years ago so information might not have been as easily available even with the internet resources back then but this is literally trying to pull the wool over the customer's eyes. Pun fully intended.

[@platedlizard]

@@taleef1760 like, what do they think people did before dry cleaning lmao. Wool and silk have been used for thousands of years, it can be handwashed in a bathtube.

[@frogicorn]

The part where "abracadabra" was like, "oh I didn't know those were crimes!" is freaking hilarious

[@fernandavelasco8805]

In high school I helped a lady with her online business. My only job was to package orders, print the stickers, load em up on my bike and bike to the postal office (it was about a 10 minute bike ride) and ship em. She went from only being able to ship about 20/40 orders a day to about 200. So MCY could have hired just some random person to work 4/5 hours A DAY and have them worry solely about shipping. She’s a mix of stingy/entitled.

[@georgewang2947]

Regarding calling hospitals to look for a stranger: please don't do this. It ties up hospital operators who also need to be transferring calls between departments or paging doctors. Also, if a person wanted to remain anonymous, the hospital will just tell all callers they have no such patient.

[@CatherineKol]

Also a major HIPAA violation if they’re just giving out that info to whoever asks.

[@lincksup2021]

if they are semi smart, they don't call and ask if they have a certain patient.....they ask to be transferred to that certain patient's room.@@CatherineKol

[@mxich8791]

Something tells me you don't work in a hospital.

[@joemama-zm4de]

@@mxich8791 you don't even have to be a hospital worker to know that doctors aren't going to just be like 'yeah, random stranger! here's this random person's full entire location, have fun

[@Lucifersfursona]

@@joemama-zm4de wattpad rules hospital shut down for some reason

[@Mannamadeit]

Actually to add to this, since you discovered lime and violet, look into the drama regarding their sock yarn club and the ending of that podcast and situation. That came about just after MCV

[@coolmumz]

I’m interested I hope she covers this drama.

[@Knituational]

What was the name of the supposed “family” that was on R, had an Irish name and allegedly lived in Ireland, had about 10 siblings supposedly, and had some kind of pattern and or dying business? That caused a lot of ongoing drama. There were accusations of the whole thing being one person posting as different people, people dying, it was absolutely nuts. I just can’t remember the last name. That would definitely be a good one to delve into.

[@ashleykabbes9316]

I am absolutely here for more drama!! I hope she covers it!!

[@amylenertz1953]

Was it Ryan?

[@Knituational]

@@amylenertz1953 that may be it!

[@bondcourttv]

I have literally never knit or crocheted or know anything about yarn but I’m obsessed with this.

[@yaimerievargas]

Drama is drama!!

[@fizzplease6742]

I do knit and crochet but I'm still amazed there can even BE a 90 minute video about yarn dyeing drama. Delightful!

[@dudereallythough]

Lol we’re happy to have you here 😂 the tea is hot lol

[@macrograms]

Initially me: "How do you mangle selling yarn" Later: "Oh. Wow." (same never have I ever but wow).

[@platedlizard]

it's fun, I taught myself a few years ago, but almost immediately graduated to learning how to spin yarn. I should probably learn how to dye too it honestly.

[@pinkporcupineknits]

I saw the name and HAD to watch. I remember when this happened! ETA - 21:00 I was there! It was crazy! There was literally NO ONE that had the same yarn bases they did, there was no one that she could have been talking about, it was trying to point at a red herring that didn't even theoretically exist until she tried to say "them! They did it!!" When L&V brought them up, they had a huge influx of new customers - I was one of them. And when they said not to soak their yarn...man. That was just laughable! I got some tencel yarn myself, before the craziness really started happening. I have pics up on my blog about how I finally just decided to rinse the yarn - It went from tropical rainbow (not resembling at all the colorway I ordered) to pale MUD. I really believe they didn't bother to use any kind of mordant. I actually lived less than an hour away. I tried to take my yarn back to ask them in person, but they never answered the door. Now, I'd love to see your take on the MonkeyToes "scandal"! ETA - wow. Ok, Ravelry was in Beta during the biggest part of the stuff going on - as such there wasn't bandwith to host all the users that wanted in. There was a waiting list that as they got more storage/connection, they added people. Hence the "Margaret can't get on Ravelry." Casey is Cassidy's deadname, as they were known when they originally working on creating Ravelry.

[@Tsuki17]

Yes!!!! I was there for beta Ravelry as well. Were you ever on Craftster?

[@pinkporcupineknits]

@@Tsuki17 nope, I had just gotten into knitting about three months before I got in!

[@dismurrart6648]

Oh man the second she said it was felting and the color wasn't staying, my first thought was mordant and "she's washing the wool too roughly. I'm a baby dyer but have a degree in textile science and that part was day 1 stuff. What is it like getting to see an experience you lived be documented as internet history

[@pinkporcupineknits]

@@dismurrart6648 just makes me feel old!

[@outisoutisoutis]

This comment needs to be pinned, very helpful context! Also I'm screaming hahahaha. This entire thing is pure gold to me, as a 38 year old knitter who had a LJ in high school.

[@mialemon6186]

The one thing I want younger generations to know is how CRAZY early internet was. I absolutely sent *money orders* to strange people thousands of miles away in the mail and hoped my shit would show up. It did almost all the time. It was surprisingly how 'wholesome' most sellers were. There was a serious flea market vibe in early eBay too.

[@mc-ks7db]

So true! My first eBay purchase was 1998. The good old days 😊

[@juliannafranchini7975]

As someone who wrote a book on dyeing for beginners and does it a lot for work, once you know how to keep the temperature and pH under control (which is far simpler than it sounds), silk and wool are some of the easiest fibres to dye in the world. They slurp acid dyes up and hold onto them like it’s nothing and it’s a huge part of why they’re super desireable compared to relatively stubborn plant and synthetic fibres. In other words, it’s REAL unacceptable for silk and wool colours to be running so badly, even for someone working in their backyard. You can dye them with friggin kool aid and as long as you dump enough vinegar in your hot dye bath and rinse it properly, it’s not going to run unless you really do not have a clue what you’re doing!

[@juliannafranchini7975]

Update: I have now watched further and NO. NOOOOOOO THEY DIDNT USE CITRIC ACID. NO VINEGAR. WHICH YOU CAN BUY FROM THE GROCERY STORE. But SODA ASH????????? *NO* that’s what you use for cellulose fibres like cotton not WOOL oh my GOD

[@birdenthusiast5421]

Seriously, I've taught pretty young kids to do kool-aid and vinegar dyes for wool (not the steps with a hot stove of course) and even they would probably know how to prevent the problems here. Or at least could figure out what they did wrong the first time if they didn't add the vinegar, instead of repeating it over and over and selling the product...

[@fuzzypumpkin7743]

I've only dyed one hank of yarn. It was a llama/wool/silk blend. Very easy to research what to use and about a decade later, the dye is still just as vivid and never has run in any wash. So...no excuses.

