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

it's done!

Well it took me a month, but here it is. Southside Brown Owls, everybody!

Southside Brown Owls from Susie Anderson on Vimeo.

overload

A few weeks ago I went to Southside Brown Owls. I was really interested to see how everybody acted when they were meeting in real life. Southside was a good group to pick because they have only met a few times - I went to their third meeting. It is run by Shannon Rowe and Katrina Higham. Katrina owns the Windsor Deli, which is where the meeting was. She writes a food/craft blog. Shannon doesn't write a blog but she seems like an avid tweeter which is just as important these days. At the meeting chatting about online craft things I got the sense that twitter was the way of the future just because it's less involved. Speaking from experience, trying to write this blog, I concur: you can easily get 'snowballed' with all the stuff out there. Too much information for one gal.

One of the things that I've wanted to do for a while was to write about the craft-ish blogs and sites that I read/have read.

Whipup.net

My favourite thing about this website is the 'roundups' of patterns they do. It's an excellent aggregate of cool/fun patterns, recipes, craft books or websites. Their crochet one is particularly good.

Sarah McNeil
Illustrations, sweet things. Pretty.

Camila Galaz
Camila draws illustrations of pigeons in greylead, which I find really endearing.

Mrs Robertson Presents
There are a lot of blogs out there, it is true. But when one stumbles upon a blog that is actually well written - that my friends, is a keeper. Recipes and anecdotes from nearly-country Victoria from the inimitable Mrs Robertson.

Purl Bee
Purl Bee is useful for finding patterns, much moreso than whip up is. I believe they have a bunch of tutorials.

Kootoyoo
I used to read this blog religiously because it had beautiful pictures and interesting projects that recycled old things into awesome new stuff. Not so much any more, but at a glance it seems to be continuing on in the same fashion. I also dug this blog because it wasn't overwritten with cheeriness.

Ravelry
This website is essentially an index of patterns, free or for a small price, online. You can add your own (I assume, I haven't tried) and favourite the ones you find, use and like. Quite a good resource.

Northern Craft Bonanza
NCB is another craft group that meets in Melbourne. I have tentative plans to go to a meet when I get myself organised - it's closer to my place than any of the Brown Owls groups.

Brown Owls
Orchestrated by Pip Lincolne, this is a really excellent resource for anybody with the slightest interest in craft anywhere in Australia. The idea is that anybody, anywhere can begin a group under the name 'Brown Owls' and use the website to organise it. On the blog there is a calendar of the forthcoming meets. There are 3 or 4 different groups around Melbourne, a bunch in Sydney and elsewhere in Aus, and some all over the world! Sew exciting.

Sew much 2 read.

how to cast on a row of knitting

As promised, I have made a video about how to cast on a row of knitting. Before you watch, here are the basic steps.

First of all you need to make what is known as a slip knot. I do this by making a small loop with the wool, with the short end on top/across bit attached to the ball of wool. Bring the short end underneath the loop and pull it through the top. It should look a little bit like an A, and you should be able to pull the short end to make the loop smaller.

Put your slip knot on your left hand needle and pull it tight, but not so tight that you can't get your other needle through.

Put your the needle in your left hand underneath the right hand needle and through the back of the loop. Keep the loop close to the ends of the needles, but don't let it fall off. Wind the long end of the wool anticlockwise over the RH needle, from underneath the needle to the top.

Hold the left hand needle still for this next part, and keep in mind that the two needles should never be too far from each other. Pretend they are magnetic or something.

Bring the RH needle from the back to the front. You should be able to see the wool that you wound round it before as a loop around the needle. You can now pull the two needles apart slightly. You'll be able to see the loop properly now. That is your new stitch!

Hold the new stitch still on the right hand needle and use your left needle for the next bit. The left needle needs to go through the middle of the loop from the side that is closest to your hand. This move transfers the stitch back onto the left hand needle and completes the casting on process.

Carry on in the same way. Put your RH needle through the loop - or let's get serious and call it a stitch - underneath your LH needle. Wool round the needle anticlockwise from underneath again. Hold the LH needle still while you move the RH needle from back to front. Separate the needles and see your new stitch. Put the LH needle through the new stitch from the side nearest your hand (couldn't think of a better term for this).

You'll see in the video that I keep my needle in the stitch after I put it back onto the left hand needle. This is just a habit of mine that speeds up the casting on process.



There are a few parts where I accidentally move the knitting out of frame, so I might do a follow up video of these parts close up. I hope it is somewhat helpful.

hehe, Withnail and I is screening at Old Bar on Monday night.