Jubilee Cupcake

I'm not what you would call patriotic but I've been dying to make some thing for a while. I'm making a cupcake headband for a jubilee tea party I've been invited to at the weekend. I've crocheted a cupcake from a pattern in one of my favourite craft books by Twinkie Chan. I've chosen blue, red and white. I'm going to use my glue gun to attach it to the side of an Alice band. Just a bit of fun but it was good to make something again.

Link to journal paper

My first journal paper has finally been published! It can be accessed through Emerald:
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17035892&ini=aob

Hopefully this will be the first of many and the start of a successful career in research (fingers crossed).   

Knitted Kittens Craft Group

I'm still so busy so sorry blog posts have been slow to non-existent but I'm happy to report that I've nearly finished my first draft of my 4th chapter (Data Collection and Analysis) and I'm pretty happy with it so far. As this chapter has been formed from the opinions and perspectives of my participants it's been the most interesting to write by far and has come together really quickly.
Anyway here is another fabulous poster designed by Sophie Daniels for the next Knitted Kittens craft club.

 
I've been busy spending a lot of time on applications applying for jobs and sorting out my first three chapters so they can be assessed within the department and it pulled me out of working on my analysis, as a result I had become somewhat distant with my data. However, when I read the transcript for the Knitted Kittens focus group it really inspired me again and reminded me about all the great things in my study. It rekindled my passion and interest in the domain and since then my work has been coming together really easily. Knitted Kittens is the best thing that I have ever done for this study (maybe one of the best things I've done ever!) and I'm glad it's going to be with me when I have finished my research.

Zombies!

Here's a pic of a zombie I crocheted a long time ago. The building in the background is Salford Cathedral and was the view behind my old flat. I probably won't be making anything new for a while so thought I would put up a picture of something I made a while ago.

It kind of reminded me of an insight that a friend who has just handed in his thesis shared with me: "I am now convinced that theses are a living organism who refuse to take form until they have watched you suffer. They feed on blood and stress related medical conditions - the more you start to deteriorate the better the thesis gets". 
 

Knitted Kittens Craft Club 2nd Birthday Party

I'm really busy with my thesis at the moment. I'm working day and night trying to get the final drafts of first three chapters finished so I won't spend too much time on here moaning how difficult I'm finding it all. Instead here is another amazing poster (by Sophie Daniels) advertising the Knitted Kittens second birthday party! I have no idea where that last year has gone but am really looking forward to celebrating with my friends. New members are always welcome so come and join us!

Stitch n' Bitch

"And that's when it dawned on me: All those people who looked down on knitting - and house work, and housewives - were not being feminist at all. In fact, they were being anti-feminist, since they seemed to think that only those things that men did, or had done were worthwhile" (Stoller, 2003, p.7) 

Caine's Arcade

Here is another amazing example of how technology can assist DIY activity. A boy named Caine built his own video game arcade from cardboard boxes in the back of his dad's auto part shop. The games he made from the boxes at his dad's shop were creative, inventive and a fantastic example of bricolage. Caine's Arcade was discovered by an amateur film maker (Nirvan Mullick) who wanted to tell the story of his DIY arcade. Mullick promoted the arcade and film through events on Facebook which has brought the acclaim to which Caine's Arcade truly deserves.