Maybe I was being naive. Or maybe I wanted Ravelry to not be a microcosm of the real world.
Despite my best intentions to believe that knitters (and crocheters) in general are honest, it is unfortunate that there are fraudsters on Ravelry who con folks out of money in destashes, skip out on a swap partner by not sending their package, and lastly beg for free stuff (pretending to be down-on-their-luck)
I have not encountered the first two types, yet (knock on wood) but the yarn beggars, as I’d like to call them, have gotten under my skin lately.
Despite what I claim to be (a selfish yarn hoarder), I have actually given away a fair amount of yarn to those whom, at the time, seemed to be in need. Hey, I’m not a cold-hearted bitch, so if someone seemed down-on-their-luck, I did what was charitable and sent them the yarn for free, often times footing the postage (or just barely covering shipping).
Now, before all of you start sending me messages asking for free yarn (not gonna happen anymore so don’t even try it), I don’t trust ANYONE who solicit free yarn outright. You know, those types of ” Please give me any yarn you can” type of posts. I totally ignore them. So how and why did I give away the said yarn?
For one, the person must have some sort of record on Ravelry. (Must have some sort of postings for me to determine if there really is a need or not. It also helps to have the profile filled in. I wasn’t going to send stuff to someone who has something to hide. Not kosher.)
Mind you, the packages were never huge. 1-2lb at most. The shipping costs have crept up to a point that it’s not viable to send any yarn across the country. (Heck, I might as well send them $10 in cash and tell em to go buy some yarn from their local shop) But still, I don’t send people crappy yarn and they typically are valued at around $20-30.
Recently, I destashed some undyed sock yarn and a person kept hinting she couldn’t afford the yarn (“Gosh, I wish I could get some…” type of comments) In the beginning I ignored said person since my goal at the time was to raise some funds to pay off credit cards (thanks to the Black Friday madness, I kinda overspent. Typical of me, right?)
After I had gotten rid of a significant portion of the destash lot, I had gotten another cryptic message asking if I still had some left and once again wishing she can afford it. So I read through her old posts, her meager stash, and determined she could probably use a pick-me-up. I sent her the yarn and that was that.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I was casually browsing through some of the people who I sold/sent yarn to and who do we have here wishing “I had any sock yarn. I’ve only knit with 100% acrylic stuff from Walmart and can’t afford any sock yarns”
WTF? I just sent you close to a pound of sock yarn 2 weeks ago.
I went back to her stash page. Still holding at 1 (and this wasn’t even a yarn entry. Just a note saying Walmart acrylic or whatever I can buy really cheap since I’m broke)
I scrolled down her group list: a lot of SWAP, yarn destash, RAK (random acts of kindness), and contests groups. And it’s the same cryptic sob story. (she was smart because she never said outright she wanted people to send her free yarn)
This is sad. I’ve been burned once before by a person claiming to be knitting for charity (which is why I don’t send yarn to folks soliciting yarn) but this upgraded sort of fraud makes me lose faith in the knitting community.
I mean, that yarn was easily worth $30 (plus my $6 out of pocket costs for postage); money, I could have given to treat someone’s blindess via the Himalayan Cataract Project (This is the charity I support. If you’re interested in reading about treating operable blindess due to cataracts in Third World countries, please follow the link. The surgery costs only $20 to give one person the gift of sight. Something that’s much more valuable than a few meals… or yarn for that matter.)
Anyway, so much for my charitable knitting spirit. I’m hoarding everything for myself from now on. And to those few who conned me out of my hard earned yarn, fuck you and may all your house become infested with carpet beetle and moths.
Tags: charitable, charity, donations, fraud, give away, phishing, ravelry, scam, scammers
LOLOLOLOL at your curse to them!!!! Rich!!!! Carpet beetle and moths … noooooo …. I can’t breathe!!!!!
Look, the way I see it is the same as you … I don’t mind helping someone who’s down on his/her luck with a yarn gift or two or three but when you make a career out of begging for it … err “Hell to the Naw”. Don’t talk about the charity solicitations.
How about I make the item and mail it to the charity in question … huh … how about that?
I understand why you’re pissed and I think you have a right to be. It’s no fun feeling taken advantage of. I pretty much ignore any of those kinds of posts and those kinds of people. If you can buy the cheap acrylic from Walmart, you can buy from Knitpicks. I send to whom I want to send to … WITHOUT any kind of solicitation on their part. Whoever moves me … with NO BEGGING … that’s who receives my gifts. I don’t ever respond to the “woe is me” kind of lingo … online or in real life. My eyes pretty much just glaze over during those encounters and that beggar turns into Charlie Brown’s teacher … “wah, wah, wah, wah, wah”. Lips move or I see something in print … but I can’t interpret.
I’ve been in swaps where people have not received packages … where others had to be called out in order to have them send what they pledged to send … shysters … the whole lot of them and I avoid them like the damn plague.
I can’t tell you what to do with regards to your gift giving except that honestly … you probably would give again because I don’t sense inherent selfishness about you. All I can hope is that whomever you share with in the future, that person or those persons would be truly and sincerely appreciative of your gesture and not in the yarn beggars category.
Now …. wanna send me some yarn?
Yeah, I should have gone with my gut instincts and not fallen to that “woe is me” deal but I think the whole end of the year festivities bungled with my brain (and maybe i had a sorta guilt trip with my overindulgences.)
Charlie Brown “wah, wah, wah, wah, wah…..” was a good one Thanks for the laugh
I want to send you some yarn now.
Have you seen my stash?! I can probably support an entire suburban town with the amount I have.
Thanks for the thought though (and not that I want it or anything but what did you have in mind? LOL I kid)
I’m so with you. I’m selfish about my yarn. But I recently sent a skein of Madelinetosh to a friend abroad who I knew couldn’t afford it as easily as I could. Not easy for me either, I babysit a lot and grade exams to support my yarn habit, but I like to spread the wealth, when I know it’s not being abused. If I want to be charitable I donate to Doctors Without Borders, or the greyhound rescue I got my dogs from.