Category: social media

It’s Not the Pattern Designer’s Fault, It’s Your Lack of Curiosity

I think that one of the best things to come out of the internet is thoughtful discussion, albeit few and far between, but those rogue moments of principle sure are great. I experienced this over the weekend, when in a bit of a mood, I decided to pick up a fiber art project and queue up a Mark Vogel video. I love his content, he is as wordy as my grandma, with the love of music to boot. He has this way of challenging without being confrontational, and inspiring me to want to keep improving on fiber arts and interpersonal communication, just like she did.

This video though, challenged me in a way I did not see coming, and helped me synthesize some petty feeling I was carrying, that were rather useless. A few years ago, when I began this blog, hot takes were still a bit of a novelty, but now it feels like hot takes are the way we communicate in 2026, with common sense and self-control the delicacy appreciated by a few. How did a few years take something we all grew up knowing how to do, having common sense and self-control, and turn the behavior on its head to be an acquired taste?

That is why, I don’t share all the opinions I have anymore, some of my takes are straight up dumb and I don’t want to make a fool of myself. I did this in the beginning of my blogging, and now I cringe to think of the catharsis out there on the internet, which is why some of my posts have been changed to private. Anyways, writing is a journey. But, one thing I have shared, at least I think I have, is my indifference to PetiteKnit patterns. Not that I have purchased one to know if they are good or not, just that the ubiquitous PetiteKnit patterns have cluttered my feed and have become odious to me by how many people are making them. Yes, that is a very petty opinion, and I say, yes I agree with you. I don’t think I am correct, but it’s how I feel.

When I first discovered knitting Youtube and knitting podcasts, I was inundated with PetiteKnit this and PetiteKnit that.

This was around the time of the Cumulus O-neck blouse, the Sophie scarf, the Frankie, the Olga, the Ivy, the Maggie Cardigan, etc. The Sophie scarf in all its iterations and the Frankie are the two trigger points for me where I began to have negative feels towards the name PetiteKnit, I could feel myself tuning out or rolling my eyes when I heard someone talk about the next cast on being Sophie or Frankie. But I never sat with myself to figure out why had this reaction.

I think deep down I was concerned it was jealousy from her success, and I mean envy for the incredible careers Mette Wendelbroe Okkels has had would be reasonable. A doctor and the biggest pattern designer of this decade? Yeah, that is intimidating!

I think there is a lot of confusion too about where then name comes from. You see this very thin, white woman, from Sweden in these picture perfect places and it feels like another rich influence flaunting their privilege and a possible fascist ideology in this post-2024 US election landscape. But that’s not where the name comes from, she began designing baby patterns. Petite referring to small humans. She is not a Taylor Swift, she is just really good at what she does and the 2020 lockdown boosted sales.

So if it’s not jealousy, than what is my gripe? Well, when Mark Vogel was musing on an odd comment he received about his stockinette project. Specifically, that if it’s “stockinette” no one needs an update, he shared some thoughts that convicted me and clarified for me where my PetiteKnit burnout was coming from.

(For context, a lot of PetiteKnit patterns have stockinette, it’s a timeless finish and something I like in my own projects. Especially since I am not yet versed in cabling. Stockinette is common, but not boring, as the commenter supposed. Most store bought “professional” knits utilize stockinette.)

There is a trend in particular with knitters who share their work on the internet to be focused on “store-bought” looking knits. Which is not why I knit, I knit to create things I can’t find at the store. But for a lot of 2026 knitters, they want it to look store bought, and they want to make things that are trendy. This has created a boom of projects from just a few pattern designers flooding my feed, and everyone’s knitting feed realistically, with a repetition of names:

  • The Lakes Pullover by Ozetta
  • My Favorite Things Knitwear
  • PetiteKnit Frankie or PetiteKnit Olga
  • Andrea Mowry
  • Ranunculus Sweater by Midori Hirose
  • Kutovakika by Veronika Lindberg
  • Sari Nordland
  • Caitlin Hunter

The popularity is not the fault of the designers, it is their success for their hard work, what is actually bugging me is the sheeple nature of humans. When I hear one of these designs being mentioned it is usually with the intention of making it exactly as the designer did for their sample, like down to the color, the yarn brand, an exact replica. Over and over, and over again, as the algorithm spreads these trends, and we see the same project replicated ad nauseum, until our minds snark at the mention of these designs and their creators.

I’m not the only one who feels this way, a lot of the snark you see online about these designs echoes this sentiment, particularly when it comes to Rhinebeck, a sea of the same sweater, but instead of approaching this feeling with thoughtful contemplation, the snark is turned into vicious critiques of the creatives who made the patterns. We as humans are so good at tearing each other down, and getting upset at the pattern designers instead of being frustrated at the knitting influencers and overly-online knitting culture that is algorithmically flattening the creativity of the craft, is misguided and wrong. Like most good things, internet trends and virality, followed with this longing to be apart of something is making us make the same things.

