The scary season is upon us

I know this blog had gone a bit quiet. I haven stopped crafting though and am at the moment getting ready for Halloween, as you can see :-) In fact this blog went quiet mainly because somebody had reported it (and me) to the Social Security for Benefit Fraud! As if I ever sold something from here ... nor anywhere on the internet. Sad sad low life fuckheads about, I tell you!!

Anyway, doing Halloween niceties at the moment, which will be swiftly followed by Xmas/Yule niceties as presents. So if you are in my inner circle of friends, then expect something weird and wonderful in your stockings. If you're not yet in that chosen circle, maybe you ought to get to know me better ;-)

Back to crocheting spiders now ... Trick or Treat??????????

Between socks and llamas

Although it might appear so, I have not been utterly idle. I have crocheted socks that fit, one pair here as example:

and I have also been crocheting a llama, which was a lot of work as it is mostly done in loop stitches. But I have actually fallen in love with it and it is not going to be sold! So there!

Off to WOMAD tomorrow, we'll see what that brings. Childrens' workshops ... hrrrmphhh! Whoever agreed to that. Catch you all when I am back on Monday or thereabouts.

Glasto Photos

Only a few ... but I hope you get the picture :-)

Karina's Creatures do Glastonbury

So, I went to Glastonbury Festival to do crochet workshops and sell some Amigurumi. We arrived there Monday 22nd June and built the little stall as pictured above (that is not me by the way). On Tuesday morning we had the Health & Safety check and were pronounced accredited traders :-) Business started on Wednesday 24th June. Nobody came to do a workshop that day and nobody bought anything. That was not surprising really as only traders were present at that time. On Thursday morning 10 am we set up and my first workshop was more of a babysitting session. The basket weaving woman from across the path dropped her 5-year old off to learn crochet. It is now apparent to me, that the age limit for my workshops has to be raised ... unless there are 5-year olds about, who have a better attention span than Lolly. Anyway, we made some crochet flowers with her and she was happy enough. First proper workshop attendees came Thursday afternoon. 3 women of more mature age :-) A lovely few hours with chat and some hooking was being had. About the same amount of people did come throughout the festival 4 - 5 a day, women who were saying that they had never managed the art of crochet mainly. So I taught a young woman with Dyspraxia to 'sling her hook' ... she was so happy as she had been told by doctors that she NEVER would do any knitting/crochet. Hence she is on a mission to prove the medical world wrong. She was so elated by the end of the session, that she bought a hook from me and took some wool away. She even came by a couple of days later to thank me again and that she was still crocheting. That was my best experience of the festival. Still there were other success stories and many happy, nattering hours were had by all.

As far as sales go, it wasn't too great. It has taught me to take more small items to a festival rather than large, more expensive Amigurumi. Jelly fish, octopusses and squids were the 'most wanted', followed closely by the celestine star baby rattles, although I must say that £15 seemed a lot to people, but I couldn't sell them cheaper considering the work that goes in them. Not even mentioning the materials.

Anyway, WOMAD childrens' workshops next. That should be interesting to say the least. My aim for next year is definitely Roskilde, that will be a challenge in itself if I think about the language barrier. Might have to do an overhead projector show to go with the workshops. And I would really like to branch out and do a couple of the continental festivals. Wish me luck, my fellow hookers.

Under the sea ...

As promised ... the mermaid. She hasn't got a name yet, so feel free to suggest some :-)

A riot in the making ...

As promised, here is the punk I was designing. It took a while as things weren't going as smoothly as I would have liked them too, but I got there in the end. Mind you, I was going to crochet him a leather jacket with studs, but that went out of the window. It just didn't look right! So I either have to make him a proper jacket from leather with real studs, or I just leave him as he is. By the way, he is called Seamo aka Keith, a friend of mine from a support forum :-)

I have also got another mermaid ready, just haven't taken any pics of her yet. Treated myself to a digital camera, so hopefully the quality of my photos will increase. Sometimes however, it really just is 'operator error' ....

Where did my post go??

