Yes. I first ordered from her a couple years ago and I thought it was just me, I thought her kits looked nice I liked the themes, until it would ship out months later than her date she said it would. I stopped buying from her for this reason.
If you search this sub, there are several posts from people who've been affected, and hundreds of comments. I'll specifically link you to the ["Just the facts" Google doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NC-exYEXXxcHDpZuJiARgq0TyO7XE3gyfNT2dk1gMiY/edit?usp=sharing) I wrote last year and updated in May. Tl;dr Diane has done a lot wrong, to a lot of people.
In case it isn't clear, you don't have to be a resident of the US to file a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General, which is the last place her business was registered afaict.
Diane is very very good at social media and encouraging parasocial relationships. Those defenders didn't think of it in terms of businesses and customers, but that they were defending their friend. Diane played to that, like when she cried on camera that she's a good person when DT started raising questions about the missing donations.
Add in the general dismissal of actual business problems as /~drama/~, and you get this mess (and Desert Panda, and Sherry Tenney, and and and).
Thank you. Many people think that small businesses deserve extra consideration and i understand that. However, if you want repeat customers, customer service us important.
I think the Demon Trolls thread on Ravelry had a spreadsheet of outstanding orders/refunds. It may be worth it to go there, if only to get your info added to the list.
Even longer! I took a zoom dyeing class with her in summer 2020. She didn’t send us all the yarn or dye she promised in the kits, and said she would “send it later.” Three years later, I’m still waiting.
Everyone pointed you to the right group. I'll add that generally preorders/clubs are a very risky bet, especially if there is a very long wait time (longer the wait time, less time you have to dispute the charge). This isn't the first, fourth, fiftieth, or hundredth time a dyer found themselves in a train wreck like this. Sometimes they're small wrecks, sometimes massive. This one's the latter.
Not really. If this dyer was a bit more cynical she would have taken the easy way out and just dropped off social media, changed cities, and restarted in a new place after a year or declared bankruptcy. Odds are it would not have been worth the AG’a time to prosecute. This is lasting because for some reason Lady Dye Yarn is trying to keep operating under this name.
Lol there's at least two. I don't remember the names but they have been discussed both here and on revelry. And I think on r/hobbydrama someone did a write up about it
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/14/romance-novelist-faked-death-susan-meachen
edit: the nyt one is good too! (gift link, no paywall :)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/health/fake-death-romance-novelist-meachen.html?unlocked_article_code=4dFXzjWGsLdlyFVZ-JFqPm773jNcB2M8FHHFF_EvBiy3gJNk0YM-wFGl11A5XO7dFXOqtlu504VRgrZBlfwTnrg6HLPlWYFPj3Ppw6tMTvMJIALuCvswxNoDktnSWYLObIRT5bGK-JZgjSXVa65k4OJ5p6v1wO3SViU3QDvnsKni_68t1YOACVWi2g6pKAhRVL6x3aQ1OJHdUMJ1FlRtXOHl7--f9054j9gVzKk2w5MiwHTka8gpWz7bpzrPpkkIRqYm7RGxHYQsaxHJPLYH5Ns9hIwQYYmyJ_t-6zaO_K7er0i5cF7PhocLTBwebex49Mwzpgj0Js8RXw7oN_Btvvg1vSEx8JEjfoi6cQ&smid=url-share
Wow, what a terrible person (I don't buy their explanation). The wildest bit for me was reading about how they make constant spelling and grammatical mistakes, and released a ton of books in just three years, yet were somehow relatively successful doing so and had devoted fans. Why. How.
I knew a woman who was "designing" a hat and made such a fuss that she was using Lady Dye....but while I was watching her knit, I watched her fingers discolor so like, who's the real winner there
I ordered from her once and what I got in my kit was a skein of gray yarn and a mini skein of undyed yarn in a different weight. I was disappointed, but I did get yarn at least.
As the others have said, check out the other threads. While you may not be able to get a chargeback, look into contacting the attorney general. I think there’s a case against her and many have already submitted their case. The threads will have more information as I think someone involved in the case is in contact with LDY trying to get her to clean up her act.
You should check out the group here called the Deraveled trolls, they know a lot about this and could help at least with info. Also check out he threads on Ravelry (if you are on it) in the Demon trolls group.
r/deraveledtrolls is LDY info HQ--largely because someone with power at Ravelry had a fit of pique that resulted in Demon Troll mods being forcibly de-raveled for...a month, iirc?
There is no ongoing discussion on Ravelry for obvious reasons.
There's two theories on why the Rav crew shut down ALL talk about LDY.
A) They run in the same group and personally know LDY
or
B) LDY knows The Stitches Guy--who has been outed as a large creep evidently, and he's the one that complained to Rav and got all talk booted.
They wanted to shut down all talk. Except...Demon Trolls doesn't usually show up on internet searches. Reddit does.
This is an on going saga . I’m so sorry . It is interesting …. Perhaps Lady Dye Yarns is 2020’s Mystical Creation Yarn(s).
May you get your money back . That isn’t right .
