Research = fun things?

Gosh, I guess I've spent so much time viewing my little crafts as exactly that, that it's hard to start making the switch to viewing them as what they are now that I'm officially studying crafts education: research. All those better parts of hours spent online going knitting blog to knitting blog tracing the birth of a trend in fingerless glove patterns; combing through the index of soft glass rods and comparing each color's Coefficient of Expansion to make sure my beads aren't going to split themselves in two; making another trip to the craft store to compare pottery tool prices with those at Wal-Mart... it's all been research. It's not slacking. It's... important.

Gosh.