Hi Everyone:

I am in the process of working on an academic analysis of Craftster.  My day job is as an assistant professor of communication studies with an emphasis on feminism and community.  My (academic) interest in Craftster is in how through language, we’ve formed a virtual community that often extends back into our home communities.   The paper will be included in a forthcoming edited collection of essays about the internet.  Basically, this chapter allows me to combine my day job with my fun job of crafting! 

Since my chapter will focus on community, I wanted to turn to the Craftster community for your input.  I’m posting this request here after discussing it with Leah.  Please let me know if you think I should post it somewhere else.

I’m particularly interested in a few things:
1.  What keeps you coming back to Craftster?
2.  What is it that makes Craftster unique or unlike other online communities?
3.  When you think of Craftster, what do you think of?
4.  Are there any parts of Craftster that you think deserve special attention?
Of course I’m also interested in anything else that you have to say or add. 

I really appreciate any feedback you can give me.  If you want more information about the project or about my background and research, please PM me.  Big time thanks for even reading this!

Terri

Hi Everyone!  Inspired by Jordy's amazing purse design, I've returned to sewing after several years.  I'm pretty much working by memory from junior high home ec -- a long, long time ago.  My question is, how long should my sewing machine needles last, approximately?  Thanks for any help or advice you have!