That’s what I have caught myself doing. I am so bored and resentful, I don’t want to see the same thing over and over again. I want to see some original thought! Try a new yarn, or color! Experiment instead of copy and pasting the crumbs of the sample until there is no flavor left to behold. Be creative! The pattern was supposed to be a tool for that, not an AI prompt for you to shut your brain off and steal someone else’s work.

Quiet Luxury and store bought quality knit patterns, now merging with the need for basics in a recession is influencing the sad beige knitting trend we snark about, not PetiteKnit. I’m not afraid to say I had it all wrong. I’m glad there are positive and respectful creators out there like Mark, who encourage us to think deeper and respect one another. So let’s be kind knitters, and stop snarking on PetiteKnit from a reformed snarker, who has grown. Because you know what I learned while researching this post? PetiteKnit has a ton of interesting patterns that I’ve never heard of before! There is personality and variety, that social media drowned out and that’s a shame, so go forth curious my friend to make something new!

Etsy, I’ve Had It With You

This is not a shock, Etsy in 2026 sucks. It has been going downhill for a while, but the drop off in our current time is abysmal.

I used to find amazing things on the site. The best coat I’ve ever own from an indie designer from Shanghai. A cool elephant print messenger bag from Thailand. An intricate glass bead necklace from a glass artisan in Estonia. Vintage buttons from Ohio. Handmade wind chimes to honor the passing of my family dog from a shop in Maryland.

But there is no replacement for what was. 7 years ago I purchased a moonstone ring from an artist in India, but through my moves I have misplaced it. Frustrated with myself for not being more careful, I went on Etsy to see if I could find a similar piece and I thought I had. The seller said they were from my home state and prominently displayed certification on their listings, so I went ahead and purchased a new ring.

That’s when I realized I got got by the new Etsy. The ring did not ship for over a week, no message from the seller at all after purchase, and when it did ship the origin was not from Pennsylvania but from New York City, a port city, a drop shipper paradise. Then the ring arrived, looking nothing like the listing.

The stone was plastic, flat, lower than the metal setting, clear instead of the milky hue of moonstone, and loose in its setting. The ring came in a cheap plastic bag like you won it out of a gachapon machine. This was a trinket, not the certified small business jewelry I thought I ordered. This was a Alibaba or Temu special delivery from an Etsy seller cosplaying as a handmade artist who probably stole the product images on their site.

Why is this the way now? I just want to go back to the days of easily being connected with real artists and not people stealing and scamming to make a buck. I hope the person really needed that money.

I’m not bothering to contact Etsy, they will do nothing. They created this situation by rewarding AI and drop shippers, while silencing the makers who made their company a household name. Instead I have deleted my account and the start of a shop, I have had in limbo on the back end since 2020 because Etsy is not a place I want to be a part of anymore, as a seller or a customer. It is hollow.

After Thought Heel Socks

A special thanks to the pattern writing of Weichien Chan from Saskie & Co and Jamie Lomax from Pacific Knit Co, for explaining this process with such clarity, that I leveled up from a sock knitting dreamer to a sock knitter. Check out their patterns! I’m glad I did. 😃

The Sock Saga

How? And, why? Those were the questions burning at the back of mind as the sock process eluded me, again and again. For years, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the heel of the sock patterns I acquired. I tried a toe up approach. I tried to mess around with short rows. I even bought a sock pattern book from a used book store, for a bit of sock heritage. Heel flap, confused me. The mechanics of double pointed needles, challenged my hand eye coordination. Magic Loop tested my patience and exposed my tight tension, from my cluttered mind. But the Addi Sockenwunder 9″ cable in 3.5mm became the key to unlock knitting mechanics I was lacking.

If you’re familiar with this blog, you know my frustrations with knitting in the round. This came to a head in February, during the Melt the ICE hat knit along. I seriously messed up my tension, and initial attempt by twisting my work. My joined stitches became a helix, coiling around the cable. I frogged my work, and started again, this time waiting a few rows before joining. (I found this wisdom thanks to the advice of Reddit, I think? To the past comment thread that helped me, know that I am eternally grateful.) This time around, I was determined to keep my hands loose and my mind relaxed, and it worked. I did not feel the hand fatigue, I normally experience when knitting in the round. The short cable length of the Sockenwunder needles was the key, the stitches slid easily around in the exact space of a sock circumference. This is why Magic Loop and I, did not form a lasting relationship, the shifting of stitches was a hurdle I disliked. Same with DPNs, I don’t want to keep track of stitches on needles, I want to be in a flow state of stitching. That is the best part of knitting in the round, in my opinion, you just go and knit. It is incredibly relaxing, like crocheting a simple stitch across a project, you and the stitching implement become one with the yarn, looping and creating a fabric with a relaxed mind.

