I would like a list of the best resources on the web for Macrame - I
am very interested in macrame trends (not numbers, more popularity and
who is doing it and what are they making with macrame), macrame
patterns, things you can make in macrame, macrame materials (yarn,
beads, dyes, rings) list of macrame material suppliers and places
where you can buy or sell macrame - shops and also on the web.

I am interested in making macrame a more popular craft so want to
understand as much as possible about it.

I want to also be able to repick up macrame myself, so I am looking
for information that would be relevant for an experienced macrame
enthusiast as well as a new entrant like myself.

The history of macrame would be great and any other interesting
information to do with macrame, like if there are any famous people
(celebraties, politicians, opinions leaders) who do macrame.

Both written content and also accessible photos or sketches of
patterns would be great.

If there are any macrame related affiliate programs I would be
interested to know about these as well.

Many thanks :)

Hello caromcc~

Thanks for your interesting question. I was surprised to find that
there weren?t more sources of information about macramé on the web.
This is truly a freshly revived trend, as if it continues, more and
more information will become available on the Internet as the months
pass. Nonetheless, for most of your categories, I have found some
great sources?certainly the ?best? on the web.

I hope you enjoy them.


TUTORIALS
One good resource is Handcrafted by Elaine
(http://www.elainecraft.com/instructions/instructions.html ), which
contains a series of photo illustrated macrame ?how tos.? This site
also sells finished macramé work.

For very basic instruction, see E How
(http://www.ehow.com/how_8925_begin-macramé.html )
 
Also see The Art of Decorative Knotting (
http://www.cvok.net/~janets2/macrame/macrame.html ), which has
illustrated how tos.

Anne?s Macramé (http://macrame_1.tripod.com/ ) is also worth checking
out. You?ll also find projects at this site.



PROJECTS
A very good source is About.com (
http://jewelrymaking.about.com/library/blmac.htm ), which includes
projects mostly for macramé jewelry. The site also includes
instructions for making various macramé knots.

Also check out Knot Work
(http://www.knotingwork.com/Pages/macrame'_sales.html ); here you?ll
find patterns, as well as a bulletin board to learn from others who do
macramé,  tips and tricks, and more.

Be sure to also check out Macramé Online
(http://members.tripod.com/~macrameonline/ ) which has not only
patterns, but articles on macramé.


BUYING & SELLING
eBay is a great place to buy macramé supplies and finished items. Just
type in the word ?macramé?and 676 items come up this morning. As the
trend for macramé continues, eBay will also become an increasingly
good place to sell finished macramé items and supplies.

As macramé becomes more popular, you will also see more and more of it
in department stores and places like Target and Wal-Mart.

Many hemp stores also sell macramé products. For example, The Global
Hemp store sells macramé jewelry
(http://www.globalhempstore.com/hemp-jewelry/ ) as well as macramé
plant hanger kits (http://www.globalhempstore.com/crafts/hemp-macrame-plant-hanger-kits/
)


SUPPLIES
Create for Less is a good place to look for macramé supplies at
reduced prices (http://www.createforless.com/search/searchResults.asp?SearchAction=Restart&ClstrVarID=2&ClstrID=25&pType=craft+supplies
)

Also try Kings Kountry (http://www.kingskountry.com/ ) which carries a
wide variety of macramé supplies.

The Macramé Superstore (http://www.macramesuperstore.com/ ) is also an
excellent resource for macramé materials of all types. This site also
has free projects (http://www.macramesuperstore.com/project_month.htm
).



HISTORY
For an introduction to the history of macramé see ?A Short History of
Macramé? (http://www.moonlightsys.com/nemo/mac_hist.html )

Another history article is ?Chinese Knotting in a Nutshell? 
(http://www.knottingartist.com/intro.html )


TRENDS
Macramé recently made the big time, on CBS news. To read their article
about the revised trend, see ?Summer?s Hottest Fashion Trends?
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/earlyshow/living/beauty/main552692.shtml
)

I was unable to find any real information about famous folks who do macramé.


AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
As far as I can tell, there are no affiliate programs directly related
to macramé. However, there is the Amazon.com Associate?s program
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=gw1_mm_2/103-8319960-2919819/?node=3435371
). Amazon.com carries books on macramé, as well as macramé fashion
items and the like.


I hope this fully answers your question.

Kind regards,
Kriswrite


KEYWORDS:
?how to? macramé
Macramé tutorials
Macramé projects
Macramé patterns
Macramé history
Macramé trendy
Macramé fashion
Macramé celebrities
Macramé ?famous people?
Macramé ?for sale?

I thought the researcher had a lovely, genuine, helpful manner, and I
appreciate that there is a limit of information on this topic.  I am
therefore surprised that it has still cost the $20 - I say this as a
friend of mine asked a question on another topic for the same fee (the
basis of me picking this one) and the amount of information they got
back was about literally 3 times as much as this.  So I do not feel I
received value for money, whilst again acknowledging the researcher
has done the best they could with the information available to them. 
I thought then there would only be a charge of $10 or $15 for it....

I'm sorry you weren't fully pleased. Something to consider, however. I
spent about 2 1/2 hours researching this question. Rsearchers earn 75%
of the question price. That means I worked for undedr $7 an
hour...less than minimum wage in my area of the world. In addition,
there are only so many sites that offer worthwhile information on
macrame. I listed ALL the best and decent sites I could find.

