Folk art:
Art originating among the common people of a nation or region and usually reflecting their traditional culture, especially everyday or festive items produced or decorated by unschooled artists.
(American Heritage Dictionary)
[digital] folk art:
nation := online
region := anywhere with an internet connection
traditional := 'western' knitting
culture := digital
The Hobby Princess craft manifesto investigates the question 'why craft?'
Others have expanded, commented and quoted ...
Thoughts from the Bus Stop
Caterina.net
I am yer Grammar
Folkology
BoingBoing
Edge Perspectives
Other sites talk about the Craft 2.0 and the Slow Craft movements.
There is a commen thread throughout that technology, whilst not the primary cause, is certainly an enabler of the movement.
J Meredith Warner talks about the way in which knitting can metaphorically knit communities together. The internet allows these communities to be knit in new ways with threads from far-reaching people and places uniting. Is the internet creating a new folk art/craft for digital natives?
One thing I've noticed since I've started this research is that I've been spending more time buying fabric, yarn and planning what I will make next. Of course, this is a bit unfortunate, as this MA will surely eat into my time I have to spend doing such things... but it's not an insurmountable problem!
I have also noticed that I'm tending to focus more on craft that digital in this blog, so I thought I would try to bring the two together in this post.One reasons why I have an increased urge to create is the inspiration derived by seeing other people's work whilst researching this project.The web allows people to share their creations to a wider audience and across larger geographical areas than ever before, exposing the work of many home crafters to a potentially vast audience. Seeing other people's creations inspires and a virtuous circle is created.