For this reason, the Sockenwunder socks came together quickly, despite the new techniques I was employing in this project. My first sock, I began at the end of the day on a Thursday, knit the body of the sock on Friday, and finished the toe and heel on Saturday. My second sock was began on Sunday, knit Monday, and wrapped up on Tuesday. Quick and easy, compared to a sweater! It’s what I want out of this knitting practice, something quick and relaxing, that is a pleasure to replicate over and over again. In the short term for my own feet for this coming winter, and in the long term for loved ones and beyond, hopefully charity knitting socks and possibly selling them at a market or online marketplace.

Sock Pattern

My sock pattern was loosely based on the patterns featured in the Arctic Knits book, which I will not go into detail for copyright reasons, but one thing I will talk about is my sizing mistake. I cast on an extra ten stitches from the Saskie & Co pattern, because of my usual tight tension knitting in the round. They fit a bit loose, and that’s okay. These first socks are a toile, for future socks, as I develop my preferences for socks. They are still usable, with a relaxed cabin socks fit for lounging around the house. I may layer other cotton socks underneath on cold days to pad the fit.

Another deviation from the sock patterns in the Arctic Knits book, was my choice to knit stripes, with scrap yarn from my Saskie Cardigan (another Saskie & Co project I will share soon). I didn’t know if these socks would turn out or be another failed attempt, so I used up my extras, in random stripes. This freed up my mind to concentrate on the mechanics of knitting the sock, and not the knitting charts. In the future, I plan to make the socks as written by Weichien Chan, they are stunning color work socks.

I used a combination of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Knit Picks Stroll, and Kelbourne Woolens Germantown.

Now, what about that random raised row of brown yarn? That is the magic of the after thought sock! You make temporary arrangements for your heel and pick it up again after the sock body and toe are complete. This is where Pacific Knit Co’s tutorial had my back. Sometimes I need things rephrased, and many detailed pictures to make a new skill click. I’m a visual learner. Sometimes those patterns, although well written jumble in my mind. By using the combination of both pattern designers I successfully picked up the stitches above and below. I did this with a second set of circulars from Clover that were a bit longer, 16″ but the same gauge of 3.5 mm. The length difference was helpful during the knitting process, as the long needles hung down out of the way of my hands knitting on the Sockenwunder, and alleviated the stress of stitches falling off when unattended to.

Both Weichien and Jamie helped finally see the how and why of the heel shaping. With the heel flap techniques, I lost sight of the point. With the patterns that had me turn the heel while knitting the body, the complexity of this, overwhelmed me. But the after thought heel, eliminated both of these hiccups. I could see the sock body and the heel taking shape, it was intuitive. If you have experienced overwhelm by socks, I high recommend mixing up your tools and techniques. That is why we have so many to choose from, you must experiment to find the right fit like selecting a bowling ball.

Experimentation and repetition are my biggest takeaways from this multi-year sock saga. It’s not the finished project, as much as the process that defines the success. Knitting requires a patience and tenacity to frog and cast on again that has been hard for me, as a perfectionist with squirrel brain to stay the course with. Mistakes anger me. Frogging feels like a waste of time, but its not. Committing the skills to memory by practice is no different to volleyball practice drills or math homework. To be a skilled maker, you must put the time in, no short cuts. In this age of information and short cuts, it’s counter-cultural to slow down and fixate one skill until it is acquired, but it is the only way as humans we learn.

AI Overviews and Renaming the Things

I feel like my brain is getting stuck in a quagmire of stupidity in 2026, like wet concrete under the feet of my thoughts when I am writing a blog post or crafting a conversation. It’s not because of using AI that is melting my brain, instead I feel like my brain is constantly having to jump through hoops to navigate the day’s new nonsense. I’ll explain.

Okay, so you’re having a quick search, ideally Duck Duck Go but habits die hard, so I Google only to be bombarded by AI overviews. Now comes the first hoop to jump through, remember to scroll down and ignore the overview to find a reliable source, scroll, scroll…then find a source to reference. Remember how a few years ago you could get Google search results, indexed and organized? Remember how simple that was? The mental effort required to find what you were looking for was streamlined, and now it is not, unless you want the “AI overview” which is nothing more than Google ripping information from the sources and digesting it for you, no matter how inaccurate they are. Creating more chaos, and more barriers to understanding. To be honest, maybe we were idiotic to leave the physical sources in the first place. Microfilm and archives are time consuming, but at least they are organized and unchanging.

For an example of how flawed this new overview format is, I present Dejeon Love. I recommend you look it up, because it is complex. For a reliable overview, I’d recommend Ashley Viola’s commentary on this. In short, Dejeon Love is a scammer, who was able to pad his online persona with so many videos claiming he was a San Francisco player, that it tricked the Google AI Overview. Why does this matter? When his victims searched for him, AI Overview confirmed the lie, and therefore it gave him credit. How disgusting is that? I personally think Google should be held accountable for assisting Love scam 1.3 million USD from 26 women, but of course they won’t be, because this is “the future”.

