This history was patiently and dilligently contributed to and researched by a great many people. It is being compiled by the moderators of the Friends of the group once known as... forum on Ravelry. Like all histories, it is ongoing and will be updated as relevant verifiable facts are obtained.
KAL
MEDIA LIMITED
KAL Media
Ltd was incorporated in August 2008 and comprised two Directors, Kerrie Allman
and Louise Butt, who had previously traded as a partnership since 2006. Louise
Butt resigned from KAL Media in October 2009 and has no further connection with
the business.
Since 2009
therefore the company has consisted of one Director, Kerrie Allman, who held
all the shares.
On 17th
June 2011 the company resolved that it be voluntarily wound up and liquidators,
Carter Clark of North Chingford, were appointed. In the Director’s History of
the Business included in the initial report, Kerrie states that her “plans for the company became
frustrated due to a County
Court Judgement being entered against it for approximately £4500 with a threat
of enforcement action being taken”.
“Faced
with a loss-making business now under threat from creditors” a liquidator
was appointed. Initial accounts presented to the liquidators show a deficiency
of some £201,000, with £189,000 of unsecured creditors.
The
liquidators are currently finalising their report which will be available
shortly.
It is
believed that the unsecured creditors’ figure will be greatly increased in the
final accounts as a number of creditors were not declared to the liquidators.
Many creditors were not even aware that the company had gone into liquidation
until they read about it on Ravelry.
If you
believe you are owed money by KAL (not All Craft Media Ltd), you can contact
the liquidator at Harrison.Smith@carterclark.co.uk
(Tel: 0208 524 1447).
ALL
CRAFT MEDIA LIMITED
All Craft
Media Ltd was incorporated on 3rd May 2011. The sole Director is Wayne Allman
(Kerrie’s husband) and Companies House shows that Kerrie Allman owns 100% of
the shares. ACM paid KAL £3,000 for the goodwill of the company, which included
all the magazine titles.
Because of
the time lag between commissioning and publishing in this industry, a number of
patterns and articles published by ACM were commissioned by KAL and not paid
for. A number of designers commissioned by ACM are now also complaining about
non-payment and the company has already acquired 4 County Court Judgements
against it.
One of the
CCJ’s was obtained by a designer who submitted her work and invoice to KAL but
the patterns were subsequently published by ACM, after KAL’s liquidation. She
therefore re-issued the invoice and sent it to ACM. They failed to pay her so
she issued a summons and obtained a County Court Judgement against ACM, which
they paid with interest and costs.
If you wish
to pursue a claim against ACM for non-payment, information is available on the
Citizen’s Advice Bureau website at http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/your_rights/legal_s...
or contact your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau (or solicitor).
If you wish
to make a consumer complaint against this company, ie for non-delivery of
goods, you should contact Consumer Direct, Tel: 0845 4040506
ACM
CONTACT DETAILS
Address:
Bayleys
Barn
Bullocks
Farm
Bullocks
Lane
Hope
End, Takeley
Herts
CM22 6TA
Tel: 01279
879038
Registered
Office:
The
Chestnuts
Brewer’s
End
Takeley
Bishop’s
Stortford
Hertfordshire
CM22
6QJ
Email: Kerrie@Allcraftmedia.co.uk
Ravelry:
AllCraftMedia (used by all staff) and ACMKerrie
Facebook:
Knit Magazine (not functioning at time of posting), Inside Crochet, Modern
Quilting
Twitter:
KerrieAllman, KnitMagazine, InsideCrochet
Blog: http://yarnwise.wordpress.com/
ACM
PUBLICATIONS
Knit
Magazine (Formerly Yarn Forward, to be re-named Yarnwise from Issue 50)
Sew Hip
Handmade
Living
Inside
Crochet
Simply
Beautiful (online magazine only)
Modern
Quilting
Handmade
Fashion (Launching April 2012)
DESIGNERS
Designers
for Knit Magazine have long complained that they have problems getting paid
and/or getting their samples returned to them. They also complain regularly
about not automatically receiving contributor copies of the magazine.
See this
thread started in March 2011 but which covers designers’ dissatisfaction with
this company going back many years.
