Yarn shopping! Yay!
Unfortunately, my magpie nature has me standing in front of a shelf of yarn pretty much completely unsuitable for the project at hand. This project is supposed to be an alpaca/wool/silk scarf suitable for use with dress clothes and I'm looking at fabulous lumpy mixed fiber yarns in eye-popping colors. Remember where this stuff is, but go find something to use for this one!
Among the most interesting users of Weaving Today are those who have no local weaving community available to them, but who feel the need to reach out and connect with others involved in the same craft. Several of these are from overseas, and at least a few are unable to participate in local guilds because of access issues (transportation or disability) or because there are no guilds close enough to them. These users may post from time to time when they have a question or when they know the answer to someone else's question. The latter is less frequent, likely because the Weaving Today staff answer questions when no one else answers, and nobody wants to argue with Madelyn. I went looking for a few of these users to prepare this project. One is a specialist in a particular weave structure (huck lace) and the other is a generalist who is an occasional weaver. Each has over a dozen posts, a large number for users of this site (average is just over two if professional users aren't considered).
Lynn is a huck lace specialist. She weighs in on most conversations in the buck forum, including technical discussions about reading drafts and designing huck. On her "about me" page, she lists only her age (60) and gender, and lists her "favorites" as the huck forum.
Kaaren is a generalist, with comments on five different threads. Her "about me" page is unusually complete for Weaving Today users. She has a short biography, including a description of her weaving practice.
These two users stand out by virtue of their length of use and number of posts. These "front pew" users are recognized as experts of sorts in the Weaving Today community. Even so, 16 posts over two years hardly qualifies as the kind of use most affinity spaces boast.
And while we're talking about barking up the wrong tree . . .
Having found the suitable yarn, I have managed to select colors that are absolutely gorgeous together, but not at all what I thought I came in for. While I'm at it, I guess I'll buy a skein of that turquoise and pink ombre!
This would be a good post to revise for your final. I'd really like to hear more analysis and see you integrate more evidence from the forum into your discussion. How, specifically, do each of these participants use the forum? What are you hoping to highlight about this affinity space through these two cases?
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