The other nonsense that is melting our brains day after day is the renaming game being facilitated by Google Maps, an 80 year toddler with a pen, and weak sauce government officials. First we had the Gulf of America in 2025, now we have the Lake of America, and now the state of New America, which I am sure Google Maps will bend over for that one. Aa long as the Kleptocracy of 2026 continues to line Google’s pockets, they will be whoring themselves out for it. I mean the scam worked for Elon, Meta, just give in for the money right? Who cares if it dilutes and corrupts your product, with legal and safety consequences. That seems to be of no concern, because they’ll just tell the machine to propagandize its safety. Case in point, the new Meta ads claiming its safety, while Meta in court over a lawsuit of the contrary.

My mind is so tired of critical thinking this much, over analyzing, factchecking things that used to be reliable, just to communicate the most basic things in 2026, because we have given into nonsense and the dissolution of standards. What are we doing to ourselves?! How will future generations view this time period? The regurgiation  of everything era? The Golden Age of AI Slop? Honestly, I hope the state of New Mexico, which is the only governing body that can name itself, uses this as an opportunity to rename itself Nuevo Mexico, and educate our nation of its longer history in North America. The capital city of Santa Fe was founded in 1610, that is 166 years before America was created by the Declaration of Independence.

There are so many things, lofty things, we could be doing instead of debating the names of things that can’t be changed. Or how about how all the things we are having to debate because one person is doing things that he can’t do, with powers he doesn’t have? Or how about the time wasted everyday getting around the AI tools that have been integrated into our lives, slowing things down and stealing our resources? It is a quagmire, draining our focus and mental energy to avoid these idiotic improvements. I mean, after the Lake Ontario incident, how many of downloaded Map Quest? It’s not easy to use! I’m tired of this. Must we leave technology behind to escape this farce of progress? I hope not, for all the resources extracted to create this system that was helpful, that has been made more difficult to use, over and over again.

I’m just a girl, who hates change, especially when it is useless change. Do you agree?

NCT 127’s New Era

NCT blingy 7th album

On August 24, NCT 127 released their first album in 2 years, Blingy. After such a long time and a plethora of changes, I wondered if this band, whom I found at the beginning of introduction to KPop, would still feel the same?

I was introduced to NCT 127, one day listening to the KPop station of Sirius XM, while mowing the grass. This was back in the summer of 2022. The station served up Sticker and I was hooked. From that point, I fell down the rabbit hole that is the Neo Zone and became a NCT’zen. I experienced the 2 Baddies, 1 Porsche era, Baggy Jeans, and the beginning of their solo era to prepare for the military hiatus of their leader Taeyong. It was an interesting wave of music, and change ups.

But as life, the positive momentum turned into waves of chaos. NCT 127 gave me the first taste of a band managing  military service and staying active. It was weird, Taeyong and Jaehyun are two of my favorite performers in the band, the band without them felt a bit hollow, until I realized that new members fill in the void. One band, one sound. I began to notice the voices that had been the background all along – Yuta, Jungwoo, Haechan, Doyoung, and Johnny.

Another wave built beyond the breakers, waves of solo albums to pass the time with range beyond my expectation. Haechan’s melodies, Yuta’s J-Rock edge, and Taeyong’s vocal fry were the sounds I began to appreciate as colors of the NCT 127 rainbow. Neo’s got your back, even in the rain.

This band is resilient. Two scandals, two members down, and they seem sharper than ever. Even though they are still dancing the final number of the military hiatus shuffle, they are stronger than ever. For their 10th anniversary they have comeback and reclaimed their identity.

I really like Blingy. The album has range and fighting spirit. We even get a track of all seven members reunited for a moment (recorded before Jungwoo and Doyoung began their service). The five members who carry the rest of Blingy’s sound, have weathered the road blocks, with sophistication and range. Each voice shines, the melodies are cleaner, and the chaotic noise music style of this experiemental band has been fine tuned by these limitations. I don’t miss Mark or Taeil for a second.

This gives me hope as the Stray Kids military era could begin at any time now. BTS had such a messy military era and their return has been, odd and featured a strange display of values. It’s the Chris Brown of it all, and a pinch of personal schedules that feels disjointed from the pre-military service BTS. With all that NCT has gone through, it would be understandable for the band to be unrecognizable, instead they remain familiar, and feel stronger. Instead of the change subtracting from their sound, it has intensified the flavor. My hope is that however SKZ navigates this upcoming change, they will take a page from NCT.

L to R: Taeyong, Johnny, Yuta, Haechan, and Jaehyun

A Sea Of Shifting Sand

The more I feel like I should suppress my feelings about something, the more I feel it pressing upon my heart to be bold and talk about it. Can you relate?

I feel like my world has been swirling around me since 2024. Change. Good or bad, I never feel prepared. Leveling up in life, it is rewarding yet sometimes it is more akin to biking up hill and shifting gears downward for the tough pedaling ahead. And I wonder if there are more people feeling this way?