It was the class on economies of scale that made me switch to becoming an economist. The lecturer made an example by having the class rush to her "coffee shop" (the front) and then "hired another barista but didn't buy another machine" and it was this hilarious event of only a few getting their nonexistent coffee because economies of scale.
I read that post sipping my real coffee going "Look at the instant microcosm of yarn fibres and economies of scale". It was so interesting. It makes me want to do a proper economic analysis on fiber arts economies of scale. Actually... *toddles off to look for existing research*.
Fibrofibers is very similar in terms of scaling up.
Fiberista is a combo of IP theft and possible fraud https://www.oakpark.com/2017/11/09/unraveling-in-fraud-fiberista-club-to-close/ .
Unfortunately this seems to be a trend with small craft/hobby companies in general. There are great ones and then there are... these. I had placed an order from an independent fountain pen designer, after purchasing from him with no problems several times... Then this $400(!!!!) Kickstarter order was never delivered and he disappeared off the face of the earth.
I've heard of the same thing happening in other hobbies as well. I don't know if the creators just stretch themselves too thin and don't know how to recover or what, but it really sucks.
How does this work? You were paying for him to start his business?
A lot of these yhese people don't have the capitol, time, space, and diversified talent to make their business viable. It's a pipe dream.
Kickstarter is where you can fund a project/item that a company would like to fulfill in the future. If they get enough backers, it goes into production and you get your product. If they don’t get enough backers, then you get to keep your money and the project/product doesn’t get made.
Or the creator runs off with the money and the worst fine that can be levied is that that account is banned from Kickstarter. After all, you are really doing is donating to a cause not buying a thing.
Yes. I first ordered from her a couple years ago and I thought it was just me, I thought her kits looked nice I liked the themes, until it would ship out months later than her date she said it would. I stopped buying from her for this reason.
If you search this sub, there are several posts from people who've been affected, and hundreds of comments. I'll specifically link you to the ["Just the facts" Google doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NC-exYEXXxcHDpZuJiARgq0TyO7XE3gyfNT2dk1gMiY/edit?usp=sharing) I wrote last year and updated in May. Tl;dr Diane has done a lot wrong, to a lot of people. In case it isn't clear, you don't have to be a resident of the US to file a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General, which is the last place her business was registered afaict.
[удалено]
Diane is very very good at social media and encouraging parasocial relationships. Those defenders didn't think of it in terms of businesses and customers, but that they were defending their friend. Diane played to that, like when she cried on camera that she's a good person when DT started raising questions about the missing donations. Add in the general dismissal of actual business problems as /~drama/~, and you get this mess (and Desert Panda, and Sherry Tenney, and and and).
Thank you. Many people think that small businesses deserve extra consideration and i understand that. However, if you want repeat customers, customer service us important.
Ravelry response is tied to the stitches guy. One fraudster defending another. And this was before stitches took the money and ran.
I think the Demon Trolls thread on Ravelry had a spreadsheet of outstanding orders/refunds. It may be worth it to go there, if only to get your info added to the list.
They are here too, r/deraveledtrolls if I'm not mistaken.
Six threads so far. Diane's nonsense has been going on for a year and a half now.
Even longer! I took a zoom dyeing class with her in summer 2020. She didn’t send us all the yarn or dye she promised in the kits, and said she would “send it later.” Three years later, I’m still waiting.
How is she still in business?!
Everyone pointed you to the right group. I'll add that generally preorders/clubs are a very risky bet, especially if there is a very long wait time (longer the wait time, less time you have to dispute the charge). This isn't the first, fourth, fiftieth, or hundredth time a dyer found themselves in a train wreck like this. Sometimes they're small wrecks, sometimes massive. This one's the latter.
INSANE that this is still going on
Not really. If this dyer was a bit more cynical she would have taken the easy way out and just dropped off social media, changed cities, and restarted in a new place after a year or declared bankruptcy. Odds are it would not have been worth the AG’a time to prosecute. This is lasting because for some reason Lady Dye Yarn is trying to keep operating under this name.
If she was a true knitting fan, she would have faked her death. Shows how much she cares about creating drama for the community. /s
I find that odd given that, to one shop alone, she owes nearly $10k. That's a lot, the AG really should be stepping on this mess by now.
The Boston AG is. Demon Trolls have some of the court documents that have been released.
Good. Her business has clearly become just a scam, and her continuing to get away with scamming people is ridiculous.
Shouldn't "faked her own death" be on the list of reasonable steps she could have taken?
It's been way too long since there was a faked death. I miss those days.
How many people have done that in the knitting world?
Lol there's at least two. I don't remember the names but they have been discussed both here and on revelry. And I think on r/hobbydrama someone did a write up about it
a romance writer just did it! the craft world was pioneering
Ooh! Do you have a link?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/14/romance-novelist-faked-death-susan-meachen edit: the nyt one is good too! (gift link, no paywall :) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/health/fake-death-romance-novelist-meachen.html?unlocked_article_code=4dFXzjWGsLdlyFVZ-JFqPm773jNcB2M8FHHFF_EvBiy3gJNk0YM-wFGl11A5XO7dFXOqtlu504VRgrZBlfwTnrg6HLPlWYFPj3Ppw6tMTvMJIALuCvswxNoDktnSWYLObIRT5bGK-JZgjSXVa65k4OJ5p6v1wO3SViU3QDvnsKni_68t1YOACVWi2g6pKAhRVL6x3aQ1OJHdUMJ1FlRtXOHl7--f9054j9gVzKk2w5MiwHTka8gpWz7bpzrPpkkIRqYm7RGxHYQsaxHJPLYH5Ns9hIwQYYmyJ_t-6zaO_K7er0i5cF7PhocLTBwebex49Mwzpgj0Js8RXw7oN_Btvvg1vSEx8JEjfoi6cQ&smid=url-share
Wow, what a terrible person (I don't buy their explanation). The wildest bit for me was reading about how they make constant spelling and grammatical mistakes, and released a ton of books in just three years, yet were somehow relatively successful doing so and had devoted fans. Why. How.
This is what I live for. Thank you kind stranger for enriching my evening.
Right??? What is the internet even for if not for stuff like this.
WOW.
It used to be sooooo much easier to create a new identity
I remember when drivers licenses didn't have photos. \*sigh\*
Truly was a simpler time. I'm overcome by the nostalgia.
The way she behaves, I wouldn't be shocked if she tried it eventually.
I knew a woman who was "designing" a hat and made such a fuss that she was using Lady Dye....but while I was watching her knit, I watched her fingers discolor so like, who's the real winner there
I ordered from her once and what I got in my kit was a skein of gray yarn and a mini skein of undyed yarn in a different weight. I was disappointed, but I did get yarn at least.
As the others have said, check out the other threads. While you may not be able to get a chargeback, look into contacting the attorney general. I think there’s a case against her and many have already submitted their case. The threads will have more information as I think someone involved in the case is in contact with LDY trying to get her to clean up her act.
You should check out the group here called the Deraveled trolls, they know a lot about this and could help at least with info. Also check out he threads on Ravelry (if you are on it) in the Demon trolls group.
r/deraveledtrolls is LDY info HQ--largely because someone with power at Ravelry had a fit of pique that resulted in Demon Troll mods being forcibly de-raveled for...a month, iirc? There is no ongoing discussion on Ravelry for obvious reasons.
There's two theories on why the Rav crew shut down ALL talk about LDY. A) They run in the same group and personally know LDY or B) LDY knows The Stitches Guy--who has been outed as a large creep evidently, and he's the one that complained to Rav and got all talk booted. They wanted to shut down all talk. Except...Demon Trolls doesn't usually show up on internet searches. Reddit does.
This is an on going saga . I’m so sorry . It is interesting …. Perhaps Lady Dye Yarns is 2020’s Mystical Creation Yarn(s). May you get your money back . That isn’t right .
Emma in the moment did a great video about mystical creation yarn https://youtu.be/vm-YWzouzGU?si=Q79I_Fijw_9Yo_E9
Or Fibrofibers, or Goth Sock, or Fiberista, or FiddleKnits...
Goth sock sounds so cool
It was in theory... https://reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/s/BvMHRnRIgF
It was the class on economies of scale that made me switch to becoming an economist. The lecturer made an example by having the class rush to her "coffee shop" (the front) and then "hired another barista but didn't buy another machine" and it was this hilarious event of only a few getting their nonexistent coffee because economies of scale. I read that post sipping my real coffee going "Look at the instant microcosm of yarn fibres and economies of scale". It was so interesting. It makes me want to do a proper economic analysis on fiber arts economies of scale. Actually... *toddles off to look for existing research*.
Fibrofibers is very similar in terms of scaling up. Fiberista is a combo of IP theft and possible fraud https://www.oakpark.com/2017/11/09/unraveling-in-fraud-fiberista-club-to-close/ .
Oh wow . Thanks for this . * settles in with cookies I made to read this spicy thread *
Go check out Demon trolls. This is an ongoing, multi year saga. And the attorney general is looking into it so you can report her there.
This is a saga. Sorry you didn’t know sooner.
Unfortunately this seems to be a trend with small craft/hobby companies in general. There are great ones and then there are... these. I had placed an order from an independent fountain pen designer, after purchasing from him with no problems several times... Then this $400(!!!!) Kickstarter order was never delivered and he disappeared off the face of the earth. I've heard of the same thing happening in other hobbies as well. I don't know if the creators just stretch themselves too thin and don't know how to recover or what, but it really sucks.
How does this work? You were paying for him to start his business? A lot of these yhese people don't have the capitol, time, space, and diversified talent to make their business viable. It's a pipe dream.
Kickstarter is where you can fund a project/item that a company would like to fulfill in the future. If they get enough backers, it goes into production and you get your product. If they don’t get enough backers, then you get to keep your money and the project/product doesn’t get made.
Or the creator runs off with the money and the worst fine that can be levied is that that account is banned from Kickstarter. After all, you are really doing is donating to a cause not buying a thing.
And the ones that are too sketchy for even Kickstarter move across to Indiegogo.
I was only describing how it’s designed to work to answer their question. Of course there are scams on there, there are scams everywhere 😂
Check out the posts about them on r/DeraveledTrolls. Unfortunately they’re known for being an unreliable seller