Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Knitted Kittens Birthday Party
I can't believe that we have been running The Knitted Kittens Craft Club for a whole year now and to celebrate we will be hosting an afternoon tea party at the start of May. I'm not sure if I have mentioned before but I intend to use this craft club as an example within my research of creative communities of practice and it will contribute to the gathering of my data, through participatory research methods. Here is the poster artwork done by the lovely Sophie Daniels
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
UKAIS update
I came back from the UKAIS conference yesterday and despite being very tired, I had a really great time. I presented my research to three academics who gave me some great feedback, any of the changes that they suggested I completely agreed with and was happy that they suggested them. They also suggested some sources and techniques which I will definitely be looking into. I also won a prize for 'The Most Innovative Paper' which will look great on my CV.
We stayed and presented at St. Catherine's College Oxford, which was beautiful. I also made some fantastic contacts and met some really nice people, above all I had a lovely time. I have lots of things to chase up but I am going to leave it until next week, watch this space for further updates.
We stayed and presented at St. Catherine's College Oxford, which was beautiful. I also made some fantastic contacts and met some really nice people, above all I had a lovely time. I have lots of things to chase up but I am going to leave it until next week, watch this space for further updates.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Conferences
This Monday I am presenting at the UKAIS conference in Oxford, luckily for me it is only the PhD Consortium and not the scary conference. Despite being fairly confident in every day living I always turn into jelly whenever I have to present my research, I am getting better since I am becoming more confident with my subject but I still get really nervous and get the shakes.
Despite this I have thrown myself in the deep end and applied to more conferences, I figured the more I did the better I will get, plus I really need to start publishing some of my work soon.
I have been accepted to present for two more actual conferences! The first one I was accepted to was this one:
http://www.hope.ac.uk/popular-culture/theorising-the-popular.html
It's at Liverpool Hope University, I spent absolutely ages on my abstract, I was tweeking and re-writing for about a week and a bit, like I've said before I seem to have to work really hard to get things right. Although I think my tweeking and hard work paid off as they seemed genuinely excited about my paper.
The second conference I have been accepted for is this one:
http://www.pg.salford.ac.uk/sparc11
To be honest I had completely forgotten that I had applied to this one and just assumed that I wasn't accepted, so it was a nice surprise and terrible shock that I have been accepted. It's at Salford University which is literally just down the road from my flat. I'm excited that I'll get the opportunity to have a look around the university and meet some new people. But I am also worried that I won't be ready in time, I'll just have to work even harder.
Despite this I have thrown myself in the deep end and applied to more conferences, I figured the more I did the better I will get, plus I really need to start publishing some of my work soon.
I have been accepted to present for two more actual conferences! The first one I was accepted to was this one:
http://www.hope.ac.uk/popular-culture/theorising-the-popular.html
It's at Liverpool Hope University, I spent absolutely ages on my abstract, I was tweeking and re-writing for about a week and a bit, like I've said before I seem to have to work really hard to get things right. Although I think my tweeking and hard work paid off as they seemed genuinely excited about my paper.
The second conference I have been accepted for is this one:
http://www.pg.salford.ac.uk/sparc11
To be honest I had completely forgotten that I had applied to this one and just assumed that I wasn't accepted, so it was a nice surprise and terrible shock that I have been accepted. It's at Salford University which is literally just down the road from my flat. I'm excited that I'll get the opportunity to have a look around the university and meet some new people. But I am also worried that I won't be ready in time, I'll just have to work even harder.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Little Updates
I have been away for a week on holiday so I haven't had a chance to update this blog in a while but so much has happened and there is lots of great news to report. I'll make sure I write updates for all of my exciting news over the next few days but for now I'm going to keep this update fairly light and talk about some of the books which have influenced me in regards to my crafting and subsequently my research.
The first is DIY: the Rise of Lo Fi Culture by Amy Spenser, I read this before I started my research and is an inspiring account various sub cultures:
When I first started to knit nearly two years ago, I bought this book called Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller and then Stitch and Bitch - The Happy Hooker for crochet. There are a few things which are amazing about these books, firstly is the humour, smart mouth Stoller is so entertaining to read, she's totally relate able and makes knitting and crochet super cool.
The second inspiring thing about these books are the feminist spin she gives to the craft. In my slightly younger days I was led to believe that these crafts were representations of female repression, that they were part of the problem and not the solution. However, Stoller eloquently points out that the reason why knitting and craft was looked down upon is because it was traditionally done by women and that it was only male activities that are respected and seen as worth while. Stoller then explains how important it is to embrace feminine traditions so that they can get their recognition that they deserve. There is also the argument that creating objects for friends family and loved ones should be considered to be a symbol of strength and not of feminine weakness. this book is extremely influential and means a lot to me:
Another book which has influenced my way of thinking is Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together, this inspired me to start my knitting group plus introduced me to the idea of collaboration and working together:
The first is DIY: the Rise of Lo Fi Culture by Amy Spenser, I read this before I started my research and is an inspiring account various sub cultures:
When I first started to knit nearly two years ago, I bought this book called Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller and then Stitch and Bitch - The Happy Hooker for crochet. There are a few things which are amazing about these books, firstly is the humour, smart mouth Stoller is so entertaining to read, she's totally relate able and makes knitting and crochet super cool.
The second inspiring thing about these books are the feminist spin she gives to the craft. In my slightly younger days I was led to believe that these crafts were representations of female repression, that they were part of the problem and not the solution. However, Stoller eloquently points out that the reason why knitting and craft was looked down upon is because it was traditionally done by women and that it was only male activities that are respected and seen as worth while. Stoller then explains how important it is to embrace feminine traditions so that they can get their recognition that they deserve. There is also the argument that creating objects for friends family and loved ones should be considered to be a symbol of strength and not of feminine weakness. this book is extremely influential and means a lot to me:
Another book which has influenced my way of thinking is Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together, this inspired me to start my knitting group plus introduced me to the idea of collaboration and working together:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)