I posted my rastaman earlier and he's gone. And I checked, that the post was there ... am I totally nuts now???

Ooops ... now it's there again. Apparently an editing conflict. Glad I am not nuts though hehe.

So here is the newest addition to my Amigurumi family ....

... all my own design. I think he is part hilarious and part scary? What do you think? And as yet, he hasn't got a name. I thought of "Mob Barley", but then decided that was just too corny ...

What a stoner he is, eh?

Heffalumps ....

I have a commission from a friend to crochet 2 elephants. She will actually PAY me for it!!! Wow!!! But me being me, I am actually crocheting 4 of them, so she has a choice. Style and colourwise. 3 of them are ready, so I thought I post them. The 4th one is a circus elephant and should be finished by the end of the day. I will add it then. Here are the first three :-)

Sorry about the picture quality. I still have to use my mobile phone to take photographs, and that is very hit and miss. I really do need a decent digital camera, but I can't afford one. (And no, Kittie, I definitely wasn't trying to knick yours LOL).

Favourite Toy

My granddaughter Amira with her favourite Chubby the Fish toy ... made by my fair hands :-)

Damn stars ....

I, too, have been crocheting the celestine 12-point star. The first one was a complete disaster and ended up as a childrens' dragon hat. The 2nd one at least looked like it was supposed to ... sort of:

But me being a Virgo and not liking anything less than perfect - the star is very wobbly to say the least - I had to change the pattern. The yellow star was crocheted as the pattern suggested, from the wide area to the pointy bit, with the next point directly crocheted onto it. And not in continous rounds, which of course gives each point a sort of 'seam'. So I thought, this must be possible in Amigurumi! And it is:

And doesn't it look a lot neater? Unfortunately I forgot to add bells to it inside, so I will have to crochet another one for my 3 1/2 month old granddaughter :-) But I do think these stars with bells or rattles make rather nice kids toys. Don't you??

The good, the bad and the downright ugly ....

... and who is this then??

Obviously 'The Good' & The Bad'

The daily nitty gritty of a hooker

A yarn hooker aka crochet slut that is :) Tsk tsk ... not what YOU were thinking!

Just walked to Get Knitted in Brislington, Bristol. It took Isis and me 2.5 hours, there and back, and probably 15 minutes in the shop. But I went prepared! Namely equipped with samples of my work as this was not just a pleasurable trip. I actually mustered up the courage to ask for workshops. Showed the nice woman behind the counter the pieces and she loved it. Unfortunately she only works there. But she did assure me that the manageress would indeed be very interested in it. I left my name and number and took their email address to send some pictures. This I will do in a minute. The shop assistant explained to me that they have proper workshop facilities on the 1st floor. I didn't even know this. I mean I knew that they were holding a limited amount of workshops there, but always asumed that would be in the shop as their knit meets are. Duh!!! I shall also have a look how much the other workshops are, so I can think of a price. On the way back my mind worked overtime and I am thinking that I might mention that I can teach crochet (knitting too, but everybody does that) in groups and 1 to 1. I might make some money out of this yet!

Finally finished emailing my list of festivals - 25 in total. Wychwood is already fully booked this year, then I have 4 which are interested and to whom I have sent more details, including Glastonbury, where I had to fill in a hard copy. And that in our days of technology LOL. Unbe-fucking-lievable! All I can do now is sit back and wait ... and carry on being a hooker. Hehe ....

The mosquito above, very aptly named PETER THE SKEETER, I finished a few days ago. Again, crocheted from a picture, not a pattern. I am wondering about copyright though now, as I would like to sell the finished product. If you use somebody's idea but not their pattern, is that protected by copyright?? I have also made a witch from pics of the same designer. And something else that is still a hush-project, as it will be part of a behind-glass yarnbomb. Gosh, I am selfish ... but a considerable amount of work has gone into it and I can't just display it somewhere in public, where it can be pinched, trod on, ripped apart, thrown in the mud or whatever. So it will go in my window on a certain day this month. Now I have said too much ....

