Xmas Gift Tags

I decided to make some tags for people's Christmas gifts this year. I picked up these awesome rubber stamps and brown paper tags from the Paperchase sale last year and used some metallic blue ink to place a snowflake on each one.

The ink pad was actually supposed to be silver as that's what it looked like before I used it. It did actually say it was metallic blue on the back but I guess that's what you get for judging something on face value. Anyway I loved this project as stamping is so much fun, it's simple and so effective. I'm hoping to pick up some more bits and pieces in the sale again this year too.

Alternative Technologies Workshop

On Saturday I traveled to the wonderful Hebden Bridge to take part in a "Sparkle up your bike" workshop at the Alternative Technology Centre. The aim of the workshop was to demonstrate how to use alternative technologies and smart materials to decorate your bike for The Valley of Lights festival being held in Hebden Bridge tonight.

Another reason why I went along was to make contacts with technicians working with smart materials to see if they wanted to join us in our project we have started running in Bolton. The facilitators of the workshop Garry and Liz were really friendly and enthusiastic about what they do and were interested in our upcoming projects so I'm really hoping we get to work with them in future.

Here is a photo of a dress created by artist and workshop facilitator Liz Hutchinson. This piece has been created from reclaimed newspaper and the flowers are lit with LED's.

Glowing bunting

As we are looking to host a series of workshops within Bolton (in partnership with Bolton at Home) that mixes art/crafts with new technologies I have been experimenting with some of the materials myself. I've been using electroluminescent (EL) wire by stitching them into knitted projects and this is my first attempt:

I used an easy bunting pattern and decided to stitch the EL wire along the outside of the bunting to enable it to glow, it was a little bit tricky but after some practice I think I could make some really exciting and fun projects. I'm really excited about working with all kinds of smart materials and wearable technologies and hope to get the opportunity to use more and fund my new addiction when I find a permanent job. Hopefully this new project will be able to open up whole new opportunities.

Knitted Kittens Halloween

Here's the new Halloween themed poster designed by Sophie Daniel for the next Knitted Kittens on the 6th November. OK it's a few days after Halloween but Sophie has really managed to catch the spookiness of the season. Hope you can make it x

Charity Squares

We have decided to do a bit of charity work at Knitted Kittens to bring the group together and reach further into the community. We have decided to make knitted/crochet squares to stitch together to make blankets for The Society of Abandoned Animals based in Stretford, Manchester. More details can be found here: http://www.saarescue.co.uk/

Knitted Kittens artist Sophie Daniel has made us a beautiful poster with more information if you would like to get involved.

I've started making some squares already, please contact me if you would like some more information.

I have already contacted them and they would be really grateful for as many blankets as possible, even one would make a difference so please get knitting.

Knight Bus Scarf and Mittens

Since completing my PhD I've managed to do quite a lot of knitting. One of the projects I've been working on is my winter scarf and mittens. I wanted to make a simple ribbed scarf with some super chunky wool so I raided my stash and found some violet blue and black Big Softie. It's so soft and satisfying to knit with.

I also found this beautiful violet colour wool in my local yarn shop, it was a little bit pricey but I reasoned that I would be wearing these mittens every day in the winter so could justify paying a little bit extra. This picture doesn't do the colour justice it really is beautiful purple blue, it reminds me of the Knight bus from Harry Potter.

Here's a pic of me on the actual Knight bus from when we went to the amazing Harry Potter studio tour earlier this year. This was so cool but don't want to say too much as I don't want to ruin any surprises but I would recommend it to anyone who loves Harry Potter or any film fans. 

Viva Voce

I am pleased to announce that I have passed my my PhD viva with minor corrections. Over the course of my PhD I have faced some difficulty from others, especially within my own university claiming that my work was not good enough or placing unnecessary obstacles in my way. However, because of this it has given me the strength to believe in my work and myself, also giving me plenty of practice defending my research.

 Picture from the trial in Alice in Wonderland

Luckily for me I had a very pleasant and (almost) enjoyable viva. I had two fantastic examiners who I hold a great amount of respect for and they gave my work the attention it deserves. Not only that but they completely understood what my research is about as some of the problems I have faced has been due to a lack of understanding of the subject area, so it was great that my supervisors knew the right people to contact to examine my work.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the support and guidance of my supervisory team. I would like to say a big thank you to Dr. Gill Green and Dr. Rachel McLean, they have changed my life, thank you xo.