Ordsall Ball

Today me and Sophie cycled down to Ordsall Hall in Salford to attend the knitting event 'Ordsall Ball (of wool)'. Inside there was a craft fair and loads of demonstrations of people teaching others how to knit and crochet, overall it was a really nice event and even better that it was just down the road. I forgot to take pictures when inside because I got distracted by all the cool things but me and Sophie learned how to finger knit, which neither of us had tried before.

One of the coolest things about Oldsall Hall is that it is apparantly haunted, when Sophie suggested we go I thought that attending a haunted craft fair would totally make up for me missing Halloween (because I had a cold). I didn't hold any interviews with anyone there because I have collected the majority of my data now, today was just for fun and to do some networking for our knitting group and we had a great time doing it.

Knitted Kittens Craft Club

New flyer advertising Knitted Kittens Craft Club in December, designed by the wonderful Sophie Daniels who co-organises the group with me. Going to ask to interview the group at some point very soon (probably January) as part of a focus group study, by getting first hand experience of running a DIY community of Practice it allows me to have a real insight of the communities I am studying. 

Pink and Purple Afghan

In between writing up my research (which can be very stressful and is getting more so) I often craft in the evenings to unwind, plus I like to think it keep me connected to the makers and communities in which I am exploring. As I've amassed quite a collection of yarn I decided to try and bust my stash by using some of the cheap acrylic yarn on a crochet afghan. Also my cat loves blankets so much, I thought if I made it from cheap yarn I wouldn't mind so much when she tries to sleep on it. 

The center worked up really quickly but slowed down the bigger it got. It's huge, so big that I couldn't fit it in the photo.

What is knitting really?

Innovation through Cultural Heritage Seminar

Today I visited Salford University to attend the 'Innovation through Enterprise Cultural Heritage' Seminar, this event was recommended to me by Dr. Gill Green who made the suggestion that my research could be linked to the renewal of cultural heritage. This seminar had some wonderful speakers who helped me to recognize some of the missing links within my literature review of how traditional knowledge meets new technologies, so attending this seminar was really beneficial to me.

This artwork was brought in from one of the speakers as an example of the posters that their organization used to print, it was brought in to talk about how they have evolved their business but managed to preserve some of their traditional values.

Interview with Ken Eardley

I was drawn to the beautiful and brightly coloured ceramics by Ken Eardley straight away, his classic designs exude quality and Ken has enjoyed success through traditional ways of promotion through good contacts and free press. We discussed some of the reasons why a maker may not necessarily need to embrace new technologies and this interview gave me a welcome new perspective.

Interview with Kylie Coles

I decided to take a break and collect my thoughts on a quiet stairwell inside the fair and as I was sitting there going through all my documents and business cards I had collected of interviewees I was joined by Kylie Coles, a stall holder who was looking for a quiet place to eat her lunch, we got chatting and Kylie very kindly agreed to be interviewed.

Kylie Coles is primarily a wood turner who creates contemporary decorative pieces from a number of materials including ceramics, wood and recycled paper and was arguably one of my favourite interviewees of the day. Kylie gave me a brilliant interview and gave me a real insight into some of her skills and experiences of trying to develop herself as a brand online. Her work is very interesting and shows real promise as she was selected by the GNCCF for their graduate support scheme last year and was returning to the fair for a second year.

I strongly recommend that you visit Kylie's website in order to find out more about her work and where you can purchase her pieces from: www.kyliecoles.co.uk

Interview with Wolfram Lohr

Wolfram Lohr is a talented designer, shoe maker and leather worker. As we waited to interview him we were treated into hearing his sales pitch to some eager customers, we got to hear him explain the skillfull process of how he designs and makes the shoes and bags that he sells. It was really interesting to get his perspective on making and selling a product which clearly takes a long time to create, and gave us an insight into some of the problems that some makers may face within the creative industries.

If you would like to purchase some quality leather accessories or would like to find out more about his work then be sure to visit his website at: www.wolframlohr.com