Bit of Knitting

I've made this cardigan and bear for some friends of mine who are expecting a baby. They live out in Germany so I will post them out later today. The cardigan is a little bit wonky but I hope they like it anyway. It was my first real garment I have ever knitted so thought I would start small and simple.

 
Although I have now handed in my thesis I have decided to keep this blog running as I would like to continue documenting the things I am making and the various projects I am involved in. I am currently looking for a research position but as times are tough and highly competitive in academia right now I am not overly confident I will find something any time soon. I've pretty much accepted that I will have to take an unrelated job to make ends meet but I still intend to continue research and projects on the side so hopefully when the perfect position pops up I'll be ready. I am under no illusions that this won't be difficult but my research is based on who I am so I will continue to make, explore and write.

Thesis finally completed

My thesis is finally completed and handed in. It was actually finished last week but it has taken a while to sink in as it's the end of three years work and hopefully the start of something new. It's still unbelievable but my viva is booked for October 2nd so fingers crossed I can get through it.

 

Knitted Kittens September Poster

Here is the new Knitted Kittens Poster for September 4th, upstairs at the Ape and Apple Pub, Manchester (poster was created by Sophie Daniel). You can find out more about our group by visiting our Facebook page

I'm actually at the end of study and hope to hand in my thesis this week! Hopefully after it's done I will have a bit more free time and should be able to do more interesting things and write more blog posts. More details to follow...

Knitted Kittens August Poster

Here's the poster for the next Knitted Kittens Craft Group on Tuesday 7th August. Artwork by the amazing Sophie Daniel.

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Arduino Workshop

I've recently been thinking about and pursuing post doc research opportunities to continue my work with technologies and DIY craft.

We've been looking at into running projects that introduce smart materials and wearable technologies into creative communities. One of the things we have focused on is the Arduino and the LilyPad Arduino, and we are hoping to run some projects and workshops applying these technologies.
We ran an 'Introduction to Arduino' workshop on Monday at the university for students and staff to pilot our ideas and see how they may be implemented.

We invited Dave Mee from MadLad in Manchester to host the workshop and share his expertise. Dave was knowledgeable, patient and entertaining and it would be great to work with him again in future.

We were put into pairs to learn the basics, build and experiment with an Arduino.

It was amazing to experiment with even just some of the basic functions that the Arduino has to offer. We powered LED's, built a theramin, ran motors and controlled the functions via programming.  Here's a few pics of us controlling the colours of a bulb.

 
I found the workshop to be really fun and interesting and I learned a lot. I'm hoping to invest in some LilyPad Arduino's to use in some of my knitting and crochet projects when I have a bit more money. We have applied for a few funding opportunities so hopefully we will be able to develop this project further and integrate these technologies within creative communities. 

Crochet Slippers

As I only have four weeks of funding left I'm busy writing up my last two chapters. Everything is coming together but it is hard work, half of me wants it to be over and the other half is sad because it will be. It makes dull blog posts though so that's why I haven't posted in a while.

To combat the stress I've been doing a lot of crochet in the evening and have been practicing making slippers. These are so much fun to make especially thinking about all the different colours and buttons I can use. I've also been writing down some themes I could use as inspiration.
I've had some interest from friends so I'm thinking of opening an Etsy store in few months as a way to sell them to people, nothing serious or pricey just as a way to make back money for the resources plus it might be fun.

 

I've been exploring some perspectives surrounding running a handmade enterprise and the worth of handmade items within my thesis and I think it is really interesting. I've just discovered this amazing blog post by Twinkie Chan discussing some of her opinions surrounding this topic.

Jubilee Knitted Kittens

I am sometimes absolutely astounded at some of the amazing things made at and for Knitted Kittens. I had to show some photos of these brilliant cakes that member Josephine made and brought down for us all to share.

These jubilee cupcakes in both red and blue are topped with white chocolate corgis.

 

And the highlight of the evening were the glittering cakepops that looked like royal scepters and tasted incredible.