My early thirties have been incredibly rewarding – buying a house, adopting a rabbit, building a garden, successfully sewing pants, etc. But they have also been a sea of shifting sand globally, professionally, and personally.

We all know the public, political bad – the orange fool that has put us all on blast for 2 years. The price of everything, including yarn & fabric has challenged my professional goals because it is so expensive. It zapped my creativity and threw me off my game. I mean, how can I feel inspired to create when neighbors are being kidnapped and put into concentration camps, and our tax dollars are going to fund a war and a genocide. It’s dark. Like where is the joy when that is happening and your “representatives” are trying to silence your right to vote?

I basically took a year off from sewing to regroup, picking up my thimble again this August. I threw my focus into yarn crafts – knitting and crochet, pondering what my plan is going to be to fight for what is right. It’s been humbling to understand that I can help and also this whole situation is systemic, and will be far more difficult to get to the bottom of then I realized. But game on.

AI and the poor economy has been discouraging to my professional goals of becoming a pattern designer. I would like to be a full time, fiber artist, that is bringing in money. But AI has been a one two punch of stealing work and stealing engagement of artists everywhere. It has made creativity feel hopeless, and sharing work online, like I am contributing to a malevolent overlord.

AI and data centers are like a curse dropped into our lives, disrupting what worked and what gave us joy. Now, we have to fight for our water, environment, and creative expression. I know we humans will win this one. I fully believe AI is a fad that will cause a bunch of damage and then collapse – like mining and steel, it is just going to be messy in the present and future. 

What I wasn’t prepared for was the personal complexities of marriage, healing from childhood trauma together, and the doom spiral of parents having health issues and also toxic parents dropping in to rock your world. I have felt some days like nothing feels familiar. Some days, this healing journey that Kyle and I are together has feel like a canyon, spreading between us, and we’ll never rejoin on the same road again. It has been so weird.

Why doesn’t anyone prepare you for how hard marriage is? Or how outside forces and generational cycles can seriously fight the strong bond you have with your spouse. I feel like he and I have been in the trenches on one of these outside problems for a decade now, and I just want us to be able to climb out of this together and walk home hand in hand, but people are complicated and so for now, we keep holding on together and waiting for the hard work to be over.

I have never tried so hard across so many different relationships, and tasks (gardening, house responsibilities, social media marketing) to grow and succeed just for things to unravel over and over again. I have felt like I am on a boat that cartoonishly keeps springing leaks, and I am out of limbs and props, to stop the leaks. Some days I wish the cartoon rapids would just appear already so I can sail over the waterfall and smash the boat to bits, because my best efforts feel so futile. I get burnt out and want a change. Because perseverance is exhausting. Choosing to be hopeful and keep going can feel like a cruel joke.

What has shaken me to the core though, and I’m nervous to talk about, is the way the church doesn’t feel like the church to me. My churching friends have become far too comfortable with Christian Nationalism and it is freaking me out. The blind eye to suffering, and the hyper fixation on “sins” that are not sins. I have always found it baffling that the concept of a person in the church getting a divorce, or seeing Catholic believers as “real” Christians is controversial to some people. It’s those kind of opinions that get canonized by the group, that are so destructive.

That’s not even dipping our toes into the sexism, purity culture, and racism that has been alive for centuries. Seeing how normal this is, has been infuriating to me. It has made me feel like I don’t know where I belong anymore. And to be honest, has awoken real life pain of never feeling good enough to be a “good Christian” to some because my parents divorced.

To be clear, I 100% believe in God and that God is good, and that it is the church, the humans, that are taking things to a bad place. I’d like to elaborate more on these reflections in another post, because I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like I am at risk of being sucked into the corruption in these normally “safe” spaces.

It’s not what I thought the church and my christian friends would become. The corruption is running rampant here, and I hate it. But this is not the first, and won’t be the last, because constant sanctification is needed to continually keep our focus on what is important – loving others as God loves us.

I have a ton of stuff to work through, and I am so far from perfect. I just want to open up about things I have been too afraid to open up about because of the highly controlling religious school settings I have found myself in as a kid, and no I did not go to Catholic school, I went to very Calvinist leaning private schools.

So we’ll see if I am brave enough to keep unpacking. I think we all just need to air this stuff out to move forward as the body of Christ in a healthier place, that is not wrapped in a fake cloak of hidden sin and cyclical shame of those who want to talk about the sin being tolerated, because the church in America is fine with teaming up with the political machine and money chasing.

This was a rambling one, but if you stuck through, I appreciate you.

Thank You

I hope, dear reader, you know how much this WordPress community means to me. I have shared before how frustrating it is to share my designs on Instagram, how I have chased the algorithm and have been disappointed over and over by the shifting sands of Meta. The algorithm has felt even more desolate lately, not even showing my posts with my friends. It feels like yelling into a void. I feel like the rat in a cage from a Bullet with Butterfly Wings.