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/designers/1554827/1-25
Designers
for Inside Crochet have also had the same problems. In addition, a number of
them have discovered that their designs have been sold onto an American crochet
magazine publisher without notification or recompense. In some cases, KAL or
ACM had not paid for the original designs.
See details
about this in the Crochet Designers’ group at:
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/crochet-designers/1972432/...
KNIT
MAGAZINE’S SOCK CLUB
The Sock
Club was launched by the magazine early in 2011 at a cost of £ 96 for 6 skeins
of indie-dyed yarn to be delivered every 2 months from the end of April 2011,
with a pattern. According to KAL, this was limited to 100 members and was
over-subscribed, with a waiting list.
This date
was before KAL went into liquidation but it would appear that some members of
the club paid ACM (not KAL) via Paypal.
The
deliveries made were as follows:
May -
Skein Queen Entwist - 100g - fingering/4ply - 100% Merino - 366m/100g
July -
Yarn Yard Crannog - 150g lace/2ply - 100% Merino - 500m/100g
Aug/Sep -
HipKnits Organic Merino 4 ply - 100g - 100% Organic Merino - 338m/100g
Nov -
Wollmeise 100% Merino Surperwash - 150g - fingering/4ply - 100% Merino -
350m/100g
Jan/Feb
- Sparkleduck Jenny - 150g - 75% Superwash Wool 25% Nylon - 260m/100g
March -
Rico Superba Poems - 100g - fingering/4ply - 75% Superwash wool 25% Polymide -
420m/100g
The
patterns were NOT designed to match the yarn and were as follows:
Patterns
Precious
Little Diamonds 72sts 2mm
Amethyst
Socks 68sts 2mm
PUUC
64sts 2.25mm
Sophie
Socks 92/100/108/116sts 2mm
Brickwork
Socks 60/72/84sts 2.25mm
The 5th
shipment had been advertised as Easyknits and was late being sent to the
members because they claim they were still awaiting delivery from the dyer and
were “stalking the
courier every day.”
However, Easyknits confirmed that no order had been placed with them and they
were totally unaware that Knit Sock Club members were waiting for their yarn.
At the last minute, Sparkleduck stepped in and supplied the yarn for that
installment.
The final
installment was a skein of commercially dyed yarn (not an indy-dyed yarn) –
Rico Poem, which retails at under £7 in the UK. The final pattern for the sock
club, together with a printed booklet of all the patterns, was supposed to be
sent to the sock club members by the end of March.
On 3rd
April, the members were told this booklet was at the printers and would be
arriving “today or tomorrow”. On 16th April, a member was told after a phone
call to ACM that the PDF of the booklet would be sent out by email that day. It
eventually arrived with sock club members at about 11.pm on Tuesday 17th. ACM
claims that the printed version is still at the printers (after some 3-4
weeks). When it is received by members, this post will be updated.
Further,
every sock club member was promised a Christmas present but none appears to
have been received with ACM claiming that the entire shipment was lost in the
post.
When
members complained about the quality of their final shipment, the non-delivery
of their Christmas presents and the late delivery of other installments, they
were told that they were lucky to get anything as the sock club was set up by
KAL which was now in liquidation so ACM didn’t have to honour this contract but
that Kerrie Allman had personally funded the continuation of the Sock Club to
the tune of £6000.
Sock club
members though were NOT listed as Creditors in the accounts given to the
liquidator in June 2011.
There is a
Knit Magazine Sock Club group here: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knit-magazines-sock-club
KNIT
MAGAZINE’S LACE CLUB
The Lace
Club was launched by the magazine at a cost of £70.50 including UK postage for
4 skeins of yarn each with a pattern.
The
deliveries made were as follows:
50g
Hipknits
50g
Malabrigo
100g
Filigran
The fourth
and final shipment was to have been Wollmeise Lace to be delivered by the
middle of March. ACM announced (on their Facebook page – now deleted) that they
had ordered this on or before 1st November 2011. “And we ordered some Wollmeise lace yarn for our lace
club members final package, now that is exciting and unexpected - we hadn’t
planned to but thought everyone deserved a treat.” )
On 16th
March ACM said, when requested by phone, that Wollmeise had inexplicably
returned their payment.
