If you enjoy making things, and participate in any online crafting communities, then undoubtedly you've come across some incarnation of a craftalong. Knitalongs, crochetalongs, sewalongs, beadalongs, and many more that I couldn't possibly find the time to list. They all involve a group of people making the same, or at least similar, projects at the same time.

Craftalongs are increasingly popular, especially with the online crowd. But what makes them so appealing anyway? Why do so many people band together to do the same thing at the same time?

In a cynical sense, one could argue that all a craftalong does is allow a person to see their work in someone else's hands. A shawl in a different kind of yarn, a beaded necklace in a different colour scheme. But at the end it's still the same basic project, even if it does have a few small differences.

But there's much more to a craftalong than just that cynical point of view. It isn't just about seeing what a thing could look like when done slightly differently, though a lot of people don't even see that in such a negative light. There can be great inspiration in seeing the same project done in different ways, with subtle or distinct differences. Seeing someone else's modifications could inspire a crafter to experiment with new materials, for example. Or there's just the simple aesthetic joy of seeing pretty pictures of well-made items and knowing how they were made.

The real value of such things lies in the social aspect of the project, however. It relates back to quilting and sewing circles of days gone by, when women would come together with their work to spend a pleasant afternoon, getting a chance to visit with friends and neighbours while still being productive. In centuries past, it was unseemly for women to be idle, even well-to-do women who didn't make their own clothes or blankets out of necessity. Especially amongst those who did, however, social gatherings like that were wonderful occasions, and perhaps some of the only times when groups of friends could find the opportunity to meet and to talk. No sense in wasting in idleness, after all, when when you've got a large group together, finishing a whole quilt went by much faster than it would have if a woman had attempted the feat alone.

But most of us nowadays don't have to spend our social hours doing something so productive, and besides, the quilt doesn't get finished quicker when the friends you're visiting with are all on message boards and are scattered across the globe. But there is still that sense of community, and the same task has brought people together for the same purpose. As social creatures in an increasingly unsocial world, this can be beneficial, and can really make us feel as though we're part of a community.

Having a community of people all working on the same project can also be beneficial when we ourselves get stuck on something. If something is giving you trouble in your project, likely you're not the only person to have ever run into the same problem, and the craftalong community you're part of is right there to give you the benefit of their own learning. Tips and tricks to overcoming problems are easily and quickly conveyed, and the problem gets solved that much quicker. Flipping that around a little, you have the opportunity to help others with solutions to their problems that you have picked up along the way.

For the competitive types, craftalongs also give us a way to gauge our progress against the progress of others, and if we're behind, can help give us the motivation to strive onward and surpass ourselves, getting more done than if we'd decided to undertake the project alone.

But competition isn't the biggest reason that people tend to get drawn into craftalongs. From what I've seen and according to the people I've spoken to, it seems to primarily be the sense of community and helpfullness that's created when like-minded people get together for a common project, even if that project is one made by each individual rather than each person working on a small bit of the whole. It allows us to keep our own personal tastes and yet gives us the chance to bring our experiences to the table, to talk with other people who have at least one thing in common with us, and ikely have a whole lot more if we dig deep enough. Western civilization stresses standing alone as individuals and not allowing other people too close, and yet counter to that movement, the majority of humans still feel an urge to bond, to draw close and to develop friendships and relationships and to reconnect with a sense of community that has been, in a sense, taken from us because of communication tools like the Internet.

(Not that I'm bashing the Internet. It's a wonderful tool and has allowed me to meet some great people and given me access to tons of information. But it also allows me to have these things at the expense of face-to-face relationships, without actual human contact, and too much of that isn't a good thing. And I'm not the only one that falls prey to that.)

(And I may have just found my next Hub article in that thought. Let's hear it for internal ramblings!)

So what may seem a little weird and even counterproductive at first may, in fact, be filling a need that we may not have even recognised we had; the need to connect. The need to share and to relate with others. Think about that next time you pick up your needle and thread.

Or when you write and share your writings here on HubPages. What is this if not a community, a craftalong for writers where we share our experience and our work with others? Take a look at different articles written on the same topic, join in a discussion on the forums, and you'll see this principle at work. We band together for something of a common goal, even if we work as individuals to see the goal through to the end.