The reason why I started sharing my work on my Facebook and Instagram when I began sewing and picked up knitting again in the 2020, was to connect with others and find community. I’m tired of my feed drowning in advertisement, and feeling disconnected from others when they post and I post because we are not monetizing our every post. I don’t want to sell you anything. I want to inspire and learn together. I want to make art. I want to not feel alone, just like we all do.

WordPress has been the exception and your community makes me feel hopeful that in the AI Slop, short-form content, linked-below hellscape that is the internet right now, that we can still be there for each other. Thank you for every view, every like, every comment. You mean the world to me. Being an artist right now sucks, but you all make it magical.

I have been making a lot, organizing my work room, finding a lot of inspiration from like-minded folks on the internet and listening to good music. My favorites recently have been Haute & Freddy and rediscovering The Smashing Pumpkins after their amazing Lollapalooza performance. I wish you a lovely Friday! Until next time ❤

The Travel Vlog to Reality Show Pipeline

This is my own observation, and may or may not be in my own algorithm that I am seeing this, instead of being a wide spread pattern, but it’s strange enough that I’d like to talk about it.

The catalyst for this blog post, has been the extreme swerve in content on Philly and Keely’s vanlife channel since May 2026. I found this channel in November 2025, through a collaboration with The Endless Adventure, and have been watching it consistently until recent. I’ve been a viewer of TEA since 2018. Their content has ebbed and flowed with the pandemic, buying a house, and dealing with grief, yet has remained steadily them even if the format changes for a time to accomodate RV renovations. They are one of the rare ones to do this. Reddit sure has some TEA haters, but the snark is subdued compared to other channels, because in my opinion, their content style is not fueled by drama. They are not everyone’s cuppa and that is okay.

Another channel I used to watch from 2017-2022, Kara and Nate, do try to be everyone’s cup of tea, and it became less interesting to me as time when on, for the sheer uncanny vibes of the videos. It felt plastic. I got bored of the luxury trips and unsubscribed. The last exception to this I would say, is the Way Away, who I think are disqualified from this discussion due to personal reasons that they announced publicly in 2020, following their divorce. They no longer make videos together, yet I believe they would follow a similar trajectory to TEA if they had carried on their channel together.

K&N and TEA are rare outliers to the great scope of what I want to look at though – this trend I am seeing of travel couple channels, that were successful in the late 2010s to early 2020s, who are now bringing some strange energy to the party in the form of questionable video topics, and child endangerment.

To name a few, that have veered into a bizarre reality show space have been Flying the Nest, Kinging it, Samuel and Audrey, Eamon and Bec, Louis and Raya, Philly and Keely (the inspiration for the post) and The Travel Beans (apparently, by P&K’s admission, the reason why they hurredly sought out, having a baby). All of the channels listed above, aside from Samuel and Audrey, have dabbled in vanlife. All but Kinging It are married and have children. But all have shifted their channel focus from travel to family life, in the style of reality television or “lifestyle influencing” as it is rebranded today.

Have you ever watched Teen Mom 2? Or seen those spinoff shows for celebrities like ‘Newlyweds’ featuring Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson? Or the show Donnie Loves Jenny featuring Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy? It’s all about monetizing your life, your relationship, and your family for the drama. The more drama the better! The infamous Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Duck Dynasty, and Teen Mom 2 are great examples of these reality shows that try to monetize family life, and in doing so, lead kids to grow up with a camera in their face, without a break. They have been born into The Truman Show. Thumbnails seem to grow increasing exaggerated as these channels move towards these reality show videos, and drift away from real life. It’s an interesting phenomenon. These channels once had beautiful thumbnails pointing to the destination, now they manipulate you to click to make sure these strangers are okay. They play on the emotions of the viewers, even using their pregnancies or children as bait.

Why does this part fixate me so? Ruby Franke.

Ruby Franke was a lifestyle vlogger from Utah, that ran a Youtube channel called Eight Passengers who was convicted of aggravated child abuse and is now serving four consecutive sentences of between 1-15 years, determined by the State of Utah Board of Parole. For a deep dive into what happened, I highly recommend watching the Hulu docuseries ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke‘ for multiple perspectives, particularly the POV of her oldest daughter. Her story provides an excellent account of what living as a character in your parents’ lucrative income stream does to your relationship with your parents and sense of security.

Now do I believe, any of the travel couples I listed above are going to follow the path of Ruby Franke. No, but the chance is never zero. Already, Flying the Nest has changed their whole channel to center their children and have written childrens’ books featuring their own children. Birthday parties are peak content for them. In a similar but creepier vein, Eamon and Bec, demonstrate no sense of boundaries between life and content. They are endangering their daughter by sharing footage of her that is innappropriate for viewing for anyone. It is sick and wrong, yet they seem willing to cash in on their daughter, after the success of monetizing Bec’s cancer. It’s very disturbing.