[@radishfest]

Is your book still being sold? I've only got experience dyeing paper but this video is making me want to branch out. It's absolutely WILD to get the basics so wrong with a material people might *wear*, I wonder how often she got stained by her own yarn...

[@calliope7479]

I’m sorry but I first read your comment thinking you were talking about death. Given the whole story…

[@earthiswatching]

Holding a check until it cleared was actually the norm. Amazon did the same thing, back when they still took checks. It was just how businesses tried to avoid being screwed by insufficient funds or stolen checks.

[@emmainthemoment]

Yeah that totally makes sense!

[@ThatGirlJD]

I remember once they got the ability to do "electronic checks" they would rerun a check that didn't clear, and each time it came back NSF the bank would charge a fee. That really messed up people who had a tendency to float checks.

[@kseni_vely]

Last year, in Spain at least, when I paid my prime orders with the debit card - the funds got "reserved" and they screwed up and double reserved the funds, as in they actually charged me while there was still a "reserved" funds statement for several days.

[@rabbitlovesraven]

Even today many banks will hold a check that is a personal check from someone that isn't the customer or a paycheck (some will even hold paychecks for 3 days at least) so yea, holding checks was/is normal, protects both the bank and customer from bouncing that check and having to pay for it, or a fake/stolen check

[@platedlizard]

yes it was super common. I used to breed birds at the time and bulk-ordered bird seed from a website and frequently I paid by check. the seed ship when the check cleared. I miss that site honestly, they had high-quality seed mixes and pellets that we just don't have these days. When they went out of business they made sure we knew, sold out their backstock and shut down only after full filling all their orders. edit: i just checked and either they're back up or someone bought the site and set up a similar business! cool

[@rachnab04]

2 things: 1. Your channel is a delight and I’m now so invested in 15 year old knitting drama 2. I am a chemist and hearing the piece on the citric acid with the dying made me want to throw something! That’s like trying to use a sewing machine without thread, it just won’t work

[@rachnab04]

@@jessicapolomsky4798 Yeah! I meant the bit at the end where it was revealed that MCY didn’t use citric acid for dying the yarn! It’s not going to work without it 😔

[@SewardWriter]

Yup. Dye needs a mordant.

[@sumlem]

My general chem class (bio major here) had a whole lab about yarn dying to deduce the type of dye that was sent to the fictional business owner. I still have my notes that say that silk has the best results with acid dye because "bonds".

[@nailinthefashion]

@@sumlemJames bonds? Sorry I’ll leave

[@sumlem]

@@nailinthefashion silk has bonds. H bonds. It doesn't ring the same lol

[@kristamccurdy5980]

I wonder if Violet was REALLY having an appendectomy, since I wouldn’t trust a single word she says. That woman is a grifter, plain and simple. Have you covered the Lime and Violet drama yet? The entire story. THAT was wild. She got so many people to send her money pretending to have breast cancer, got a restraining order against her because her husband cheated on her and Violet publicly posted the mistress’s phone number and essentially sicced her massive following on this poor woman. Then people sent her money because she couldn’t afford to leave her husband and how awful everything was. The story ends with Violet now living in North Carolina….with her husband. And so much more.

[@mlatham23]

Wow can this be the next story?

[@pikopikozu2]

Im sorry HWAT

[@RainDancer98]

This is like watching a car crash and then noticing a train wreck in the background. I would love to hear this story

[@zo_mi_di]

North Carolina??? I live there!!!! Any idea what city????? 👀

[@kristamccurdy5980]

I'm going to dm you@@zo_mi_di

[@gingersnap7822]

I dye yarn in a historical context, using natural materials and natural mordants, and if my yarn ran like that I'd toss the batch! If methods from 300 and more years ago work just fine, there's no reason a modern dyer should have running problems like that!!

[@GrimmDelightsDice]

What a cool thing to do! What's been your favorite historical dye project so far?

[@gingersnap7822]

@@GrimmDelightsDice I'm still a novice, but our local madder root gave this STUNNING shade of coral orange!

[@julesgray810]

Do you have any book recommendations, or other learning avenues you've found useful?

[@gingersnap7822]

@@julesgray810 Honestly, I learned by watching others. No matter what period you're interested in there are some great online resources, but watching and talking to others is extra helpful!

[@silvermeasuringspoons6462]

I have ethnic dyed cotton fabrics (really expensive). Loved them so much. They're all natural dyed and hand woven.

[@dkenhuss]

Miss Violet ended up being a scammer too which is why Ms Lime keeps her distance. 😮 I still have some of her yarn. I would loooooove an episode on that implosion 🤯💥

[@crookedknits]

I never caught this podcast but I was always curious what happened for them to implode

[@spitfiresnc]

Omg the way they pulled all audio files down and threatened legal action action on future distribution 🫠

[@KatmodoDragon]

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 now that's some tea

[@flamingdog9207]

Now that's something I need to hear

[@Rose_Castle]

The way I can't knit to save my life, am nearly blind but want to hear this story...

[@aliciagarcia5327]

As an elder millennial I am LOVING your recaps of our early 2000’s technology and “social media” platforms. This was *chef’s kiss* 😂 There is so much craft industry drama to uncover in these years. I look forward to reliving it all with you.

[@thepricklystitch]

Some of this made me feel so old

[@Knitspin]

It's even more amusing as an elder millennial who lived through it and occasionally references MCY.

[@boneitch]

ikr? I used to send physical money in an envelope to order CDs and clothes from German magazines. Those times were *wild*. I do miss the old school forums tho.

[@Financiallyfreeauthor]

Same!

[@Nymphadora45uvyu]

I’m 31, your comment hit the mail on the head!

[@bee-woods]

As a New Mexican I was like oh my god yes DRAMA. When I googled it, I learned I literally used to live JUST DOWN THE ROAD from her business address I cannot BELIEVE this is so funny to me. I would have moved there in early 2008, when I was around 13, so right when all this drama started. And a hs friend is literally her NEIGHBOR

[@emmainthemoment]

the world is so small

[@calliea3336]

As wild as the info that made it onto the internet was, as soon as I heard MCY was out of Edgewood, I was dying to hear the local chisme, because you know it’s got to be just as wild! Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Danielle rolled up to the bank in a new car 😂🍿

[@lexi6878]

stay messy, home state

[@shannonking6402]

I misread this for a moment and I thought by “New Mexican” you meant like a newly made citizen of Mexico 🤦‍♀️ I am a dingus. INSANE you lived down the road From all this mess though!

[@rommie557]

​@@calliea3336For real, especially how small Edgewood was at the time. Errybody knew Errybody. I grew up maybe 30 minutes away, and was learning to knit when this went down apparently.

