I am an admitted Twitter addict along with so many others. It's a great place to vent, to brag, to make new friends. What surprised me several months ago was how many folk identify themselves with nicknames based upon their crafty addiction. Knitters, quilters, crafters are abundant on the site. Getting to know them in short 140 character bursts then encouraged to find them again on their blogs, on Ravelry and other places on the nets. So who are the twittering crafters?

Maybe it's just summertime, I think. Posting on craft blogs always slows way down in the summertime. That's the likely explanation. Except the slowdown began way before summertime. Except the slowdown includes blogs just going away. Except the slowdown includes bloggers lowering blog posts because of book deals. Except the slowdown includes a lack of interesting posts on the blogs that are there. Which makes some wonder, is the craft blog dead?

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day: it appears that some people made a BIG deal about it!  When the first WWKIP Day occurred two years ago, there were about 20 official gatherings.  This year, there were over 200 formal groups meeting in parks, farmer's markets and coffee shops around the world.  According to the website:

Summer is right around the corner, which means stitchers are heading outside to cook-outs, soccer games, the beach, and of course Stitch And Pitch, 2008. This is the third year that a national - make that international - Stitch and Pitch event has been planned. If you are unfamiliar with the idea:

We are all voyeurs to an extent. We read blogs to learn about people who are like us but different, different but so-much-the-same, different and we-cannot-imagine. Without back story, human nature will fill in gaps based upon the familiar. That's why I am so enjoying a new feature at Robyn Chachula's Crochet by Faye: A Day in the Life. Robyn decided to share: Nothing earth-shattering, just a day in the life of this...

I'd like you to meet Mirta. I love that her new job came complete with some plastic surgery to give her a different face, but she's still kickin' it with really cute (fabric) shoes! 

Three important items caught my eye this week in crafty news: The first is a worthwhile project for some of those quilting scraps you may have: HeartStrings participants make scrappy string quilts for people in a variety of circumstances, from Project Linus to the survivors of the latest disaster. With the weather disasters that have come already this year, this will be a great way to use up some scraps in our stash.

Spiders is a face-to-face knitting group that is connected online. As they explain:

Last week, Steph the Yarn Harlot dedicated part of her post Big Snow, Big Day, Big Question to commentors who tell her they hate what she's working on, or find it ugly.  Usually these comments start with "I'm sorry, but..."  Steph wants to know:

Crafters all know about their stash.  Be it paper, fabric, yarn, felt, beads, or buttons, "stash" is a crafter's purchased supplies.  It's our personal store when we're working on a project. But stash is more because you can buy stash without a plan for using it.  Acquiring stash becomes an obsession for some, a distinct activity for others, or a competition ("She who dies with the most stash wins!" is a popular bumper sticker.) But a stash can eventually becomes a burden. 

Last October, not martha asked: "We have CSAs for produce directly from farms, so why not for farms that raise animals for fiber?"  According to Wikipedia, a CSA is Community-supported agriculture

Our own sassymonkey is headed to Europe soon, and like any true knitting nut, she queried her contacts on Twitter to ask: Are there any yarn stores I need to visit in Paris/Rome/Venice?