Summary...

Okay. Okay. I got this.

I'm trying to think of the best way to start this post or reflection, because honestly, there's a lot that I've learned. There is a lot to reflect on.

Parks and Recipes: 
This was a fun project. I really enjoyed coming up with ideas for this, and the research I later did on fan art was fascinating. Creating and blogging about these recipes took way longer than planned and did not achieve as attractive of a result as some of my other projects.

Review Video of Circular Knitting Workshop:
This was a hard project to begin but relatively simple to complete. Filming the video itself was pretty fun, and being on camera felt much more natural than I originally thought.

The process of reviewing was interesting, because I was able to share all my thoughts and observations about my projects with anyone who may be interested. Little things, such my vest neckline, could be watched and evaluated by other people, unknown to me, who also understand my frustration.

Also a super fun fact: I mentioned in the video that I would like to be sponsored, which was pretty much just a joke and a cute way to address the fact that many of these types of videos and craft bloggers are sponsored and promoted by bigger companies. I have to assume only a small number of crafters take the time to spread their knowledge online without any compensation whatsoever.

The fun fact is that I was actually contacted by a family friend who owns a small knitting store! Not sure what this means for future lucrative potential of my online crafting stuff, but it is pretty awesome.

Blog Posts:
This was probably the most tedious of all the work I have done over the semester. It involved breaking down all the knowledge I already understand about online crafting communities and writing it out in an organized and logical style. It did give me some time for reflection.

I have discussed this with friends and with Professor Juhasz, but there is a collective thought process on the online crafting communities to be constantly on the go. We are making and creating but we are not considering the complexities of what we are doing. We are focused on the initial idea and on the final project but we forget to contemplate what it means to create.

Required Readings:
I read a few books, but I didn't blog about them as much as I probably should have. For one, it's harder than one would think to connect books and traditional materials to the digital sphere. It almost seems pointless in a way. I read paper books and make highlights and notes in the margins; I read online crafting articles and I write an online crafting blog post in response.

This was a basic overview and summary. Don't go away, I'm adding one more on the philosophical thoughts on what I've learned.

Stay Creative!