[@kassafrassa]

The ptsd this video gave me everytime you said "read the important posts!" We had literally zero patience for people who didn't read through everything before questioning things on forums 😂 I had all but forgotten about this whole thing. This was the first internet drama I ever followed lol

[@sanityisrelative]

I was active on a fandom theory forum and we had a link we'd drop to a compilation of all relevant talking points and debunked theories that we'd aggressively throw at a new poster to avoid rehashing old conversations eternally.

[@nancyreid8729]

This is all absolutely fascinating; in those years I was living on a farm with a horrible internet connection and no Ravelry account, raising sheep and dyeing a couple hundred pounds of wool a year, taking it to a mill to be carded, and selling rovings. I wasn’t buying any yarn, but spinning and dyeing all of my own. I had no idea this was going on, but the story is SO VERY popcorn worthy! Thanks for all the hard work and thorough research!

[@Raisesheeplovepeace]

Though my internet connection is more stable, I totally agree that this is wild!

[@rosemeerie]

Thank you for making this video!!! I'm trying to get out of consuming so much true crime content (for mental health) and this scratched the real-life mystery itch without anyone ACTUALLY dying (dyeing????). Also I crocheted SO MANY squares listening to this. xoxo

[@rosemeerie]

SPOKE TOO SOON. Let me actually finish the last three minutes of a video before I comment SMH

[@victoriapride7575]

there's a podcast called Normal Gossip that covers gossip that people submit that is very entertaining, they even have an episode on a knitting group

[@taylorg2320]

​@@rosemeerieTHIS HAD ME WHEEZING 💀💀💀

[@MarionThiessen]

There’s also a podcast called Scam Goddess if you want True Crime content that isn’t murder. It’s only about scams. Highly recommend!

[@bogwife7942]

I highly recommend strange aeons' deep dives into weird early 2000s fandom drama

[@AgentLadyHawkeye]

A bit of a side note from the last few updates/posts about it. As someone who was active on the internet and LJ in those days I can clairfy that I sometimes saw "squigginess" as a variant of "squick" which was frequently used in fandom spaces (and clearly beyond). A Squick is something that makes you uncomfortable to see or hear about and is stated as a personal boundary without casting judgement on those who do enjoy it for whatever reasons. So that poster's meaning is "I am uncomfortable with the internet frenzy of digging up information on a person in general BUT as this person is an online business owner there is a certain amount of expected transparency in regards to some of this sought-out information."

[@friday13thirteen]

i miss squick tbh, it definitely sounds very dated to my 2023 ears but it's such a useful concept. it seems fandom spaces have almost entirely abandoned that mentality in favor of twisting themselves into knots to position their opinion about some ship they don't care for as the morally correct position.

[@AgentLadyHawkeye]

@@friday13thirteen I have seen it make a return in some fandom spaces and I've started using it again myself but the current "there is only pure media and problematic media and if you enjoy problematic things you're a terrible person" mindset of much of fandom is incredibly tiring. And also wrong.

[@supernovero]

Im not old enough to have ever been part of that crowd or to have heard that as a normal term but even so when she said "I don't know that word" I felt another 10 years taken off my life

[@fifiwozere]

I read your comment just a few seconds before it was mentioned in the video so it was very helpful 😂

[@MM-jf1me]

That's so funny -- I hadn't realized that "squick" had fallen out of fashion, but then I've been out of active fandom circles for years. It makes sense that it's fallen out of favor, but I think it could've died out even without fandom having a conversation about problematic whatever: it was a way of avoiding kink shaming, which I don't think is so much a thing anymore? Is it? I only lurk on AO3 these days and over there it just continues to be OTP/OT3 drama.

[@PunkHime89]

Squick was an internet word for anything that made you uncomfortable. From the word squirm. Back in the days we made up words like crazy, so squigginess would have been understood immediately since it was popular online speak. 😂 I forget millennials are old now, things like l33t and internet slang make me reach for a walker. 💀 Psuedo-death was so common back in the days. I wasn’t a crafter back then, but this sort of thing was so common back then because half the online population still came from a time when you could just disappear off the face of this earth. That’s almost impossible now.

[@emilyrln]

Lolol squirm + ick = squick! I can't keep up with today's slang; I feel like it moves so much faster, plus I'm allergic to most social media and don't really follow many younger YT creators. I'm doomed to obsolescence, word lit fam 😂

[@PunkHime89]

@@emilyrln no no no this was back in the early 2000’s! This is old, online millennial slang! Gen Z and Alpha have a totally new slang I only half understand.

[@risebeneathher]

This is a highly sanitized definition of Squick. Squick was defined at is origin as the sound of the act of doing something NSFW to the eyeball socket of a dead person.

[@emilyrln]

@@PunkHime89 I'm 35, so my slang is probably from around 2002-2008 (high school to mid uni). Sounds like it might be a bit later than yours? I also wasn't all that online in my youth, so I was always finding things out from other people lol. I haven't changed much…

[@PunkHime89]

@@emilyrln I graduated HS in 07, and I was chronically online. I was a heavy forum user and was reading fanfics off livejournal. There was allot of internet slangs back then, from short form like brb and lol, to made up words like squick, flames, and lemons, to gamer speak like l33t and n00b. Some of these have stood the test of time, others have not.

[@cascabels]

I remember 8-10 years ago, one of the bigger Doe Deere callouts on Tumblr lightly mentioned people faking their deaths in the LJ knitting sphere. They'd be like "but we're not talking about that right now" & I thought "no, no, let's"

[@meeshmallows]

It's so unexpected and yet so fitting I'd stumble across a Doe Deere reference in an old knitting drama video 😂

[@loleeeetaa]

this comment hit me like a truck going 90mph oh my god???? what a time

[@LuNa4Death]

THE WHIPLASH I JUST GOT reading Doe Deere callouts. Lmfao! 😂😂😂

[@JRCP144]

"I don't know what Livejournal is" Me: *crumbles into dust*

[@gabrielleelizabeth4349]

You should check out the model horse community. Loaded with drama. We had someone fake their death to get out of payments on a model.

[@aaflesje]

WHAT😂

[@Lucifersfursona]

Cant finish small horse white horse came to get me

[@oktoberain]

My family has had two of our chosen-family “kin” who became famous in the model horse world, and who have now passed away; JRP, and EVB (”Amarna”) If you know, you know. I think P is only barely hanging on at this point. 😢 My fondest wish is to find whoever has Lobo and try to buy him and make an enclosed memorial for his sculptor’s grave. 😭💔

[@Rose_Castle]

This was the best way for me to find out there was a model horse community.

