We’ve been so busy with Yarn Crawl that we missed the big scandal with Stephen West going on the Blocked channel (a magazine/YouTube/Podcast hosted by a guy who calls himself “Knitler” and bullies queer, BIPOC, and fat folx). And I don’t buy that he just “didn’t do his homework.”
I like some of West’s designs, but I have never understood the cult following. It seems like it’s so much easier for cis white men to become knitting celebrities than anyone else, and that really sucks. Fame seems like a very toxic bargain and I am always happy to never be TOO popular.
Let’s all just ignore Stephen for a while. Discover some new designers, and maybe not just the ones who are pushing on social media. Ravelry makes it easy to find designs that are interesting and unique, whether they have hype or not. Maybe I’ll use this space for a while to highlight some designers I like who are not hollow rich jerks.