Knitting.com’s controversial launch in 2022 sparked heated debates across the crafting community, raising questions about authenticity, community connection, and the site’s overall approach to engaging with knitters.

In early 2022, two online entrepreneurs decided to purchase the domain name “knitting.com.” Confident they could turn the ailing URL into an eight-figure business, they announced ambitious plans for their new brand. Several weeks later, the pair was knee-deep in internet drama. Statements on their blog and in their podcast angered the very audience they sought as customers. Nearly three years later, what’s happened to Knitting.com?

Origin Story

Dave Bryant and Mike Jackness operate a website and podcast branded “Ecomcrew.” According to their bios, they’ve bought, built, and sold internet businesses; currently operate e-commerce sites; and provide blog posts, tutorials, and a podcast that promises to help entrepreneurs and wannabes start and grow an e-commerce business. At various times, the pair have operated e-commerce websites selling products such as ice wraps, treadmills, and adult coloring pages. Bryant and Jackness did not respond to my request for comment.

Bryant and Jackness reportedly purchased the domain name Knitting.com for $80,000 in early 2022. In a blog post on February 16, 2022, they admitted that they knew nothing about knitting or the knitting-related industry but confidently asserted their purchase would be worth it. The Ecomcrew prides itself on its authenticity and directness — and indeed they minced no words. They had only a few dozen real competitors which were part of more corporate brands, they opined, while everyone else is “a grandma that has a little blog.” They suggested that their industry research consisted of a few visits to big box craft stores. They described the knitting industry as a niche that was just waiting to be exploited.

Their plans for the website went viral. Knitters responded with detailed criticisms of their business model, noting, for example, the complexity of the industry, its segmentation, and the depth of knowledge required to succeed. The knitting community also took offense at what it saw as misogyny, ageism, and exploitation, reacting with anger and snark. (Full disclosure: In 2022, I wrote a critical blog post about the pair’s business plan.)

Jackness and Bryant deleted their original blog post, replacing it with a somewhat more conciliatory statement. In a later interview, the pair described the reaction from everyday knitters and professionals as “very bullying” and reminiscent of “the Salem witch trials” (an interesting choice of phrase given the predominance of women in the industry) but vowed to continue with their original business plan. Damage control in the form of a post talking about Jackness learning to knit misfired when the word “purl” was spelled as “pearl.”

Nearly three years later, has knitting.com disrupted the knitting world, as Jackness and Bryant hoped? Or did the brand’s awkward launch presage an e-com crash and burn?

Failure to Launch?

Bryant and Jackness suggested in their early posts that content would play second fiddle to product sales to generate income. Indeed, their prior business models focused on Amazon platform sales of imported products. Two things surprised me about how the brand handles the e-commerce side of the Knitting.com website.

First is the lack of a “Shopping” tab or any dedicated section to their proprietary products on the Knitting.com website. All sales are routed through an Amazon storefront.

Even more interesting: the Ecomcrew seemingly abandoned the “Knitting.com” brand when it comes to marketing its own products. Go to Amazon.com and you’ll find a “BeKnitting” shop that makes no mention of the knitting.com website. Links on the knitting.com website don’t expressly state that the BeKnitting webshop is owned by the eComcrew (a trademark search shows that Beknitting is registered to ECC Media LLC, which owns the eCommercecrew brand.)

After spending $80,000 for a brand, it seems odd that none of the products they market use the original brand name and are sold on a platform that doesn’t mention the brand’s website.

Based on a December marketing email to subscribers, the website appears to have branched out into using Amazon affiliate links to products made by other companies. A page called “15+ Holiday Gifts for Knitters” features Soak and Eucalan washes, a wooden skein winder, and animal-themed stitch markers, among others, linking to Amazon pages that are not part of the Beknitting shop. (The page also contains links to products sold by the Beknitting Amazon shop.) I did not see any affiliate disclosures on this page.

With less than 3000 subscribers to their Youtube channel, it doesn’t look like like knitting.com‘s tutorials are gaining much traction with knitters and crocheters.