[@elfdream2007]

I remember this, but was just a lurker on ravelry at the time so there's not much more I can add. I will say that during the 00s there was a rash of incidents like this in various online fandoms and hobby circles instigated by people who decieved and manipulated others by various means and with multiple online personas. In the Harry Potter fandom there was the infamous person known as MSSCRIBE who created several personalities online and made up 'crisis' in her life just to get close to some writers, (if you google that name you'll find blogs and video essays describing the whole sordid story in detail). In religious circles there was a woman who went by the name of 'Razing Ruth' who claimed to be an escapee from a cult in order to scam people...and then there was Victoria Bitter in the Tolkien fandom. Those three stories, along with Mystical Yarns are just the tip of the ice berg. It doesn't happen as much now because people are more internet 'savy' and pick up clues, but at the time the internet was still fairly 'young' and people could get away with more than they can now. Even with the benefit of hindsight, we don't know if these people were doing this on purpose or were delusional.

[@sclub6414]

I remember this too! I remember that faking death online was called “pseuicide”. Don’t know if it still is anymore as it seems to have dropped out of fashion. There was another yarn person who did it, as well as some Indy nail polish makers too I think.

[@hookedonfandom]

Oh the good old days 😂

[@lexi6878]

I'm as nostalgic for the old internet as anyone else, but there were definitely a lot of problems. The trade off for anonymity was that people could and would just lie for the sake of it, but people were on the whole a lot less paranoid.

[@carlahibbard1776]

Remember it well! Only a lurker

[@deannarmartin113]

I remember this as a lurker on Ravelry too! The drama that occurs on Ravelry is insane. I only log on when I need a pattern. I was an Indie Dyer for a short amount of time on Etsy. I only dye yarn for my personal use now because the Fiber Art Community is cut throat, for real.

[@CobraCreates]

The face I made when I saw that first picture of the bleeding dye. Ohhhh my god. For anyone who wants a little more frame of reference: typically if your yarn bleeds it will only slightly tinge the water. That bath water should have been a VERY light pink, not the monstrosity that was in the photo 😂 I was only in my early teens when all this went down so it was quite a while before I got into crocheting but damn, I'm sad I missed all this when it happened. Edit because holy shit: 30 lbs a day?! SODA ASH?? This is so wild what the hell

[@paper_maiden]

Oooh, I want to hear more from someone who knows their stuff!

[@MirrorscapeDC]

heh, tell that to my hand dyed silk. that stuff refuses to stop bleeding. I guess there is more than one reason I don't do this professionally

[@VeretenoVids]

I feel like a fossil. I was fully alive and aware when this all went down and remember when Ravelry was just a baby. So, yeah #oldergenerationofknitters By the way, search The Seattle Times and you'll find the story of another major indie dyer explosion. P.S. It's pronounced clap-oh-tee and I'm proud to have never made one 😂

[@brigidnelson6216]

I made Lady Elinor instead

[@HeatherOrdover-CraftLit]

@VeretenoVids - Thank you for fixing the pronunciation of Clapotis - I'm actually happy I DID make one-it's fun to drop the stitches-but I did NOT knit it with MCyarns! 🤣

[@allisoncohen9713]

I know I’m old because when it got to that part I started screaming “clap-o-tee” at the screen. The 00s were an incredible time to be alive 😂

[@Lucifersfursona]

But what if I like how KLA-poTIs sounds

[@VeretenoVids]

@@Lucifersfursona As long as you are aware that's not the name the designer gave it and don't intend to provide any educational information about it while using the incorrect pronunciation, have at it!

[@suzannecooke2055]

During this same time period I was doing A LOT of dying,and dye-painting, both yarn and roving, both wool and silk. I sometimes sold dyed yarn and roving on ebay with success. A few observations: 1) dying- both natural and chemical is absurdly EASY - until you try to do it in bulk. I was doing up to 1 lb at a time. In an apartment with pasta pots on the stove. 2) You can't make a project (sweater, shawl) in an adult size with just 1 lb of yarn. Keeping color consistency across multiple skeins is difficult. Especially if you need no make multiple dye baths. Even commercial yarns tell you to buy yarn from the same dye bath. 3) Silk in EMINENTLY washable - The process of dying uses hot water. This shrinks the silk. There should NOT be a shrinkage problem. I encourage all fiber-holics to explore dying their own yarn. Two great books are Dying by Design and Dying by Accident.

[@kristelbrok998]

I'm so sorry for saying this, but the "dying by design" and "dying by accident" made me chuckle 😅 i think you mean dyeing, not dying (the action of colouring, not the action of unaliving)

[@yokaitoybox7649]

Literally clutched my chest hearing your confusion at the word "squickiness" god I'm so old 😭 For those who don't know, squick was another word that was similar to trigger, but not as intense. It's like what people refer to as "the ick" now.

[@mikkelah.3589]

I don't know that it's an age thing, maybe it's not just universally common because I just turned 26 and am well familiar with the word.

[@ThisIsMeChloe]

@@mikkelah.3589 i think its regional. I have never heard of this word before and were the same age haha its a good word tho lol

[@Lewisiaisoutofcontext]

I find it so fascinating how you can get into literally any community/fandom imaginable, you'll still find some infamous drama. Doesn't matter how small or niche the interest is, there's always some scandalous drama to behold. And I eat it all up.

[@thebadpoet]

Apologies for second comment but I’m a costume designer, and in 2007 I was in college and working in the costume shop doing quite a bit of fabric and garment dyeing. For protein fibers, like wool and silk, acid dyes are the best choice but you need the proper mordant (to make the dye adhere to the fiber and stick) and you absolutely need to rinse the piece out after it comes out of a dye bath. No fiber will absorb and bond to the entire amount of dye in the bath, there is always dye which needs to be discharged and rinsed, that’s why you are supposed to rinse until the water runs clear! Dyeing yarn is tricky because you need heat to dye protein fibers and heat is also one of the elements in felting. So if you’re dyeing wool yarn you need to be careful to not agitate it or it may felt. If you dye in cool water then your dyes are going to run because you haven’t actually dyed anything. You’ve temporarily stained it.

[@ominouslightning]

This is really interesting! Thanks for the info :)

[@zekova]

Aha! Thank you for the explanation! Reminds me of the hair-dying process! :O

[@raycreveling1583]

I'm a tie dyer and it's the same for cellulose fibers. Discharging can take several rinses, it's part of what's dissuaded me from dyeing yarn. Cotton is pretty forgiving wool is not.

[@pokelover02]

Thank you!

[@avgeek-and-fashion]

This is not entirely true. Acid dyes needs acidic environment to stick to the fiber. Most dyers use vinegar to achieve this. It is entirely possible to cold dye wool with acid dyes but it takes overnight soaking to do that. If you have the appropriate amount of acid in your dye pot, the dye will stick completely. Otherwise you need to rinse the fiber after dyeing to remove excess dye. This is why very runny skeins should be soaked in vinegar, to set the excess dye into the fiber instead of rinsing it into the drain. Hope this helps.

