I've got a tale to tell.
Not so much a tale but the B side of a vinyl album. Everyone listens to the slow emotional ballad on the A side that elicits emotion and seems to tell a haunting story. Rarely heard is the other side. The one that shows the lead-up to the "sad" song. How the innocent victims aren't really that innocent. They are the instigators and needed to get their side of the story out first in hopes that it would overshadow and drown out the other side of the story.
Those who know me, know that I don't care about your politics, the color of your skin or who/what you believe or have faith in. A good person is a good person and an asshat is, well, just that, an asshat and I want nothing to do with the latter. But, dear readers, even I can be fooled at times, but it doesn't last long. You can only wear a mask for so long before sweat gets in your eyes and you have to remove it and let your skin breathe. Then the world sees the true horror that lies beneath.
Grab a cup of coffee and have a seat, please keep all hands, feet, and your head inside the car at all times, the ride is about it being...
On February 24, 2017, a vlog/show/video podcast was uploaded to Youtube. A new venture and apparent progression for a writer/knitter/entrepreneur named Gregory Patrick. He had been writing his blog (Mad Man Knitting) for years and had quite a few followers. This was his way of giving back a bit of himself to his fans and followers. A way of promoting his Bears, patterns, books and his husband Phillip Champlain's Strange Friends. He climbed outside his comfort zone and let us into his private life for a little while each week. Made us laugh, made us think and gained more and more followers.
Eventually, a fan and fellow crafting entrepreneur joined the show as a "correspondent". The rules for videos were simple, there were none. They guys were (and still are) all about the great American tradition of capitalism. Promote, promote, promote, sell your wares, make money and live the American dream. I mean, who doesn't dream of doing what you love, working from home and being able to support yourself and your family? Sounds great, right.
Well, feel free to look up the Knitter Be Damned videos on youtube. She did weekly videos helping promote the guys and all their endeavors, rarely mentioning her own Etsy shop. (she let the guys do that for her by mentioning it on camera and posting links to her shop in the comment section) ZERO effort on her part most of the time.
That's called Coattail riding, isn't it? Hooking up with someone with more power and popularity than you to simply let them "drag" you to the top with little to no effort on your part. That's always been the definition I've seen anyway. It's usually a middle school/high school thing amongst peer groups. But I digress...
Trisha Fettig even went so far as to create a "fan" FB page called Knitter Be Damned so those of us who participated in and watched the show could discuss, chat, hang out and make friends and even promote our own shops and home businesses. It was an instant success. Within a couple months there were 500 members and constant posts.
With the "guys" being who they are, of course, there were a few people that joined who didn't like the idea of 2 gay, married conservative men being so popular. Gregory had been dealing with these type of issues for a while. If you read his blog, you'll understand. (I'll put the link to it at the bottom of this post) This was nothing he couldn't handle and he had hundreds of people standing by him and standing up for his (and their) beliefs.
In July, during one of the shows, the idea of a Mobile Yarn store was mentioned. You could actually see the light bulb above Greg's head light up so bright you thought it would burn out. YARN TRUCK!!! Kind of like a vegetable truck, but selling boutique yarn. The promoting began. Even "Auntie" Trisha was promoting for it. (Still not promoting her own stuff, the guys were doing that for her)
Through crowdfunding by their supporters, within a month, they had the truck, they had the product and they were ready to roll. Pretty amazing... from concept to fruition in about 5 weeks.
Then it began. During one of the many discussions about politics on the FB page 2 men decided to take it so much further than it needed to go and it got nasty. It ended with one of them (may have been both) calling someone who disagreed with them the "C" word. You know the one, the most hated word in the American English language. Gregory as an admin of the group private messaged them and ask them to "chill out" a bit. (I have a screenshot of the message between them that was sent to me by one of the offenders). One of the offenders happened to be "Auntie" Trisha's boyfriend.
Within a day or so I started getting private messages about how she thought the guys were "trying too hard begging for money" and how they turned the FB page SHE created into a "begging page". Really? She was promoting them as hard as they were, but whatever. That turned into "I"m not making a dime off these people" Well, hell, no wonder, you're expecting someone else to do all the work for you. People were donating and buying items to help everyone who ask. You NEVER ask. Do we remember the response to your request for cards and blanket squares for your Aunt? The help was there, it's no one's fault but your own that you never spoke up. I mentioned to the guys once that I was having a rough time with my daughter and they did an entire show dedicated to their appreciation of all of us and to show me that no matter what, I was awesome. Yeah, it's easy to forget things like that when you become obsessed with the destruction of another person over something so stupid. (Yes, this shit is stupid).