Kind regards,
Kriswrite

caromcc-ga,
A couple of points:
The price on G-A is set by the questioner.  The researcher cannot adjust it.
You asked for "a list of the best resources on the web for Macrame",
indicating that the researcher should review the contents   - and not
just "dump" everything that was found  - a more intensive excercise. 
(You could have done the other.)
The comparison with what a "friend of mine asked ... on another topic"
is difficult to evaluate.

But for all that, I hope you will be well served by the sources
Kriswrite-ga provided.  Macrame is delightful, made a little myself,
so I know how interesting and rewarding it can be  -  from finest
Chinese silk work to hempen flowerpot hangers.  :)

Good luck with your endeavor, Myoarin

Thank you for your responses.  I am a first time user to google
answers and I guess when you are exposed to examples of what others
receive for $20 then that pretty much sets a benchmark for you in what
you expect to also recieve in response.

The link of the friend of mine I referred to and the quality of
response they obtained can be examined by clicking the link below

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=541983

I do not want this to turn into an elongated debate.  The level of
information does not address my needs, there was a link that did not
have a page attached, and I do not believe it was value for money
because of my above benchmark; and again I accept that kriswrite
delivered all they could find, and are doing their best.

Carolyne :)

Dear Carolyne,

You say that you're a new user of Google Answers and you're trying to
understand better what you can expect for your posted price. I've
posted a clarification to your Doll Making question referring you to
the FAQ and Pricing Guidelines. I notice that your friend Harold has
also asked similar questions about pricing.

I also noticed that there seem to be several more people asking very
similar questions. I don't know if there are more of you trying out
Google Answers. All of the questions I noticed include the following
requests with the exact (or similar) phrasing.

 -- "I would like a list of the best resources on the web" and
 -- "related affiliate programs"

I will be happy to post some information for you from the perspective
of a researcher.

I don't know if you realize it or not, but Google Answers Researchers
are indipendent contractors and make their own decisions about what
questions they want to answer at what price. We get 75% of the price
so a $20 question pays us $15. What might look simple and attractive
to one reseacher may look difficult and uninteresting to another.

Researchers come from many backgrounds. If a researcher notices a
question that relates to a subject they're familiar with or passionate
about, they might answer even if the price is low. In such situations
researchers will frequently furnish much more information than you
should expect based on the price of a question. In effect, you get a
bonus answer -- the equivalent of a "tip" from a researcher to the
customer.

Other researcher will stay very much within the pricing guidelines.
For example, questions priced at $2-$5 "Can be answered with a single
link or a single piece of information." You will see very few
questions answered with a single link no matter what the price.
Researhers tend to give much more than the minimum.

Questions priced in the $10 - $50 range can be expected to be answered
in 30 minutes according the to pricing guidelines. The topics and
range of difficulty at this price range vary enormously as does the
effort required to answer them. Sometimes an abundance of hits is more
difficult to sort out than having just a few hits. Some researchers
like doing long lists related to some topic others find these
questions too boring to bother with. Through the years we've also had
a number of customers who asked for long lists of certain types of web
sites who turned out to be Internet scammers and when the fraud was
discovered the question was pulled and the researcher's pay was
withdrawn.

Sometimes the preliminary research shows that the question cannot be
answered as it is asked and the researcher will need additional
information from the customer. Some customers are responsive to
clarification requests while others simply keep repeating what they
said in the first place.

Researchers are very reluctant to deliver bad news because many
customers have given bad ratings because they're unhappy with the
negative findings -- even though the answer is clearly accurate and of
high quality. Customers hate to have their preconceptions or
expectations turn out wrong and frequently punish the researcher with
a low rating.

There is also a somewhat intuitive element to the customer/researcher
interaction. As with all relationships, some people are better at
communicating than others. Some people hit it off while others rub
each other the wrong way. Some people like to play their cards close
to the vest while others are open and forthcoming. All of these
factors influence the quality of the answer you will get and the
satisfaction you feel from the exchange.

As a first time user you may not be aware that there is a "Google
Answers Community" that has developed among the researchers and
customers. People who are regulars have figured out what works for
them, who they like, what types of questions to answers, what to avoid
with a ten foot pole. There are the one star smackdowns accompanied by
harsh remarks as well as the out-of-the-blue incredibly generous tips.
We're all people and we all want to have a satisfying exchange. On the
other hand, for some it's just a job and just a question. It's amazing
how quickly both sides of the exhange build a track record and
reputation based on the questions asked and answers given.


I hope the information I've provided will help you get a better
understanding of what you can expect from Google Answers. If you or
your friends would like more information I suggest that you post a
question asking researchers about their approach. You might be
surprised at how much valuable input you get.

Here's a prior question that might shed additional light on researcher motivation.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=261719
Q: Google Answer Motivation 

I hope we'll see you and your friends become happy regulars at Google Answers.

~ czh ~

Yes there are more of us trying it out through the recommendation of
another who is a loyal and satisfied customer of Google Answers - they
wanted 'the world' to benefit the same as they feel they have.

That is why you would see similarity of wording, as typically for
people new to something, we are following a guide to enjoy what we had
been told was the most awesome  service under the sun.

I will post your response on our forum, so that if there are others
who are also in the same boat they can learn more about how Google
operates in this area.

Many cheers

caromcc-ga

Glad to hear there is such a happy GA customer out there heralding
this great research service!  :)  Where might I read more about it?

Best regards,
journalist-ga