[@anneemull]

I’ve heard you mention in a previous video about not being very familiar with Ravelry. I really think Ravelry is a fun and helpful site for tracking your work and a great database of patterns! Just the other day, I was looking at a pattern for a bedspread from the 1940’s. (I got my copy of the pattern from my grandma when she passed away. That bedspread was used in my grandma’s guest bedroom from my childhood up until she passed!) I was a little frustrated trying it out, and I actually was surprised to find it on Ravelry! I got to read notes from another person who documented making repairs to another one of these bedspreads. It was SO helpful and interesting to read! I love going to Ravelry and seeing other people’s versions of things I’m in the process of making. I also love going there to find patterns for some random yarn I bought 20 years ago!

[@TamarLitvot]

Yes! Emma seems to have a rather negative view of Ravelry which astounds me. Ravelry has of course occasionally run into problems, like every site, but of all the many places on the internet I've frequented, Ravelry and one other site (a political one) are the only ones I know that manage to moderate enough to keep the hate out but not too much to stifle good conversations and a supportive community.

[@MichelleSinTO]

@@TamarLitvotI used to be super active on Ravelry, but then it all hit the fan with the redesign and how they handled people telling them about it not being accessible, it really soured things. I think she could easily do a 90 min video on the Ravelry Drama itself! I’ve recently checked back into the site to look at some patterns, and have noticed that a bunch of once popular patterns (that I had bookmarked) have been removed by the designers & only past projects are still showing on their profiles. From what I’ve read on twitter, there was a mass exodus and many folks haven’t gone back. I can see why Emma might be a little negative about Rav, if she’s seen the official responses from Rav, in that drama.

[@donnalevy4377]

I’ve been Knitting/Crocheting for at least 10 yrs and I’ve never been able to understand Ravelry. And I’ve tried to explore it many times.

[@ladynuyorican]

I was torn with Ravelry for a while but I've been on that site since 2010 and with the amount of patterns I've purchased, ultimately I couldn't just leave it. The way they handled the accessibility with the site overhaul could have been handled better, but from what I've seen they corrected a lot of the issues. Also a lot of the backlash I saw was more on Facebook than anywhere else so take that as you will lol. They came off super defensive when replying to people (probably from the sheer numbers of complaints), at that point they probably should have just hired someone to handle the social media aspect.

[@anneemull]

@@ladynuyorican interesting… I’ve been on there since 2008, but I haven’t been super active over the last decade. I’m not familiar any of the updates or drama that went along with it. I generally stay away from the message boards and Facebook lol

[@theanthropiceyedolatry]

When your life gets so meta you realize YOU are the scrappy reporter foretold of in craft forums of old. Bravo!

[@haileyg02]

does anyone know if she ever made MCY an actual business LLC? her not actually having an LLC/actual business with business accounts would explain a lot of this. it would explain why she didnt file for bankruptcy, why she was able to make so many businesses, and why the money ran out so quickly- it could also explain why no one really knows what came of the investigation because it could have been transferred. it kind seems like she was running everything from her personal bank account. i could be totally wrong but idk thats the impression i got... maybe i missed something?

[@sarahoftheice]

If I had a nickel for every time a person entrenched in one of my hobbies faked their death, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t much, but it’s weird that it happened twice. As someone who was getting into knitting at this time, I only heard murmurs of what was going on. I was only buying Red Heart yarn at the time, so I was avoiding a lot of this, but someone I went to school with complained about it on fb. I wish I could remember what she said, but she was piiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

[@softwaifu]

You'd actually have a whole ass pile of nickels, believe it or not 😂

[@Lucifersfursona]

What is your other nickel-

[@TheGallicWitch]

Extremely pedantic but it was making me go crazy the whole video. Clapotis has a silent final "s" so it's pronounced "clapoti" and there is no emphasis on any syllable (though if I understand English correctly, an English speaker can't help but add emphasis at least somewhere whereas us French speaker don't put emphasis on anything) so it's not CLApoti like you're pronouncing it, it's just clapoti. Also, clapotis is an onomatopée (I don't know the English word for that, google corrector says it's onomatopoeia) which is a category of words that describe or represent a sound. So in English, some of your onomatopées would be "moo moo" for a cow or "bang" when a firearm is shot in a comic book. So, clapotis is the onomatopée for the sound that a calm body of water makes when it hits the beach shore or the river bank. It's that quiet, delightful little sound of miniature waves, like the water is high-fiving the river bank. Which makes sense because I'm pretty sure the root word for clapotis is similar to the root word for "clap" or clapping your hands. So in a sentence, we would use it like this "Tu entends le clapotis des vagues ? On dirait que le vent se lève." "Can you hear the clapotis of the waves? It looks like the wind is coming." Alright that was your French language lesson of the day, thanks for indulging me and this was a super entertaining video as a French knitter who isn't really a part of the online fiber community but loves to hear about 20-yo drama.

[@asmrtpop2676]

Yeah as an english speaker I don’t even know wtf you’re talking about with the emphasis so I concur it’s impossible for the average speaker to not somehow have emphasis. CLA and cla are the same.

[@kieralovesjoxer123]

I don't even understand how to not have an emphasis on a word? I'm trying to sound it out but I don't think it's right

[@babyvia6712]

So… “cluh-puh-tee”? In English, we call “sound” noises “onomatopoeia”. Essentially the same word.

[@oreonighthawk]

I’m so glad I kept scrolling down the comments for this video instead of doing what I need to be doing right now because that was a lovely, unexpected, little French lesson and now I’m sad we don’t have a beautiful onomatopoeic word for that sound in English. I mean we might say the waves are “lapping” against the shore but I don’t really think it’s the same.

[@AAAAAA-bv8fg]

Thank you for sharing this information. Etymology of words is not often thought about or researched, so I find it fascinating when someone feels compelled to share this type of knowledge. You are a real gem.

[@pokelover02]

So she really did end up dying of cancer. That’s actually really sad. I bet that woman had a very poor support system. Thank you for providing such a thorough and interesting video on this bit of yarn history

[@evahnna6974]

Agreed. She obviously had some issues, but that doesn't make her dying any less sad. Early 40s too. Sheesh.

[@SewardWriter]

I can't help wondering if she thought it was karma for faking her death.

[@asmrtpop2676]

@@SewardWriterWhy perpetuate that? Why possibly cause a normal person with cancer to think they got it because of something bad they did?

[@SewardWriter]

@@asmrtpop2676 I was talking about a specific person. Obviously.

[@thehutch7728]

@@SewardWriterI’ll admit karma was my first thought 😅

[@Rye_Smile]

Interesting fact, but a lot of newspapers DO still charge you to print an obit, even if it's a more traditional one. And I mean it costs LOTS. We skipped posting for my MiL, an aunt, and an uncle because it was just prohibitively expensive, and chose to do online memorial pages instead.

