Knitted Kittens Craft Club

Here is the flyer for the next Knitted Kittens on 6th March (design by the talented Sophie Daniels). This time we will be at the Black Lion pub, Salford. The Black Lion has recently been taken over by an artist co-op known as Future Artists. This is something that I hold a deep amount of respect for so am really excited that we are being made welcome there. We still love the Ape and Apple (they are fantastic too) but unfortunately couldn't conveniently accommodate us this month so we are trying out somewhere new. Be sure to pay us a visit.

Vitae Workshop - The Effective Researcher the End is in Sight

Last week I attended another Vitae workshop called The Effective Researcher the End is in Sight. It was a workshop specifically designed for PhD researchers nearing the end of their study. They had a session on how to survive and what to expect from your viva. Then later gave us useful information on applying for jobs and what employers look for. They had really interesting guest speakers and the day flew by. It was really useful and I'm so glad I went.
I feel like I'm not at all ready for the end of my study but I do really feel like I'm getting there. One of the most important things I took away from the day was to remember not to get overwhelmed and to approach everything one piece at a time.

Sugar Paper Zines!

How lucky am I?! Seleena from Sugar Paper very kindly sent me copies of the missing issues of Sugar Paper Zine. I've been reading them ever since. They are all brilliant, really fun and inspiring. If you are into craft or DIY culture then I can't recommend these zines enough.

Check out the cool Hello Kitty tape that was on the package.

If you want to get your own copies of Sugar Paper Zine (and you should) then they can be found at: http://sugarpaper.bigcartel.com/

An Intro to Coding at Madlab

Today I went to An Intro to Coding presented at Madlab by Geek Girls Manchester. They introduced me to this fantastic website called www.codecademy.com with all these (fairly) simple exercises to teach basic coding. I'm still getting my head around a lot of it but will definitely continue practice working on it.

Here's my awesome name tag that they gave us to wear "Hello my name is...":

It was a great afternoon. Thanks to the team at Geek Girls Manchester for setting up the afternoon and for being so helpful.

My first paper

I'm extremely happy to report that my first paper 'Crafting a Future Online: A Study of how Independent Craftspeople Adopt Social Media and Web Technologies' has been accepted to be published in a Special Issue of Journal of Systems and information Technology. I wrote the paper with my supervisors Rachel Mclean and Gill Green which we based on an aspect of my research. This is fantastic news, it will really help validate my research when I'm being examined and shows that my hard work is starting to pay off.

Interview with Sugar Paper Zine

I'm nearly finished collecting my data. I could easily go on meeting and talking to people forever but I'm coming to the end of my study so I'm busy writing up.

Around a year or so ago I was looking for some crafty zines for me to read and I came across Sugar Paper Zine. I ordered a few issues and coincidentally it turns out that the girls behind them are based in Manchester. I contacted them through twitter and they very kindly agreed to talk to me about what they do.

Seleena and Kandy write Sugar Paper Zine, a bi-annual zine about craft projects and the Do-it-yourself ethic. Firstly, one of the things I love about sugar paper is it is the epitome of how craft meets DIY culture, it's a great example of how the two connect. The second thing I love about this zine is it's pretty fun and cool, much like the writers Seleena and Kandy. They were both very friendly and were really enthusiastic about what they do. I had a really great time chatting with them and it felt like talking to new friends.

Seleena writes a few other zines and Kandy designs and makes scarves/accessories with her own business Knit and Destroy. They are both really talented at what they do and are driven by love of making so be sure to visit their sites and support their work. Also have a look at their collective blog: http://sugarpapergang.blogspot.com/