The conversations turned into how she wanted to do her own youtube show to promote her Etsy shop and her items. How Gregory and Phillip had "turned their backs" on everyone who supported them. During this entire time, all the conversations, not once did she contact either Gregory or Phillip to discuss anything. It was all done behind their backs. It made me seriously uncomfortable. I greatly dislike backstabbing and sneaking around. All this coming from a woman who took a great deal of pride in her claims of being Wiccan. I am Wiccan and there are 2 Laws you don't screw with. Do no harm and the Rule of 3. (you can google those) Karma is a nasty bitch and she has no problem knocking on your door seeking her payment.
I'm about to give you a revelation, I've said nothing to this point because I tried really hard to stay out of it. I AM THE ONE WHO CONTACTED THE GUYS. Screenshots of the conversations and everything. Needless to say, Gregory was surprised and hurt. This was a person who he considered a friend. Not just a supporter or fellow crafter, a friend. I told him that this felt more like a kindergarten class than a group of adults. He was the much-loved teacher who asks the boys to stop running in class and take their seats. The hatred for him was shocking, surprising and hurtful. Still, he said NOTHING. He let it go. It was going to take whatever direction it took.
With much fanfare and a promotional post, Trisha left the group. We all thought it was over. Watching the videos you can see, the guys NEVER mention any of it. A simple post on the FB page saying goodbye and wishing her the best. Not good enough apparently. Private message from her- If they really wish me the best, they would promote my stuff. Seriously? I didn't know what to say.
Shortly after this, she began bashing how they promoted their business. I believe her exact words were. Other businesses don't crowdfund and beg for money, they actually work at real jobs. (don't quote me on this exactly, I'd have to pull up the screenshots and I'm being lazy at the moment) Hate to tell ya honey, google "crowdfunding for businesses" OMG there's a minimum of 20 websites and thousands of businesses and individuals that do just that.
She posted so many things in KBD and called so many people a hypocrite, let's touch on this for a moment. Both she and her boyfriend are vehement Trump supporters and that's fine. Hypocrisy isn't. During one discussion about how Gregory was vilified over making a comment about the Pussy Hat Project she proudly stated that she was disgusted by the whole "Pussy Hat" thing but she still made them and sold them because "even Libtard money was green". (Screenshots boys and girls)
The final straw is an eBay sale post where she's selling the Rockabilly Doll made by Phillip Champlain. In the description of the item, she states that he's featured in the show Knitter Be Damned on youtube and goes into how the guys are scammers and she's trying to make the money back for one of their victims. How are you STILL trying to use the popularity of the guys and the show to sell something or are you trying to say they're scammers?
Moving on. There were individuals still in the KBD group that were posting support and encouragement for the guys. Behind the scenes, these same people were aligned with Trisha talking shit and trashing them. Gregory began cutting ties with them. One of them was Therese Lupo. She sent project bags to be sold on the yarn truck. When she was cut out Gregory sent her back all of the unsold merchandise and made any final payments. Immediately rumors started about how they owed her money, they never paid her. (Screenshots of payments sent, remember this) They even got family members involved with the trash postings. Every time Gregory stepped up to defend himself and post screenshots of the payments made they were taken down. They didn't want anyone to know the truth. They've done everything they can to make him look bad. It has gotten bad enough at this point the final youtube episode of Knitter Be Damned aired this past weekend. We're moving over to Patreon and closing the FB group. We're not quitting, simply changing strategy.
Through this entire post, I've said she doesn't think the guys "promoted her enough" well, let's promote her. She's kept her Etsy shop away from all that she's trying to do, let's bring it into the light, that way her "customers" can know exactly the type of person they're dealing with. Please, retweet as many times as you can, post it on your pages and share it with your friends. Let's start a new hashtag. #backstab #thewholetruth
https://www.etsy.com/shop/yankeerose
Oh yeah, side note. To this day, more than a month later, she still hasn't posted 1 video of her own show, she's only done 1 blog post (around Eclipse time) and done no self-promotion. All she's done is trash people on the internet. Do you really need to do business with a person of this caliber? I so hope she reports this blog post or in some way tries legal action. I'm a SAHM, blogger, crafter and extremely loyal friend. I need a new playtoy. I've banked good Karma, I can let this one roll in defense of that which I love and to show the world that bullies and lies are not OK.
(After I talk to the relevant people, I may go ahead and post all the screenshots, this way it's not word against word. It's easy to tell the truth when you have it in their own words)
Remember, PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. If you're going to play the game, you have to play fair. If you can't manage to do that on your own, let me help you a bit.
Link time:
The new show will be here:
https://www.patreon.com/madmanknitting/posts
Buy Gregory and Phillips books, patterns, bears and Strange Friends here:
http://gregorypatrick.bigcartel.com/
Read the blog that started it all here:
https://madmanknitting.wordpress.com/
My friend Caroline French does some amazing work over in the UK. Check her out here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheCraftyChimp/