[@dokkieforyou]

Not me, but my mom. She was not active on the ravelry, but did purchase yarn from MCY back in 2007. The yarn was fraid, tons of knots in the yarn, and actually ended up ripping mid-way through crocheting with it because of how fraid it was. My mom says she also had an issue with the dye bleeding, and we still have some dye stains on our old shower tiles 16 years later. Overall, big yikes.

[@camilamedina7314]

she experienced the blood bath

[@lesleyphillips5102]

Oh man. I remember most of this. Casey is now Cassidy, the person who programmed Ravelry. At the time, everyone needed to wait for an account to be created. Also- clapotis is French and has a very fun pronunciation ( I made 2 of them 😂). This is also definitely not the only faked death 😂

[@SewardWriter]

Are you thinking of FibroFibers? I was good friends with her for a long time, before she lost it. I've still got a couple of yarns she gave me.

[@BrandiM0nies]

I still cast on one occasionally because it was so easy and interesting. The pronunciation in this video of the shawl name had me running to my computer like, "they did not actually just say that".

[@rachelkaminski4786]

Wha?? Who else faked their death?! This whole thing is fascinating!

[@K3N0PSIA]

hold on hold on - NOT THE ONLY FAKED DEATH ???

[@angorabunny9417]

I received my education on knitting frauds from the MCY and the Guinness heiresses dramas. DT can go over the line at times but they provide excellent information in what to look out for. I owe them a lot.

[@adbreon]

I’m was also there for this and there is a little context that might be helpful- Lime and Violet had its own message board so when thing get weird in the revelry thread, it was often because of things from the LnV threads bleeding in. Violet was heavily promoting Ravelry so a lot of Ravelers were also on her boards or listeners of her podcast. This and Lime and violets own drama are some of the Ur-dramas that spawned the Ravelry Rubbernecker group. There is a lot of irony in Violet being so central because she later exploded her own sock club for Intentions yarns by failing to mail shipments, while claiming health issues and marital problems. This completely killed Lime and Violet as a whole. Unfortunately, their message boards were excluded from the Wayback machine so there really isn’t anywhere near as much remaining of their drama as there should be

[@sdicorcia]

I also remember the breast cancer thing, gall bladder stuff, so much drama! Much of it played out on Plurk oh and Violet's book!

[@BetPondue]

I remember that! Did Sideshow husband really exist? Or Adminnie? 🤣 time's gone so quickly!

[@mariapizzaa]

It's too bad that forum is missing, because I'd love a deep dive into that drama as well!

[@rosieglasses]

I also remembered this and the subsequent LnV debacle which was so unfortunate since they were so loved.

[@slighthouse1]

@@sdicorcia Plurk!! I forgot about that!

[@rebeccamichelson5642]

help hearing you call people who know about clapotis the "older generation" of knitters gave me such psychic damage. I'm not even that old but i REMEMBER the hold that pattern had on the knitting community

[@KnittyElf]

lol Same here. I’m in my 30s and have been on Ravelry since I was a college student in 2007. I’m not old! 😂

[@Rrriss]

Yeah this was ridiculous

[@mariafordon121]

Hahaha same!

[@Nickyknits]

As someone having treatment for cancer at the moment, it makes me so angry that a small number of people think it's ok to lie about a diagnosis to get themselves out of trouble 🤬. I do also agree though that turning up at hospitals is not a good idea.

[@Rose_Castle]

Hope your treatment is going well.

[@sideshowmob]

apparently it wasn't a lie

[@cjboyo]

Ah a small business underpricing themselves, getting overwhelmed, doubling down, panicking, and then trying to make it all disappear. Tale as old as time

[@blob9907]

I love how this era of Livejournal users talked like Victorians.

[@AnnikaVictoria24]

*rubs hands* can't wait for the video about ravelry. It was really shocking/bizarre the way they handled that and completely tried to gaslight the disabled community/people who had seizures from the website! Im so intrigued as to where that all ended up, coz i just gave up with ravelry after that (the infamous UI didnt cause me to have seizures, but i have light sensitivity and migraines and looking at it made my head hurt!)

[@MichelleSinTO]

Riiiight? I left Ravelry around the same time for similar reasons as you. I can still pop in occasionally for patterns, but I’m no longer active in the forums. Probably for the best, with how much time I spent there! I don’t use the term gaslighting often, but it actually fits here, with them replying that it couldn’t possibly be causing seizures & migraines, they’d had it checked for accessibility, despite so many people all saying it was causing problems. Btw, loved your videos & miss seeing new ones, though I understand why. Hope you’re doing well!

[@cass.cassandra1685]

Ok whattt, now I neeeed a ravelry video. I’m not familiar with the site at all

[@deemg2830]

Hello @AnnikaVictoria24. I hope you don't mind my asking, but have you experienced light sensitivity and migraines browsing other websites? Just very curious, as I am currently looking into web design and would love to avoid accessibility issues such as these. Thank you in advance. Have a wonderful day!

[@aim-to-misbehave5674]

​@@deemg2830 I'm not the person you were commenting to, but there was a site redesign on the Ask A Manager blog in summer 2022 that had a lot of back and forth discussion, and some variations of the site drew comparisons to the Ravelry redesign's inaccessibility. Searching for "Ask A Manager new design" should bring up the main thread about it, and you can stick that URL into the Wayback Machine to see what that specific edition of the site looked like at the time

[@mwolfe7883]

They made it where you could change it back to the old way it looked for a bit. There has been a redesign and it’s not so aggravating as it was during that odd update.

[@Venya9]

Thanks for covering this one, I joined Ravelry in 2012 and remember landing on a forum there where vague mentions of MCY were made but I never took a deep dive to the drama. Another dyer drama with twists and turns was with a dyer called Gothsocks, I would love a video on that if you ever have the time

[@tahlia_dayyy]

This is the first time I’m hearing about “craft related drama” and as someone who both loves crafts and is extremely nosey i’m subscribing immediately

[@jensfiberweb]

This whole saga reminds me of Fortnight Fabrics, a hand dyed cross stitch fabric company owned by a couple who allegedly split up early this year (or late last year maybe). They continued selling fabric, both wholesale and retail, through at least June of this year despite still not shipping/refunding orders from December/January. One of them shared crazy dramatic stories about the break up and accused the other of theft and abuse, but he was suddenly posting all over social media about becoming a flight attendant? It was/is so bizarre.

[@asmrtpop2676]

This needs more likes that’s absolutely wild lolol

[@jennthecaffeinatedcrafter5679]

Ah yes I never bought from them but heard from many stitchy friends who never received their fabrics and I never did get all the tea, I’d love to know more 😂

[@marysnyder9405]

When the scene changed happened at 26mins, I was like "did you have to go into witness protection? Are you in a safe house? Has Danielle come for you at last?"

