Little old omnipresent me

So I seem to have got myself involved in an online craft fair. It's a very good idea - in fact it's a great idea - but I am rapidly getting the feeling that technology is leaving me behind. There are so many threads for things on the website and so many ways of promoting yourself and fellow crafters online - many more websites and portals than I ever imagined for selling and showing what you've made. I wrote out a list when I joined up of the ways in which me and my stuff can be found, and it turns out that - my god - I am EVERYWHERE! Have a look under your bed - I'm probably there as well. I am on Etsy, Pinterest, Creative Connections, my own website (http://www.pinsandneedlesworcester.co.uk/ since you asked), Craftjuice, Facebook and this very blog. Which makes it all the more teeny-weeny bit disappointing that I haven't had many sales lately after a bit of a flurry a week or two ago, but hey, never mind. There are many beautiful things on sale from talented crafters and designers from all over the place in the online craft fair and it can be found here - http://creative-connections.ning.com/ - I think. See, I don't really know what I am doing.

In other news, Mr Biscuitnose has bought a wonderful 1950s bike that he is going to restore. It's his new project. Mr B is extremely creative and handy. He has taken it apart and is going to restore what he can, replace what can't be revived and get it all painted/powder coated in lovely vintage colours. It's going to look truly gorgeous and the end result is going to be for me (to ride around on but hopefully not fall off). No one's ever done anything like this for me before and it makes me feel very loved. I'm welling here and it's going to ruin my reputation as the most fearsome receptionist in the West Midlands so I had better stop.

I finished this last night and I'm quite pleased with it as a first attempt at making a multiple bead-string thingy.

Responsibility

Taking responsibility for things seems to be a recurring theme for me today.

First of all, I read about a designer called Rachael Taylor whose flower design had mysteriously appeared on a range of T-shirts in Marks and Spencer without her knowledge. It seems to have turned out that this was due to one of their suppliers having ripped off the design - M & S have apologised (on Twitter at least) and are going to withdraw the T-shirt from the shops and recycle them all. But how did they allow this to happen in the first place? How can such a major company just shrug and say "whoops"?

I then read very soon afterwards about an almost identical case where a lady called Kate Davies has had her knitwear design used without her permission by Debenhams. As yet there seems to have been no outcome, but hopefully they will do the same as M & S. I found this case even more sad because the designer depends on the income she makes from her knitting patterns since having a stroke.

These companies are big - in fact, HUGE. Do they really think that no one's going to notice? But that seems to be how things go these days - big companies ripping off the little guy in the belief that they are infallible. It's why the farmers are in London today and why Bob Diamond is 'only' getting his 2 million quid for being incompetent and/or a liar. I sincerely hope that they all get their comeuppance. (Did I spell that right? It's difficult to concentrate on spelling when I'm in Hulk mode.)

Finally I was glared at this afternoon several times by a middle-aged student who arrived five minutes before her essay deadline without having printed it off. I did my bit and told her where she needed to go to print it off and who she could see for IT help when she somehow managed to send her document to some printer in an office far far away..... but I had a strong feeling that she wanted me to hold her hand all the while and then hot-foot it down to the registry section to hand her work in for her. All I can say is sigh.... never mind. It's nearly wine o'clock.

My potential other life

Looks like the rainy season is here to stay, doesn't it folks? On Wednesday I got soaked to the skin about 4 times. I eventually arrived home and dripped all over the carpet. The cat has been missing since yesterday evening but I'm not too worried this time, I think the trip from one of his other houses to our back door may too much for him in this weather and he doesn't want to ruin his fur-style.

We have a busy weekend lined up. Son is making his dramatic debut (well, to the outside world at least - the actual debut of his dramatics at home was long, long ago) tonight in a production at a local theatre that he's been working on at his drama group and, like a true thespian, he'll be doing it all over again tomorrow night, a two-night run! I have a craft fair tomorrow at the Guildhall in Worcester (as mentioned in my last post, but I'm not above repeating myself in the interest of publicity). The forecast for tomorrow is, more or less, pants, so I don't know how busy it'll be but I'm looking forward to trying out a slightly different kind of event and seeing how it goes.

Hmm. As I sit here typing, someone just walked past and said "You look slightly like Kate Middleton". She stressed the slightly quite a lot though, so I don't think I can quit my day job and take up my new position as Kate Middleton Doppelganger just yet. However, Kate, if ever you get bored of going to those film premieres and posh lunches and you need a stand-in, you know where to find me. Just drop me a line. Okay? Great :-)

                                                                We're practically twins
 

Who needs dignity anyway....

Well, that was a great weekend. Mr Biscuitnose (the character formerly known as Boyfriend) (I should add that he is still Boyfriend but he now has an alias) and I ate, drank, slept, ate, drank, drank some more and generally carried on like that. It was fantastic. We only get these frivolous and mildly debauched weekends once every six weeks when neither of our offspring are at home. At the pub on Saturday there was a wedding party with a 1920s theme to the outfits. They looked great, especially the bride who had on a gorgeous backless white dress - a bit like this one:

with a vintage hair decoration to match. Some of the men were wearing spats and looked like they'd just come from the speakeasy. It was so cool!