Claudia
from Wollmeise posted this here: “
Oh my god! I didn´t read all and what I understand is that many people paid for
a club shipment, which should be delivered soon or now? In autumn we´ve got an
order about laceweight and we said “yes”, but we only do prepaid orders for
some people. In December or January we wrote if this order is still wanted, no
sign no response. In January we deleted this order and I sold the collected
yarn. In the beginning of March we´ve
got payment from an unknown person and an unknown company for the laceweight
(no comment, no explanation) and we sent money back. I´m so sorry for all of
you, but it isn´t a good idea to do business with people with no moral sense
(it would´nt be helpful to send her yarn and I´m not sure you´ll get it). It´s
a hard wording to say “no moral sense”, because I know internet is an virtual
world and very cruel, but everybody has the chance to jump in to explain what´s
happened!!!!
If
I´m wrong I´ll beg pardon”
Colourmart
stepped in to supply the yarn (a 47% merino, 30% viscose 15% polyamide and 8%
cashmere base, compared with Wollmeise’s 100% wool), which was to be dyed by an
unknown (but ‘professional’) dyer in Hertfordshire. ACM also promised an
additional skein of Sparkleduck yarn in the same shipment.
ACM claims
that all packages were posted on 11th April 2012. The members of this club have
already received the pattern which is for a cobweb yarn, and therefore not
designed for either the Wollmeise nor its replacement.
At 26th
April 2012, we know of no member of the Lace Club who has received this final
shipment. However, ACM is adamant that three members have contacted them direct
to say they’ve received it.
This post
will be updated as further information comes to light.
There is a
Knit Magazine Lace Club group here:
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knit-magazines-lace-club
INSIDE
CROCHET’S AMIGURUMI CLUB
This Club
was launched in Issue 17 of Inside Crochet in April/May 2011 at a cost of £80
within the UK for 6 kits designed by Irene Strange.
The
original advert stated: “You’ll
receive 6 different parcels throughout the year, each one containing a
brand-new original pattern from Irene, together with all the yarn and others
bits that you need to make the project. The kits will be beautifully wrapped in
re-useable packaging and will include extra goodies each month. The first
parcel will be sent out at the beginning of May, then further parcels will
follow every two months until March 2012. Extra kits will be available for
purchase by club members each month in case you want to give one as a gift…”
The kits
when they arrived were not exactly as described:
1) There
was no “re-useable packaging” apart from a small tote bag with first kit, and
were packaged in plastic mailers with no enclosed letter.
2) There
was no option given to purchase extra kits.
3) There
were no additional goodies except for a free ball of wool with the first
installment which the members were told was as an apology for the delay in
shipment, so was not part of the kit, and there was an extra pattern and some
yarn with the third installment. The first installment was supposed to contain
an extra pattern but this wasn’t the case.
4) Members
did not receive “all other bits you need” - some kits came with no safety eyes,
and the third installment came with an insufficient amount of yarn to complete
the hedgehog kit (which required 2 shades, only 1 included).
Kit 1:
Archie the Monkey.- members were advised that this kit was being sent on 16th
May. They received it on or about 10th June. On 28th May, from Inside Crochet’s
Facebook page: “Hi there -
they were due to go out the week before last but were held up a little due to
some messing about with our Royal Mail account. Hopefully they’ll be landing on
doorsteps next week. Sorry for the delay!”
Kit 2:
Marty the Sea Turtle.- received on time at the end of July but with no extra
‘goodies’ and no printed pattern. Ravelry post from ACM on 29th July: “I’m not going to promise printed
patterns with the next kit though, unless we can get Irina to design something
a lot shorter - the cost of printing 100 x 8 page patterns every month would
have pushed the cost of the club up. We should have specified that they would
be downloads of the pattern when we advertised the club though and I’m sorry
that we didn’t.”
(Interestingly
on 11th June Kerrie had said that there were 50 members of this club not 100 as
stated here) (Also interestingly, the club wouldn’t appear to have been costed
before launch)
Kit 3:
Cinnamon the Squirrel, (plus additional Helen Hedgehog pattern and one ball of
yarn). – Email from Kerrie on 29th July stated: “The next parcel is due to be sent out at the end of
September and this one will include 2 kits, your usual amigurimi kit plus a
bonus gift so keep your
eyes peeled for that.” On 27th September, ACM stated on Ravelry: “Just to let you all know - the next
instalment of the Amigurumi Club is to be sent out next week, with another
fabulous, original design by Irene Strange and a fantastic little freebie!”