[@GreatGreebo]

I’ve NEVER in my life searched for any sort of *yarn drama* on KZbin yet the algorithm sent me here…and Boy! am I glad it did! This is *GREAT* . Thank you and cheers. This made for some excellent entertainment while doing my Sashiko mending on a pair of jeans 🤣

[@Ruthy101]

Howdy @greatGreebo 😂 I love finding old internet board drama too!

[@GreatGreebo]

@@Ruthy101 right?!? So crazy yet entertaining! It’s just like Chins’ saga…nobody believes me when I try to tell regular people how unhinged she is! 👀

[@megknitsstuff1727]

Rav was in “beta” during this time and there was a waitlist to join. In March 2008 I waited 4 weeks. If I remember correctly, It was also completely behind a sign in wall until they crowdsourced the second server in late 2009. So if you werent a member, you couldn’t even browse (it insured the site didn’t crash from too much traffic).. you couldnt just sign up and immediately have access, hence the sharing account info conversation. Lots of people did that even though you weren’t supposed to. As far as why were people still buying…the online knitting community was small and word traveled slowly. This was pre-social media, pre-FB groups, pre-twitter. A lot if people didn’t realize there was any issue until they didnt get their stuff, googled to see normal ship times, and found the drama. If they weren’t on Rav yet, they couldn’t see the forum posts at all. It was a wild time. And I am ancient. 😂

[@MaritaCov]

I am a fellow ancient. My knitting group was on pins and needles waiting for our Ravelry invites lol.

[@kateboyd9374]

I used to be proud of my membership number: I think it was in the low 60,000s? I don't remember. I used to spin yarn, dye roving to spin, dye yarn, knit like a woman possessed. Ironically when I found the drama forums, I was hooked, and gradually tapered off creating to read it all.

[@amykathleen2]

I never bothered with Ravelry until literally a couple months ago because my memory of this early restricted Ravelry was so strong. Every time I heard someone mention it I’d just be like “nah, that’d be a pain.” Ultimately I broke down and was pleasantly surprised to find it was only a little bit of a pain.

[@bhuidhe]

​@@kateboyd9374I don't know my number but I started in 2007 so it couldn't have been too high, wow it has been a minute!

[@pdieraue]

I am wheezing at that insane obituary. It reads like it was written by someone who has never seen an actual obituary before. Of course, actual obituaries contain a lot of biographical information and I'm sure Danielle just didn't want to dox herself, but still, it is absolutely wild.

[@trulytart3534]

I didn't join the yarn community until 2010, but I still heard small bits and pieces of this story. Two of the regulars at my LYS had been slighted by MCY: one never received yarn and the other received a sweaters worth of the wrong yarn (wrong colour and wrong weight). Neither ever got resolution.

[@Mannamadeit]

I was there for this. I was an avid LnV fan podcast fan. The $4.25 yarn was supposedly from KnitPicks (as their base) and was supposed to have discounted , if I remember right, for batch inconsistently. This was one of the first big yarn web scams you really heard at the time. The ravelry board were going wild, as was discussion in the LnV groups. Which led to the speaking out post.

[@kitterzy]

I’ve dyed using KnitPicks yarns as a base and never had any problems. The whole problem is the preparation of the yarn prior to dyeing is key. I suspect back then they didn’t pre-wet the yarn or use the correct mordant for the given dye and fiber. Then not keeping good records of dye recipes. I think she got in over her head and couldn’t find ppl to dye with the same quality she could in its infancy.

[@adbreon]

And then Lime and Violet immediately went on it’s own wild ride.

[@ealusaid]

I learned about it on LJ when Danielle "died", lol. I think this was the first time I ever learned about Ravelry. What a time to be alive...

[@zupik1894]

In 2008 I was 13. The internet back then was so great. Just talking with random people on forums. No influencers. This video was really great and made me think of those times.

[@MsDee255]

And you could actually trust people’s reviews on KZbin and blogs and whatnot because they bought stuff with their own money.

[@Sandreline]

I was 18 in 2008, and I can assure you that the internet was a hellscape. 😅 Especially KZbin, omg.

[@pokelover02]

Same! MySpace was both amazing and terrifying

[@montananerd8244]

I was 38 in 2008 and had a child, the internet was absolutely awful. But, tbh, I was on the internet before the www, back when you accessed message boards, my college had access. Boys sent us ascii porn, which was very vague pictures created out of letters and numbers, like cross stitch for typing. And the Westboro Baptist guy Ben Phelps interrupted academic boards to scream we were going to hell. So...the internet was born awful.

[@r.n.4765]

I've been on the internet since year 2000, and I can assure you that it was just as awful back then as it is today. Some places were a little better than others, but overall it was never as great as we would like to remember.

[@MBrace-zr5dx]

PLEASE do Gothsocks, FibroFibers, and the company with metal spinning wheels (I’m sorry I can’t remember their name!) I feel like there was also another one that was a “family” supposedly. They’d all reply randomly to customers without communicating with each other.. it was obviously one person. It was amazing. Also the glass tip drop spindle drama was *chef’s kiss* Maybe someone can remember all of these names that are stored somewhere in my dusty ass brain.

[@MBrace-zr5dx]

Inglenook! Inglenook spindles. I can’t believe I remembered lol

[@biguattipoptropica]

Someone else figured out the family was the “Ryans”, unless you’re talking about a different family. I wasn’t here for all that drama but it’s hilarious hearing about it. Hope the videos get made.

[@stacycook5747]

Omg the metal spinning wheel company! I remember them! Lol

[@KristinMoran]

Columbine? I have a Columbine wheel (purchased 3rd hand). I've not heard any drama about them but also couldn't find much info about caring for the wheels.

[@stacycook5747]

@@KristinMoran no, definitely not columbine wheels. This was a brand that sprung up in the 2010s and it was basically a lendrum style wheel with a motorcycle aesthetic. Not made by lendrum.

[@annaolson4828]

I love "everyone's lying about me because they're jealous" discounts, they're my favorite.

[@rhiannonseabolt9340]

Why did I think you were standing at a distance from posters hanging on a wall? What a great optical illusion! When you reached back to tape an index card to the wall behind you, I was as shook as when Danielle “died!” I love how you tell this story! You have a great narrative voice and a sense of fairness throughout! I can’t wait to watch all of your videos! Finally, my sister and I own a small business. A couple years ago we became popular enough in our specific niche that we couldn’t keep up with orders. It was depressing to have our success become our downfall. But we took the items down that we were overselling and we sent messages to our customers about what was going on and we didn’t list the items again until we caught up. Now I know to only list the amount I can realistically finish if we were to sell everything at once. We gained repeat customers for our honesty and although our little shop is not making as much today, we can keep up with it. I feel like Danielle probably started with good intentions and then became overwhelmed. She may have even made decent yarn in the beginning and then started taking shortcuts and the quality of her product suffered. Then one lie turned into a million and she sunk herself. I don’t want to feel sorry for her, but I picture myself crying over orders in 2021 and I do feel sorry for the early Danielle who had a dream of living off her craft and then watched it consume her. But she took so many steps to deceive, so I do not feel sorry for later Danielle. Anyway, great video! I can’t wait to watch all your others! I hope my comment made sense!