Getting back to the start of this discussion – Philly and Keely. They have amassed followers quickly, since coming to the US to travel the states in an RV. P&K focused on National Parks and the western vistas, the hits that put the butts in the seats. On the heels of reaching 100k followers, there was a sharp turn to family vlogging with raw, in my opinion oversharing that turned me off. I seem to be in the minority though, because from what I saw in the comments towards the end of my subscription to their channel, was pure parasocial gold. Their fans are not fans, they are stans, as delusional and voracious as K-pop stans who will fight to the death to get noticed by their idols. It’s bizarre! I’ve never seen such a quick change to a channel’s vibe as I observed with P&K. E&B’s change to family vlogging was a slow burn and was harder to see the change at first, but with P&K, like the Travel Beans, chaos is the currency.

Why does this concern me? Because social media has created accessibility to overshare and gather fame unlike we have seen before. We are no longer in the days of celebrities being the only ones who could cash in on their relationships and kids for more money and more fame. Everyone can, the floodgates are open. I’m not bothered or concerned about consenting adults cashing in on their life and sharing on the internet. I overshare all the time about my life and would like WordPress to pay out someday.

What is different to me is the lack of protection and consent of the children. I think we should be talking about how pervasive this has become in our present day, and speak up for the children who are at risk of being pedophile fodder and their parents paycheck. Child Labor Laws are ignored by society when labor is done for a camera held by your parent. I don’t think that is good for humanity, and I think a lot of kids and families are going to be hurt because of family vlogging. I believe we don’t see the problems because these videos seem relatable, but they could easily be programming for MTV, TLC, Bravo, or VH1. We scoff at the reality stars plastered on those channels, exposing their lives for a buck, and we judge harshly this trashy television. But what if it is just a couple and their van? I think we have blinders on because they are “normal” people just sharing their lives with us, so we feel kinship with them. This bias, from parasocial situations, normalizes this kind of content.

Travel sells. Vanlife sells. But drama sells more. Pregnancy put the butts in the seats, and dollars in your pockets, quickly. We all know the phenomenon. It’s why Trad Wife influencers bring home the bacon. It’s subtle, parasocial, propaganda. This is the reason that the works of fiction, Yesteryear and Tradwife, have been at the center of book discourse in 2026. It is a hot topic for debate.

Is this trend just a fluke? I don’t know. I hope so. I miss the more wholesome days of travel vlogging. I am not saying that people are not allowed to change up their content or life. That is their life and their right to do so. What I am saying is that I don’t like this trend, and I don’t want people on the internet to use their children as a way to grow the channel or bring them engagement. Children deserve privacy. Even before they are born, they deserve to be treated with respect and privacy. Having a family and walking away from the camera is an admirable choice here that puts your health, and your family first – I’m talking to you, Philly and Keely! It’s not too late to change course.

I would like to thank Ashley Viola and Tiffany Ferg, for educating me and so many others about the dangers of para-social relationships and family vlogging. I would recommend checking out their channels for a deeper dive on these topics.

Tyra Banks, Gap Happy Stripe, and Project Runway 22

This post is a little bit of a mash up, I guess the connecting thread is Zac Posen, or maturity? I’m not sure. I’ve been mulling over two topics that have been in my head this week. The first is the premiere of Project Runway Season 22, the second, being a knitting “controversy” that I believe is not a controversy at all. So, maybe, the connection is drama fatigue?

The Television Evolution from the 1990’s to the 2020’s

Social media is bad for us, we can agree on that. It compresses nuance, and that is exactly what is happening here. But, in the case of television and the fashion industry, it seems to be brain chemistry altering, to borrow an internet term, and the effects are getting strange. This is far from a comprehensive history, just a quick snippet for context.

Television has gone through several iterations in my lifetime – from the rise of cable, to the golden age of reality TV in the 2000’s, to streaming. In 2005, YouTube transformed who could occupy our attention, shortly following in 2007, the Iphone brought a new screen to our lives. In 2020, Tik Tok became the supreme ruler of culture, with the short-form content revolution. Now, in 2026, streaming platforms of shows and film, are self aware that they are the second or third screen vying for our goldfish-like attention spans. This is bad for business. What are networks supposed to do? I’d say they are letting this short form content culture lead.

Enter Project Runway Season 21 and its new, Tik Tok and YouTube editing style with quick cuts and comedy edits, that are self-aware to a level, that was a bit jarring to me. It was like internet culture was uploaded to an established show of 21 years, in order to modernize it. It did just that, it laid its cards on the table of what producers think a successful television show must have in the mid-2020’s – drama and internet-personas instead of contestants, in my opinion. It’s only gotten worse with the announcement of Season 22.

Why is it so loud here?

