24/03/2012

had the nicest day getting to know south east london yesterday.

first i went to brockley market where i got a sourdough donut filled with lemon curd from the london particulars to go with my free coffee from [nice coffee bros] in the far corner of the market. i didn't realise my friend ellie worked there so i got to catch up and have a chat to her over the goods at the honest carrot's stall. after hanging around and sort of helping her pack up, i continued my journey on into deptford, where i used my south london art map to help me navigate the streets. 

unfortunately the map didn't warn me of the bountiful amount of vintage shops around. i ended up buying a lil book about the prehistoric era which i am going to send to stacey.

then i was in deptford suddenly, walking up the high street market which was as most markets in london seem to be: a mixture of horrible clothes, toiletries, carpets, batteries, linens, plastic smelling shoes and so on. but when i got closer to the train station i found this flea market where i bought a fun velvet cardi with gold buttons and beads. i also stumbled upon this craft park thingy. 

 hip ass kids selling cool clothing probably at prices I can't afford. Just walked around here with a big smile on my face feeling so happy about life. especially when I went into this place called Utrophia which seems like it has a zine store attached to it yay. 

felt slightly creeped out when I went into an asian grocer's on deptford high street because there was a bucket of chicken's feet. just caught me off guard. 

sat in the sun outside the Laban which I had to google on the spot because it felt like the reason why Charlie Brooker made the Black Mirror series.. there were these >5 y/o girls playing with their dads running around topless.. felt a bit strange until I realised it was a gym/dance/movement school.

went into some other galleries (which I always say in my head as gay-erie via simon pericich) aided by my SLAM & this lil helpful ladybird. 

then I walked back to New Cross Gate to get the train home and I bought some dried fruit and a 'courgette' from a grocer's and the guy was like 'what are you going to do with that combination of things' and I said I was going to try making granola with the fruit and scones with the courgette and I had to say scones different to I usually do because my accent made it sound dumb. 

um so everything here is beautiful and wonderful, I love it. when I got the train back to Crystal Palace I saw the dinosaurs in the park there for the first time and they looked great, I can't wait to go meet them

granny squares

I have been doing crochet for a lady called Wendy who sells blankets. I am nearly finished now, only 12 more squares to go!! I've figured out I can make 1 square per trip into work and then usually 2 at work if I'm onto it. Getting pretty sick of these colours though. damn. This is why I have started listening to podcasts.. hasn't become too tedious that way

I guess just for reference, the pattern I'm using is

chain 4, slip stitch into a ring

chain 3, treble crochet 2 into ring, 2 chain, (3 treble crochet, 2 chain) x 3, slip stitch to join row

change colour, start this row in a corner. chain 3, 2 tc, 2 chain, 3 tc. then 3 tc, 2 chain,  3 tc in each corner around. 

change colour, start in corner. chain 3, 2 tc, 2 chain, 3 tc. 3 tc in the space. then 3 tc, 2 chain, 3 tc in each corner around

4th row is the same but with an extra space

I was going to make some crochet tutorials last year and I might come good on that promise, but for now, easily the best place to learn (and the place I learnt) are the granny square tutorials on meet me at mike's. 

2012 with wool & i rejuvenation

more and more I have been thinking about giving up on any career goals I may sort of have and am thinking about throwing in the proverbial towel and becoming like a freelance domestic. I just want someone to pay me to bake yummy things or crochet hats and then tweet about it. jk I am still ambitious. but think I will definitely blog more about things I am making, doing and reading creative-wise. also seems cute to have a bit more of a 'life blog'

starting with these things:

svpply
not overly sure what the deal with svpply is to be honest, I have a feeling it collates stuff from shopping sites all over the internet. and it sort of 'remembers' what you've been looking at and selects items based on your previous browsing... but it's beautiful looking

frankly
this is a craft magazine for the webite 'folksy' which is a British craft website. I'm not sure if it's print.. seems closely related to frankie mag if so hmm. their articles all tell you how long it will probably take to read, which, in light of some of the things I've been bookmarking on the AV club, is quite kind of them

when I was volunteering at Future Cinema's production of Bugsy Malone last weekend I met this lady who works for a bakery in Shoreditch called Crimson Heart. cool gal, great cakes, terrible website! she was telling me about these themed cake nights they have as part of this British/worldwide organisation called Clandestine Cake Club. a cake club is easily the best thing I've ever heard of.. I really want to start one in Crystal Palace! also I want to investigate whether there are crafternoons around CP, seems like a thing that would happen there. or maybe I'll just start one myself, a la Brown Owls.

and here are things I would make if I had the funds to buy more than 15p packets of Sainsbury's noodles
hot chocolate on a stick
lime macarons (will have to write up the recipe I make them with for ya'll)
I really really want to make Japanese curry because back home I ate it like 3 times a week.. but in London there aren't as many hole in the wall asian places to get your fix like that, you have to go to horrible chains that charge you an arm and a leg. I've been researching it a bit and it seems like you need these specific Japanese curry cubes or you have to chuck a whole bunch of spices and veg in to make it like they do.

anyway next time I am going to do a blog post about Crystal Palace and what it is like here and other things of that nature