Oh yes, and I found a wonderfully snazzy present for my dear friend cakemix, whose birthday it is soon. I am sooooo pleased with that :)

*grumble*

I just had an email from the National Museum in Liverpool turning my exhibition down ... for the time being. They said they are full for the next 3 years. Now I am sitting here wondering, why they didn't know THAT a month ago when I first contacted them. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. I shall just contact smaller galleries now. I have been working towards this exhibition the last couple of months, i.e. working on the particular displays, so they are almost complete, well 2 of them anyway. Might as well make use of that. But also this means, I can work a bit more freely now and crochet a few things, which have been on the backburner because of the displays.

I am also slowly getting feedback from the festivals I have written to regarding crochet workshops. Unfortunately the ones that are interested so far want to get away with just giving me the ticket and meal vouchers and not actually pay for my time. Now I am considering doing this for this year and hope that I get a paid spot next year, but on the other hand, if I do that, they will have benefitted from my skills and might still not give me a slot the next time round. Oh, decisions decisions!!! I need to seriously raise some money in the near future and as with a 'proper' job slipping more and more into the realms of the impossible, I need to come up with something. Already thought about getting a street vendors license and sell some stuff on town on the weekends. Even if I make £20 per week that way, it would be better than nothing. Time I have got, money I have not. Bugger bugger bugger ...

Do I dare ...

... to go outside to sit on the bench and crochet? It's such a lovely day, feels like the first day of spring. Well, if the harsh winter is any indication to go by, we should have a beautiful few months ahead of us. But on the other hand, the weather has become so unpredictable through the global warming, that harsh winters probably mean jack shit!

My collection of seashells is growing at the moment and I am desperately looking for more patterns for them. I can make them now longer and shorter and smaller and bigger, but I am stuck for more ideas :-( And as you can see, a rather wild haired mermaid has joined the gang too. Crocheted to a photo, not a pattern. Yay!!

Online Shop

A friend of mine pointed out an online shop for arts and craft items to me. I registered today and put a few things up. See how it goes.

In case you're interested as a buyer or seller, or simply a watcher, this is my shop

http://Fishwhiskers.dawanda.com/

You can register for free and they don't charge selling fees.

Rheumatoid arthritis, fribromyalgia and me

Here I am fretting every day that I am doing NOTHING, but hey, what I am posting now is what I did this week. Well there is a bit more, the yarnbombing stuff and a lion to be precise, but it is proof that I am not completely sitting idle despite my ailments. And of course I have a household and a dog to walk on top. So I reckon I am not that lazy after all ....

Quick update ...

... as I seem too busy to give the blog much time and thought right now. The poop/scoop had finally gone yesterday. Still, it lasted about 10 days, which is great. The next yarn bomb is nearly ready, just trying to figure out how to put it all up. I have so far made 150 small flowers in many colours (I need another 50 though I reckon) to put up in the Knowle West Health Park. I am just not sure if I string them all together and drape them over the bushes and trees which run along the path, or if I make small displays of 20-25 flowers and tie them to the excercising hubs?

The underwater world for the exhibition is growing as well. I have recently added a few squids, sea shells, starfish and a mini mermaid. Currently I am working on making fishbones in vivid colours to point out pollution. After that I shall be making a couple of cans to go on the sea floor. Maybe a wellie would go down nicely too LOL. I have decided to finish the water display first and then concentrate on the magic forest. I am now not using patterns anymore, but crochet from pictures of finished items or generally from nature itself. Amazed by the results myself.

Tomorrow I want to go to my first stitch and bitch! I wonder if I will make it or if my nerves will get the better of me and I bail out in the end. I have to get right across town for it, which for a healthy person is not a problem, but to me it equals flying to Germany or somewhere. So, only time will tell if I will grace them with my presence.

Hopefully will take some pictures of the latest projects later, so watch this space :)

Still up ....