It’s noisy. I feel like everything about the show is shouting at me. I tried watching the first episode, and quit after the intro. Instead of letting the viewer sit back and engage with the show, the show demands shock, shade, and a level of seriousness that is simply undermined by how the contestants, presenters, and judges act. They are caricatures of humans. Like Zoolander or The Devil Wears Prada, it’s not an accurate representation of human behavior. The drama has been dialed up to a point of puppetry and theater, which would be fun if it was for say, in the pursuit of comedy like RuPaul’s Drag Race, which I am a fan of. This version of Project Runway is not about the clothing or the craft of sewing. It is for the purpose of creating internet buzz and translating that into streaming numbers. It feels so trite to say that. Project Runway is a business, what I miss is the illusion of the storytelling.

Tim Gunn, Zac Posen, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia brought an industry seriousness to the show that provided context. With the elimination of all but Nina Garcia, and the death knell of losing the spot to show at NYFW, the legitimacy of the show is in shredded. What is all for? Internet fame. Even the challenges were different last year, with sponsorship themes shoe horned into a semblance of “design criteria” and it felt off. For example, the PNC “brilliantly boring” challenge to use boring fabric. There was the Eczema awareness challenge, that should have gone deeper, but instead gave us a concept and then quickly shooed it off screen.

In contrast, I have gained greater appreciation for Drag Race and its the commitment to staying on topic.The causes presented on the show seem genuine and it is refreshing! Like it is all in alignment with worldview.

Lack of Integrity in the Fashion Industry

I think this is because to have a clear worldview in the fashion industry right now, it has to be political, and they don’t want to do that at Disney, and so the political stances are muddled for the sake of saying nothing. Which is a political stance, indifference is infuriating with the amount of clout the show claims to have. This show is fashion “influencing” but make it a reality show.

The worst part of this muddled stance is the inclusion of Tyra Banks. The Netflix documentary from this winter makes sense now, it was a PR project to rebuild Tyra’s image. I grew up with America’s Next Top Model, created by Tyra Banks. I watched ANTM long before Project Runway, and it was a sh*tshow.

She let the cameras roll in Season 2, when a dangerously inebriated contestant, Shandy, experienced SA, and then Tyra had the gall to keep her from the hospital and police, to keep filming. She framed Shandy as an example of cheating, and publicly shamed her for a decade. She pressured contestants, Joanie and Danielle to undergo dangerous dental procedures. Tyra created photoshoots promoting blackface.

She fat shamed and encouraged ED on the show, ignoring the dangers of ED, all while shaming contestants who couldn’t “hide it” well enough. This is just a short list of the problematic behaviors on the ANTM show, a show that preyed on young women of color, and then made a mockery of them, reinforcing racism again and again for profit. I have no interest in watching a show that Tyra Banks is a part of, when she danced around an apologize in her documentary and, in my opinion, did not take any responsibility. Just have integrity, it’s all I ask for. Apologize. Truly make amends and rebuild your reputation through real change. This path is not fooling anyone.

Connecting the Two

Okay, so how are my two topics connected? Well first off, I wish they had brought a quality judge back like Zac Posen, but secondly, I think as much as people are not up in arms enough about Tyra coming back to television, I think the internet is always trying to drum up knitting controversies, that are not that serious.

I was definitely dragged into caring about The Game of Wool, by my corner of the internet, and proceeded to make a bingo card, as my farewell, once I realized I didn’t give a hoot even if this show was a let down. The most recent “controversy” I’ve seen is the Gap Happy Stripe collection for Summer 2026, promoted by the CCO, Zac Posen. The collection is not a knitwear focused throwback, instead it utilizes technology to make something “knitwear” centered. The image of the original knit has been printed on a mesh collection, that I believe has a decently high polyester content, because mesh.

As a fiber artist, if I want a happy stripe inspired piece, I’m just going to recreate it. Done. I don’t need to feel slighted by Gap, or be frustrated that they are not centering knitters with “fake knitwear” as I have seen touted on the internet. Gap is a fast fashion company, the knitwear would be machine knit, and the workers are not being compensated fairly. It’s the fashion industry, its problematic. They make poor choices and they create a ton of pollution. They also favor tech “innovations” so this is not radical, it seems inline with Project Runway to be honest.

I don’t think Zac Posen should “canceled” for this or for us to spam Gap, with anger that knitters have been slighted again. I don’t buy store bought knit anymore. I certainly don’t buy store bought crochet, because its either fake or created with slave labor. I try to buy thoughtfully, make what I can, mend, up cycle, and treat clothing as a permanent object. I think that is the best we can do right now. The problems with the fashion industry are not contained to Gap. It’s world wide. I have no reason to buy a mesh printed garment, so its a moot point for me. Protect your peace, the world is incredibly messy right now, this is a drop in the bucket.

Do you remember the Gap Happy Stripe collection? I don’t. I remember colorful knitwear from the early 2000’s and wearing one from Old Navy or Aeropostale. I’m getting tired of the internet shouting. I’m getting tired of endless knitting drama. I’m quite tired of dumb reboots of shows I liked. Whew, I think it I did it! Thank you, reader, hanging in with me on this random post. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. ❤

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