Product Selection

In their 2022 launch, Jackness and Bryant spoke of the untapped market for knitting products which would allow them to “wreck” or “disrupt” the yarn craft industry. Nearly three years out, I couldn’t find much evidence of that. The BeKnitting shop on Amazon contains about a dozen products at any given time. Offerings at the time of this writing include blocking pins and combs, a gauge ruler, bamboo knitting needles, plastic knitting looms, and pompom makers. The BeKnitting Amazon shop also sells kits, such as a beginner’s knitting kit (current price: $23.94), containing 125g of unbranded acrylic yarn, one pair of wooden needles, a plastic tapestry needle and a few pompom makers, along with an instruction booklet. Recently a beginner’s cross-stitch kit was added.

I saw nothing original or innovative in the current product line. The blocking pins and combs look like existing ones that have been on the market for years, the knitting needles don’t look different from the many bamboo needles available for decades, and the plastic looms are, well, plastic looms. Perhaps the sellers are hoping to undercut other products on price; consider, however, the gauge ruler, described as “the highest quality needle gauge ever made” (I have so many questions about this claim!). It’s priced at $12.84, while the standard Susan Bates Knitchek metal gauge ruler costs anywhere from $2.50 to $3.50 and has always worked perfectly well for me.

With a limited product line, very basic products, and price points mostly under thirty dollars, it’s hard to imagine how the brand is going to generate eight figures in sales, as the founders once predicted.

Is There Any There There?

When discussing their original plans, the Ecomcrew opined that they would help draw customers to their products by creating content for their domain such as tutorials and videos. This comment raised eyebrows when uttered by the same folks who cheerfully admitted they knew nothing about the art or craft of knitting. Mike Jackness, in a subsequent interview, told The Daily Beast that the public had misunderstood the aim of their business. They were really looking to sell products to beginner knitters who were already buying from mass-market websites and big box craft stores.

Sure enough, the first thing you’ll notice on the website’s home page is the brand’s stated emphasis on beginner knitters, promising “new tutorials, free patterns, and inspiration to help you learn how to knit.” One of the first tutorials is called “How To Cast On Knitting Stitches.”  A couple of sentences explain that the cast on creates the foundation row of knitting, that there are many different kinds, some are easy and some are decorative and some are stretchy. The article is accompanied by an introductory video which walks the viewer through five different cast-ons. Charts compare the pros and cons of these methods but to access the tutorials, you have click on another link. The long-tail cast on starts with a slip knot which requires another click to see how to make one. This makes the process choppy and harder to follow than an all-in-one-place approach. The motivation for creating such a choppy a user experience isn’t clear to me.

Given the plethora of other blogs and websites which contain lengthier tutorials and articles delving into the nuances of knitting, the content portion of the website doesn’t stand out in any way. Except for very simple tutorials (such as how to knit a dishcloth), few original patterns appear on the knitting.com website. There is little content that would attract knitters and keep them there beyond the basics. And websites like Ravelry.com provide advanced search options for knitters (including a filter for showing only free patterns) from a staggering number of designers and companies.

It’s All About the Vibe

It’s clear, even after all the hullabaloo in early 2022, that Jackness and Bryant still don’t grasp some basic truths about the knitting community. Their website feels generic and impersonal. There are lots of exclamation points and attempts to be welcoming; the website says “Made with love in Portland, Oregon”, for example, and the About page promises to create “a brand new crafty community!” Subscriber emails are signed by a person named Hannah; however, the LinkedIn profile of a former marketing contractor at the company named Hannah suggests that she no longer works there.

People  generally respond to genuineness, however, and the website just doesn’t feel to me like it was written by someone who deeply loves the craft. The lack of in-depth knitting knowledge is clear and things feel dumbed-down rather than accessible. The occasional awkward phrase (e.g., “How to Purl Stitch For Beginners”) and rows of samey-looking blog posts add to the superficial feel of the content. Brandishing adjectives like “crafty” and “super” are a far cry from the personal and substantive content that the most successful knitting/crochet bloggers and podcasters provide.

Both LinkedIn and the eComcrew’s podcast suggest that the company reduced its headcount in the past year. LinkedIn now lists five affiliated people, all of whom apparently live in the Philippines.

I searched the eComcrew’s blog and podcasts in search of information about the brand’s progress. Curiously, I found few references to knitting.com. While there are oblique references to “other projects,” there’s a distinct lack of information about the knitting.com brand, how profitable (if at all) it’s become, or future plans. From the duo who bill themselves as “the most transparent and authentic ecommerce podcast in the world,” their silence on the brand is deafening.