The crafting and DIY worlds are oddly divided, as are, too often, music making and hand-making other stuff. And with these divides comes a rather pronounced gender divide, as well. At the Maker Faire, the gender balance — while not fully split — was more than a little noticeable in the Craft and Make areas of the floor. I think there’s hope, partly because I personally enjoy making stuff and partly because I’m evangelical about music and DIY electronics and software and believe we can build a diverse army of people involved in them. And whatever the medium (felt, steelworking, electronics, a rack of synths, Java code), I think we share a love of creating stuff and not just passively consuming.

Our friends at Etsy feel the same way. They’ve invited a Canadian group that combines DJing and communal crafting sessions, called Spins & Needles. They’ll be in New York this Friday.