I feel so sorry for the Unhappy KnitCampers. I decided long ago that Stirling was too far to go for a knit holiday and that it was going to cost too much. I did feel the lure of all those top name teachers and the Ravelry linkage but it was just too much hassle. I have never been so happy not to be attending a knitfest.
The first I heard was at Knit Nation a few weeks ago in London where there were mutterings about mass pullouts by tutors who had only just been sent their contracts (3 weeks before the event) and had balked at the gagging clauses forbidding them to make any negative comments about the event before, during or after. Then there was the news that the organiser had offered to pay Casey and Jess (the Ravelry owners) half their airfare and then refused once the flights were booked. So they are now in Edinburgh (with Ysolda and having Ravelry meet ups with groups in Edinburgh on the 14th and Glasgow on the 15th) but not attending the event. Meanwhile the organiser was still using the Ravelry name and not saying which tutors had pulled out.
Fast forward to last night and I get a text asking me if I've seen the latest - one tutor deported at Glasgow Airport and another diverted to Ireland because there are no work permits. So I go onto Ravelry this morning and wowsers - is there one big mess brewing. I wouldn't want to quote out of context so have a look here at the discussions forum for the latest. Things were certainly not helped when the organiser complained about people hassling her for information. Her post was neatly hemmed in by others from people literally crying because they had been looking forward to the event so much and it was now in tatters.
If you are on your way up there I would strongly recommend you go onto Ravelry as there seems to be little to no communication going out to all the paying attendees about cancelled classes. The latest I read was that the classes with European tutors were on, but everything else was somewhat up in the air. There is some handy advice about refunds and what your legal position is in other threads on the forum.
I would love to hear form those of you who are there...search for the tag #knitcamp on twitter (no account needed) for the latest news. The official blog is here, but somewhat out of date. The official website is, um, down.
3 comments:
I feel sorry for those who are just going for the day and travelling a long way. It sounds more like disorganisation on the part of the organisers, and lack of communication - a major irritant! I just hope things smooth out now and can get sorted out a bit.
I've been following it all with growing horror...
Yes; organisationally it was a shambles, and travelling up on the Monday with no idea of how many of my classes would actually be running was more than a little crap. However, there were knitters, and after the initial total snafu, there were tutors; and once you get those together and everyone squares their shoulders and just gets on with it despite the organisation, those add up to a pretty good time.
Have blogged it, anyway, if you're interested!
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