No knitting progress pics to show. The tree skirt is growing slowly but surely. Hopefully the Thanksgiving Holiday will give me some good quality knitting time to make a good dent in it.
But I wanted to ask everyone’s opinion of something. I was hesitant about whether or not I should post about it but I’m kinda wondering if it’s happened to others.
First of all, the knitting blog community is full of super-wonderful-thoughtful-nice people (as are the usual traits of knitters) and sometimes knitbloggers are so nice that they will actually GIVE things away to people! No strings attached! Wonderful! Maybe it’s associated with a contest they are having or maybe they are just in a giving mood. I remember entering a little contest on High Energy Jenny’s blog last year and winning some Dale of Norway Svale. So nice of her! I loved it!
Well, back in May I entered a “contest” of sorts on someone’s blog and was one of the winners! Yay! She asked me to email my address to her and she would send me a little goodie! So nice! But my goodie never arrived. 🙁 And of course, because it was pretty much a gift and there wasn’t much effort on my part, I wasn’t going to contact this person about it because I felt that would be very selfish! So I just chalked it up to her being busy and stuff and moved on.
So then in September I happened across a new knit-a-long for a pattern from the fall 06 knitty. They were having a button contest! Fun! So I created a button for them and entered it. The prize was sock yarn, people. Can’t resist the sock yarn. Well they posted the button I made as the first official entry and after that no else entered and I noticed members of the knit-a-long were already using my button on their blogs. At the end of the contest, I sort of “won” by default. So the knit-along hostess asked me to email her my address and she would send me some sock yarn! Yay! So nice! But alas, no sock yarn for me. And of course I feel bad about contacting her about it because I feel like it would appear selfish. But this was something I actually spent time on! It took time to create that button for them. And not only did I not get proper credit for it when I entered it (she spelled my name wrong) but she “lost” my original email so at the end of the contest I had to email her to give her my address and also to remind her who I was. I even left a comment on the post announcing me as the “winner” thanking her for being kind enough to want to send me yarn! So nice!
So I was wondering if this has happened to other people. Is it just my bad luck? I mean, I already feel awkward entering any kind of contest because I feel guilty about getting something for nothing. And these experiences have just made me feel more awkward. (this is the reason I don’t join secret pal things. I just know I’d get paired with the person who flakes)
Anyway, that’s all. Just wanted to see if I’m the only person getting shafted out there. I’m 1 for 3 in good contest experiences and those odds aren’t so nice…
caitlyn
November 17, 2006 at 3:49 pm (17 years ago)I’m so sorry this happened to you! I haven’t won any contests so I haven’t experienced anything similar. For the button contest — how about emailing the person something like “hey, I just wanted to check in with you about the sock yarn for the button contest. Did you happen to send it? Because I haven’t received it and I want to make sure it wasn’t lost in the mail. Just checking in about it.” Would that be acceptable, or do you think that’s too pushy?
Cara
November 17, 2006 at 3:56 pm (17 years ago)I give stuff away on my blog all the time (maybe I’m one of the people that stiffed you? I hope not!) BUT I am NOTORIOUSLY SLOW at sending stuff out. I don’t think I’ve ever taken six months, but I’ve definitely taken a while to get things together. A lot of the time I feel guilty about my slowness, but this is an extracurricular activity and I’m taking time out of my life to give something away and make a trip to the post office.
That said, I would welcome an email asking me about it. Nicely worded of course. I sent a prize to someone a while back and she never got it. It got lost in the mail. (Eventually it showed up – literally NINE MONTHS later.) I try to email winners when I send out the prizes, but sometimes I forget.
Also, I’ve LOST emails with addresses and tried to email people back to get those addresses again only to find my emails have gone to the spam filter.
Suffice it to say, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a gentle inquiry. There are many, many things that could and can go wrong – I’d give the gifter the benefit of the doubt before you decide they stiffed you.
jess
November 17, 2006 at 4:08 pm (17 years ago)I think a “gentle inquiry” as Cara put it is reasonable. I would like this when I send things out because sometimes my emails get lost (or stuck in someone’s spam filter!) and if the package gets lost, well… I want to know! 🙂
Sorry about the bad luck though! 🙂
CB
November 17, 2006 at 4:18 pm (17 years ago)I’ve always gotten the contest stuff that has been awarded. However, in two recent swaps I had somewhat negative experiences. We were supposed to send yarn valued at $20, and I received yarn valued at about $5. The other swap the person never even acknowledge they recieved it to me, but only gave a brief mention on their blog. Hopefully you’ll have better luck in the future!
Kelly
November 17, 2006 at 5:46 pm (17 years ago)Wow, that’s rough. I can’t imagine why someone would create all sorts of fanfare around a prize and then flake, so like the other posters said something might have gone wrong with the package. I think a gentle reminder would be well received. I say, go for it.
Jessica
November 17, 2006 at 7:29 pm (17 years ago)This has happened to me before too. But I didn’t say anything. It seemed rude to ask about something that was being offered for free. I would be more upset about not being credited for the design than for not getting the freebie.
Jenny
November 17, 2006 at 9:24 pm (17 years ago)I agree with Cara – a gentle inquiry is totally fine and when I do contests, if I forgot or was running behind I would not take offense. I especially think the knitty one you should check on…
scout
November 18, 2006 at 10:51 am (17 years ago)I would definitely say something. I didn’t shaft you did I???? I hope not! ACK!
designatedknitter
November 20, 2006 at 11:54 am (17 years ago)First off, I had to go back and check who won the contest we did, and then follow through to make sure I sent out the prize!
I do think a “gentle inquiry” as stated is a good idea. I never mind a memory jog – and often need it. And it would be a shame if they had sent it out and thought you received it, while you were sitting there thinking it had never been sent…..
Jenn
November 23, 2006 at 9:27 am (17 years ago)The same thing happened to me – last year! I never heard anything and never received the yarn. Oh well. Good luck to you though!