... albeit covered in snow. So I cleaned it ... Cant be doing with a snow covered yarn bomb. Sorry snow! It so far has survived 24 hours, wonder how much longer. Thought yesterday that it MUST be down as all the kids were off school and using the Health Centre Park for sledging and building snowmen, but they have been good ... or they just didnt see it hehe. Will go again later and remove the snow again as it is still relentlessly pelting it down with the white stuff. Love it though!!! Soon off for another wonder in it, the dog ain't too pleased. Tough!

Take ONE

I've made it. The first project is in place. This morning at around 7am I popped the cherry of K, the yarn bomb virgin. I was creeping around as if I was doing something naughty LOL. I thought I would be totally alone up there at the Knowle West Health Park at this time in the morning, presuming that people didnt fancy getting out that early in the freaky snowy weather. Well, as they say: Presumption is the Mother of all Fuck Ups ... it was almost heaving there with dogs and owners and such. So, when I sneakily tried to tie my yarn bombing stuff on the fence, I wasn't only watched by one pair of eyes, but about 6 - and that's not including doggy eyes. Plus it wasnt just the usual people, but even the guy from the BBC I vaguely know (technician + researcher couple with their Shar Pei Suki) were there. As chappy looked at me questioningly I explained briefly what I was doing. Hmmm, maybe he found it interesting enough to mention it at the TV station when they finally can get into work. I am really hoping that the poop/scoop is staying up for a while. I want as many people as possible to see it. Hahaha just massaging my ego here :-)

Also finally got the stuff off to the museum. Had no internet last night, probably frozen lines or something. But it was back this morning ... so off it went. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed for a positive response. It would be so absolutely fabulous to get in there. Will email a few more today, see if I can raise some more interest. Everybody should see it ... or am I just kidding myself?

My next yarn bomb brain baby is already in the fetus stage. I hope by next weekend I will be able to put it up. This time I am going seasonal, but that is all I say. Of course I have to find the time between crocheting all the other stuff. Didn't know one could be as busy as that being unemployed *grin*

Yarn Bomb

Ok, the first project is ready. It's going up tonight or rather late afternoon, so I can still take some pictures in the light of the day. As for now, it's still a big secret, but will post a photo once it is in situ. I wonder how long it will last in my neighbourhood. If anybody sees me they probably think I have now completely lost the plot :-) But I reckon they think that already anyway, so no difference there. I keep wondering if I can get arrested for yarn bombing LOL.

I have finally managed to write my biography. Now I will have to translate it into German too, for the 2 events over there. One of the restaurants has already offered me a permanent display case for all year round showcasing and sale. As much as this is a very good idea, it would involve having part of my amigurumi crew constantly there and replacing it as soon as something sells. Very difficult to maintain from over here, but I shall give it a thought of how it may be managed.

Back to the grindstone ...

Shame on me ...

... for not updating this blog for so long. Don't know what stopped me. Probably too much happening in my unemployed life hehe. But I have been busy crocheting and knitting and I am getting an exhibition together. Well, 2 of the places that have confirmed so far are friends' restaurants in Germany, but it's a start. The shows are not until the end of the year (exact dates to be confirmed) which will give me plenty of time to refine the themes for it. I am thinking of 3 umbrella themes - 1) Underwater World with jelly fish, crabs, fish, sharks, whales and dolphins and not forgetting MERMAIDS. You might even come across Nemo, after all they are still trying to find him :-) 2) Magic Forest with fairies, gnomes, witches, cute little mushrooms and plenty of other creatures and last but not least 3) A Sea of Flowers which speaks for itself. There will also be a side display with very human undertones: professions. I have recently crocheted an artist which came out really well (picture to follow once I have taken one), so I thought I will do other professions like fireman, nurse (oh la la), policeman/woman, professor and whatever else I might be able to think of. I was supposed to deliver a biography and description of the exhibition to a UK museum today, but due to the weather this was just not possible ;-) I am hoping to write it all up tonight and arrange the pics of the pieces in some order. Fingers crossed they will accept it and it will be the start of a long list of me showcasing stuff around the country. I was thinking today that it would be really nice to find some people who might be interested to pitch in and also show their work.

Anyway, here are a few of the more recent projects I have finished: