#crochetcircle — Public Fediverse posts

Gather Round, I’ve Found Something

Every now and then I stumble into Reddit’s AITA section and suddenly find myself deeply invested in the personal drama of people I have never met.

This week I found a story that had me putting down my crochet hook and saying:

“What is even happening!?”

Let’s discuss.

Crochet Court Case:

The Coworker Who Never Paid

Welcome to the first official session of Crochet Court.

This is where we gather together, armed with coffee, yarn, and strong opinions, to examine some of the internet’s most fascinating crochet-related disputes.

Today’s case comes from Reddit, and it involves a handmade blanket, an unpaid debt, and a coworker who apparently believes crocheters have the memory of goldfish.

Let’s begin.

The Case

A crocheter worked in an office where several coworkers were expecting babies.

Wanting to do something kind, he made handmade baby blankets as gifts.

A lovely gesture.

Unfortunately, this is where things started to unravel.

Soon coworkers began asking if he could make other items for them as well. Hats. Scarves. Gloves. More blankets.

He agreed—but with one condition.

People would need to pay for the materials and compensate him for his time.

A completely reasonable arrangement.

Most people paid without issue.

Then came Kay.

Kay ordered three matching sets consisting of hats, scarves, and gloves.

She paid for two of them.

The third?

Not so much.

According to the story, months passed.

Excuses appeared.

Promises were made.

Payment never arrived.

Eventually, after being burned enough times by Kay, the crocheter adopted a new policy:

No payment up front, no project.

A policy many fiber artists will recognize as the result of hard-earned experience.

Then one day Kay returned.

Not with payment.

With another request.

This time she wanted a handmade baby blanket for an expected grandchild.

The crocheter declined.

His reasoning was simple:

She still owed him money for the previous project.

Kay was not pleased.

According to the post, she began telling coworkers that he was petty, cheap, and that his crochet work wasn’t very good anyway.

An interesting strategy considering she was actively trying to order another item from him.

The coworkers apparently saw through this immediately.

The blanket was never made.

The debt remained unpaid.

And Crochet Court was called into session.

The HodgePodge Crochet Court Verdict

🧶 NOT THE A-HOLE

The issue here isn’t the baby blanket.

The issue isn’t the grandchild.

The issue isn’t even the amount of money involved.

The issue is trust.

If someone orders handmade items, receives those items, and then never pays for them, they do not automatically earn the right to place another order.

That’s not being petty.

That’s simply remembering what happened last time.

As fiber artists, we hear variations of the same sentence all the time:

“It’s just yarn.”

No.

It’s yarn.

And time.

And counting.

And recounting.

And discovering you’re somehow three stitches short despite counting seventeen times.

And frogging.

And redoing.

And wondering whether you accidentally joined an Olympic-level endurance sport disguised as a hobby.

Handmade work has value.

People who respect that value tend to get handmade gifts and handmade commissions.

People who don’t often find themselves shopping elsewhere.

Questions For The Jury

Now it’s your turn.

If someone still owed you money for a crochet project, would you:

A. Make the baby blanket anyway.

B. Require payment of the old debt first.

C. Require payment of the old debt plus interest, emotional damages, and one public apology.

D. Refuse all future crochet requests until the end of time.

And for bonus points:

What’s the longest you’ve ever waited to get paid for a handmade item?

Court is now adjourned.

Please leave your verdict below.