[@Knituational]

Very interesting that Miss Violet had so much to say about this situation, if I recall correctly she had a bit of drama herself over taking donations of money, a bad relationship, and new furniture.

[@Mannamadeit]

Also it's pronounced "clap-o-tee", link in French. We thought we were terrible clever for making that off one of the first internet yarn magazines.

[@fernandavelasco8805]

As someone who’s crocheted for years dye lots also apply to larger companies! That’s why most yarns have a lot number and if you get one you NEED to get one from the same dye lot or run the risk that they’re completely different colors. Most of the times it’s not bad but sometimes it can be a game breaker for larger projects!

[@pkmntrainerlilly5]

This is also my experience. Checking dye lots is very important for any yarn, wool, cotton, acrylic. I once made knitted a sweater you could clearly see the line where I changed skeins because I didn't check the dye lots when I bought them.

[@nyandoesthings]

"Most of the times it's not bad" this reminds me of a small internet kerfuffle about one of the big names (to be honest with you, I don't remember which) changing the COUNTRY one of their yarn lines was in, and the difference was less different shades and more different colors entirely.

[@aim-to-misbehave5674]

Dye lots are a thing for threads and flosses, too - one of the reasons DMC is gold standard embroidery floss is because they basically don't have dye lots, they're insanely consistent, but smaller brands and indie floss dyers still have dye lots

[@Pipkiablo]

I usually don't bother with dye lots since I primarily make stuffed animals that don't take up an entire skein of yarn, but I did once make this mistake when crocheting a blanket while new to crocheting. It worked out though that the single skein that was a different dye lot ended up being at the very middle of the blanket, so it just looked like there was a stripe of lighter purple in the middle and I just pretend it was intentional.

[@moongod5013]

Marvel Cinematic Yarniverse

[@matildasmarmalade6735]

So glad I had never heard of this story so that every plot twist fully hit

[@alaisvalera5233]

"where were you when danielle spoke out?" well i was SIX AND A HALF SO I DON'T KNOW

[@emmainthemoment]

Yeah I was 9, had no ravelry account and had never touched knitting needles

[@alaisvalera5233]

@@emmainthemoment lmao same, knitting was still a granny thing to me at that time…little did we know there were so much things happening

[@18Treva]

I feel so old I was 18 but I wasn't into knitting at the time!

[@sarahgreiner2694]

I remember thinking that someone should cover crafting drama. Nice to see this in my recomendeds. If you're on Ravelry, there are a lot of threads in the Demon Troll group that could be useful sources. That group was named that because of a similar situation with the dyer GothSocks and her boyfriend, the Captain, who called the group bringing awareness to the situation "demon trolls".

[@LovelyRuthie]

That was wild. I had no idea why the YT algorithm recommended this to me. I don't knit, nor use yarn. But as the story unravelled I realised it was due to my love of tea ;) You have a new subscriber!

[@NerfHerder909]

I'm only about one segment into this (2007), but the people complaining about shipping times are so reminiscent of drama I've seen in the historical reenacting community (guy who makes specific type of 19th century hat also takes a year to ship said hat, people get big mad), it's making me laugh. Also, watching a real time explanation of what Livejournal is when I was actually avidly using Livejournal circa 2004 makes me feel like the Crypt Keeper.

[@HaytchAr]

I watched this in real time as it went down. I wasn't really invested and didn't participate but it was kind of one of those "grab your coffee in the morning and see what had been posted since yesterday" things. There was some sketchy stuff that happened with Elizabeth Metz/Eliza/Liz/Miss Violet with a yarn club, and Etsy shops where a bunch of people were scammed, in fact when I saw the podcast mentioned in the beginning of the video I thought this might have covered her too. She has a history of this going back into the late 90s with online journals (pre blogs), illnesses, rocky marriages, etc. Every time something blew up she'd pick up a new name and a new site. She still has a blog (not updated since 2019) and an open Etsy shop.

[@thekataandlama]

There was some drama from a bralette crocheter that was hiring other crocheters to mass make her bralettes for her that she then added details to before sending out. She wasn’t sending enough yarn and had super sketch practices. It would be cool to have a bigger deep dive on it but idk if there’s enough info. This was maybe 1/2 years ago

[@bdgies2721]

As a hand spinner and dyer of over 40 years, I find this story morbidly fascinating. Good research, excellent presentation. I look forward to more of your videos.

[@SusanButler365]

I was around Ravelry at the time of this drama but not involved. Around the same time there was the just as dramatic, though no fake death, HipKnits/MagKnits drama (magazines and yarn dyeing company) and after that was the UK Knit Camp 2010 debacle. Good times for drama watchers! Can’t believe how long ago it all was.

[@EsmereldaPea]

I think you just gave Emma another rabbit hole. LOL.

[@LaceyRoseLove]

As someone working in a hospital, it boggles my mind that people called various hospitals to see if she's a patient. They wouldn't even get anywhere when HIPAA exists.

[@qveenissac]

Im not even a knitter but I find your videos quite entertaining. It's like a podcast I can play while doing other things. I guess humans are like flies to drama stories of any sort.

[@mandyvaughnknits]

It's just bizarre when I hear about anything like this. One thing that never makes any sense to me.. Why don't people just temporarily stop taking orders if they're overwhelmed and can't fulfill them? This was quite a bit before I started knitting or crocheting, I have heard mentions of it but wasn't clear on the entire story. Thank you so much to you and your research assistant for putting in the time to put together a great video.

[@woundworship]

i know we're a messy community, but i cant say i feel guilty about it when watching fiber arts drama videos to keep me entertained while knitting. especially if its early 2000s internet drama - thats the best kind of drama imo

[@TsukiTsu56]

It’s so funny how this “fake your death” route has happened at least twice in the crafting world. There was also one with a woman who was selling hair for doll wigs/rehairing and she ALSO faked her own death to try to get out from under her bad business practices. I think the company was called Dollyhair.

[@weirdroadkill]

Wasn’t there also a bjd creator that took a bunch of preorders then flaked and faked their death when they caught heat

[@JustToast936]

I’d heard something about Dollyhair, since I follow a few doll customizers, but if it is her, that’s wild.

[@justaduck3615]

In the grey room because of the angles I thought there was a full, empty room behind her. So I got a jump scare when she placed the paper on the wall, haha.

[@mst3kanita]

the six am might just be blogger freaking out, I remember back when I used them they could never get the time zones correct. Does anybody remember this .... scrapbook drama? with this woman who won a contest, and she was an unconventional scrapbooker, and all the traditional ones pitched a fit and harassed her? This was around the time of this yarn drama. /edit/ It was Kristina Contes!