On 17th October, when no member had received their package, ACM posted on
Ravelry and their Inside Crochet Facebook page that the kits had been sent and
should be with the members in the next few days.
Kit 3
was eventually received sometime between 2nd and 10th November 2011. The extra
kit that was promised in Kerrie’s email of 29th July consisted of a pattern
plus only ONE of the yarns required for completing it (two different colours
were needed). The response to that on the IC Facebook page was that “The Hedgehog pattern was the
surprise free gift this month and it was only decided at the last minute to include
some yarn for it as well.” (It could not therefore be described as
a ‘kit’)
Kit 4:
Theodore the Bear. – Pattern received by email at the beginning of January. On
4th January, email from ACM said “We
have unfortunately experienced a delay with the yarn and are still waiting for
it to arrive with us, but the kits will be sent out the day after we receive
it.” The members received this yarn at the beginning of March.
Kits 5
& 6: The club was due to finish in March 2012. However the 4th kit of the 6
paid for wasn’t received until March. If any members of this club know whether
Kits 5 and 6 have yet been received or what their status is, please PM a Mod.
here with that information.
ETA: The
proceeds of this club should have gone to KAL Media as payments were made
before the company went into liquidation in June 2011 and the club was started
by Inside Crochet, which still belonged to KAL. However, as with the Sock Club,
the members of the Amigurumi club were not listed as Creditors in the initial
liquidator’s report.
MAGKNITS
Magknits was an
online knitting magazine started we believe in 2004, by Kerrie Allman. It was
not part of the KAL company.
In April 2008, a
designer started a thread in the Needlework on the Net group as she was
concerned that a pattern submitted by her was on the cover of Magknit’s March
2008 issue and she had not received payment for it, had no response from them
to her original submission and was not advised that they were publishing it. http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/needlework-on-the-net/152434/
A number of designers
then wrote about their issues with this magazine which included
1.
Non-payment
for designs published
2.
No
acknowledgement of submissions received
3.
Failure
to reply to emails.
Kerrie’s reply to
some of these accusations is no longer available but from the blockquotes
included in others’ replies, it would appear to be that she was having dreadful
difficulty with Royal Mail, she had major problems with her server and spam
filter and that because of the sheer volume of submissions received, she was
unable to contact everyone.
It was of course
pointed out to her that it would appear strange that emails requesting money or
some form of acknowledgement were re-directed to her spam filter but that those
large number of pattern submissions apparently were received without problem
into her inbox.
YARN
FORWARD/KNIT/YARNWISE
Yarn Forward was
published from October 2006, as a quarterly magazine –
October/January/April/July. There were complaints about delivery of
subscription copies from the initial issue.
These include
non-delivery of subscription copies, and no response by the company to emails.
One person was awaiting back-issues paid for in December and not received at
the beginning of February. Kerrie had told her they had a lot of postal problems
at the moment.
In June 2008, it was
announced that Yarn Forward would be issued as a monthly magazine. In
March/April 2011 (Issue 36) Yarn Forward changed its name to Knit because a
Canadian company of the same name had Yarn Forward trademarked in the UK.
A number of
subscribers claim that the magazine is available in the shops before they
receive their subscription copies, and some subscribers haven’t yet received
Issue 47, despite the fact that Issue 49 has just been published.
There are also a
number of threads in Ravelry about the deteriorating standard of the magazine.
The following
suggestions were made:
1.
The
subscription cost quoted in two areas of the magazine didn’t agree with the
price on the subscription application form.
2.
One
pattern had a number of mistakes, including the suggestion that 3.5cm = 1 inch
and the use of two sizes of knitting needles when only one was listed in the
Notions list.
3.
Knit
Camp was being promoted though it had finished before this Issue was published.
4.
A
pattern for a bookmark listed its length as 147cm/58”
5.
One
pattern had completely incorrect sizing figures.
The correct answer
was that the Issue No. was incorrect on the cover.
The name of the
magazine is to change to Yarnwise from Issue 50 (June 2012)