On Sunday Mr B and I went for a lovely long bike ride. We live right next to the canal in Worcester and it's a perfect spot for a Sunday jaunt on two wheels. We rode and rode, and got beyond the city limits - we nearly reached the exotic locale of Droitwich! However as we reached those badlands, it all started to go wrong... the towpath gave out and turned into two muddy ruts. I struggled to ride in one rut or the other, but my lack of steering ability failed me dramatically and I did a slow-motion fall off my bike into a ditch full of brambles and stinging nettles. I was more or less the wrong way up and starting to get quite concerned that I was slipping downwards but happily a tree stump saved me and I was manfully rescued by the heroic Mr B. Getting my bike away from the clutches of the brambles was a little more difficult. All the while this Casualty-esque scene was being watched by a middle-aged couple who just stood there and gawped, rather than coming up to help or at least find out if I was alright. How rude! But my laughter probably told them that I was fine, and the most injured part of me was by far and away my dignity..... I seem to have a habit of falling off things. This being upright lark isn't as easy as it looks y'know!

So next weekend it's the craft fair at the Guildhall in Worcester. I'm looking forward to it (it's inside for one thing, so even if it weewees with rain - which looks likely - I won't get wet). I've had such mixed results at this point with selling things at fairs that I've no idea how it will go - all I can do is make as many new pieces this week as I can in the time available and hope for the best. At least it will be a nice chance to meet some other crafty people. Apparently there will be biscuits too :-)

Aaaaaaand relax....

Hip hip hooray, it's Friday, and it hasn't come soon enough. It's been a long and slightly stressy week. I started out tired for no reason at all, and haven't exactly improved as the week went on, and over the course of the week it's become apparent that in the coming months, changes at work mean that I will have to become some sort of campus oracle, only without the perks that us oracles usually get such as jewels and sacrifices being made in my honour.

This will be me pondering a student's question about liability for Council Tax:

This particular Friday is one of those where I undertake the almighty yomp down to London and back for my son to spend the weekend with his Dad. It's not entirely what I feel like doing with my Friday night, but I don't mind the train journeys too much. Staring out of the window with no obligations and nothing in particular to do for a few hours is relaxing and gives good thinking time. I'm not so keen on the trip back again from London though - after Oxford (about half way) the train empties out and gets emptier as it trundles though everywhere with a pub and a post office and Friday night wears on, and that's when the weirdos get on. Luckily they tend to keep themselves to themselves and I haven't yet had an incident worse than the time when I lived down south and unwittingly sat in a carriage with a flasher. As Son and I sat down, I noted that the man opposite us did look rather a lot like Nosferatu, but thought nothing more of it... until I happened to glance at his foot stretched out into the gangway of the carriage. It was yellow with long, revolting toenails.... and both shoeless and sockless. My eyes followed his leg from the ankle up and it became pretty clear that apart from the (in hindsight, obligatory) dirty brown mac the guy was wearing, he was absolutely butt naked. We moved to another carriage pretty quickly with him staring at us all the while....

I'm pleased to say that the rest of my commuting life has been a whole lot less unsavoury. I usually like to take something with me to do and it's kind of entertaining seeing people trying to work out what I am making when I'm sitting there with needle and thread and cloth or a pair of pliers and stash of beads. I've made a lot of jewellery lately, so today I'm going to make a monkey out of felt. I made quite a nice choker necklace last night but there are no pictures yet - I think I'm going to have to model it and get Boyfriend to take a picture before I can put it up for sale, but before that happens my pimple has to go.... I'm too old for this stuff! It seems hugely unfair that I have a Cruella de Ville-style rash of grey hairs starting to annexe one part of my hairline but I still get the odd spot that wouldn't look out of place on a teenager. This, in my opinion, is why I still get ID'd trying to buy alchohol. It's nothing to do with youthful good looks, it's all about the spots. C'mon, Nature, what did I ever do to you? Is it because I gave up my membership of Greenpeace?? But they were sending me junk mail...

Anyway, I have coffee to drink and biscuits to eat. (Yep, busy busy busy, I don't know how I cope!)
A splendid weekend to you all :-)

Morning blues

It's just before ten in the morning and I think I'm having one of those days where I've really had enough. I think I might get myself a large badge that says "I'm not your bitch". Maybe a neon sign to hang above my desk saying the same thing, as signage in the workplace can never be too obvious, so I've learned. I've just had someone semi-blame me for the fact that they do not have any compliment slips or headed paper with their name on it. It is actually not part of my role to make sure that other people have these things. I also don't have to breathe for them or chew their food and spit it back into their mouth for them like a mother bird, though maybe I should check my job description to make absolutely sure.

While I'm ranting, I also REALLY hate it when people say "Have we heard back from Finance yet about....?" What they mean is: Did you email the Finance office and ring them and fax them and sit on their desk holding a gun to their head until they sorted out my problem? You DIDN'T???? Well what do you  DO all day, you lowly, administrating scum???? And NO, I CANNOT sort out my own problem (even though you explained very carefully and precisely to me last week how I do this), because I am on a higher plain than you, and you are a clerical troglodite who is incapable of thinking about things that do not involve staples or filing cabinets, and the whole thing is beneath me quite frankly.

I think I may go into the loo and have a little cry now.

In other news, I made this the other day. I really like it (which I know is quite big-headed to say) but I do.

100 is the Magic Number....

I've read a couple of times now that 100 is some kind of magic number on Etsy and that when you have 100 items in your shop suddenly sales will rocket and you won't be able to scoot to the post office fast enough to keep up. Hmmmm... now is it me, or does that sound a bit like nonsense? Why 100? If it's true, however, I have a lot of work to do. I did make this last night though:

I dropped all the bloody beads all over the sofa about 4 times having painstakingly threaded them, and hence will be pricing it at a fiver due to mental distress.