Following “If Nothing We Do Matters” post from last week, I thought I’d make it easy this time and ask you to nominate your heroes. So, here’s your chance to share the people you think make the world a better place. Plus – excuse to open a post with David Bowie = WIN
Here’s mine (in no particular order):
Jimmy O’Neill (AKA Jimothy / Mr Spiller). Jimmy is the loveliest, funniest and most generous person. He’s also been a fireman for more than 16 years which pretty much means he’s a superhero in my book. Plus he let’s me call him Jimothy. Nuff said.
This is how Jimothy looks to me
Simon (AKA Husband / The Mrs). When I uttered the imortal words “what I’d really like to do is build a school“, Simon didn’t even blink before saying “Do it!”. Simon’s my hero because he makes me feel like I can do anything. He’s also a much better feminist than I am which I think counts as another of his super powers.
Simon *ahem* saving Ally…
Jonathan Emmans (AKA Secret Millionaire… not really). Some of you may have heard the story about my twitter friend who surprised me by donating his pay rise to Janie’s School, well, that was Jonathan. Say hello, he’s really nice. I particularly like having him on my list because then we can have Stella the dog as his sidekick!
Stella springing into action as Jonathan’s sidekick!
Father Coyle (AKA Santa. Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s blasphemous. But he does have an awesome Santa beard!). Father Coyle made it fun to go to church when I was a teenager and never shied away from my constant questions. He’s also never lectured me about not going to church and is a constant and valued friend. I defy anyone not to love this man. He is a true super hero, running to the rescue of those less fortunate (actually, running’s pushing it… I’m still trying to convince him he needs a stair lift but he’s having none of it). Think I might have to get him a cape though *gets craft kit out*
Paula (AKA Supermum / my big sister). I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who is quite so oblivious to how great she is (actually, I’ve met at least 4 other people like that… see above). I don’t know what I would have done without her when mum died and I can’t thank her enough for the way she keeps an eye on my dad (you know you need the watching father *pointy finger, teacher face*). Superpower = Hulk like ability to lose her temper
Paula could totally pull off this look, she just wouldn’t want to show the rest of us up
*all of these people (with the possible exception of Simon) will be horrified to be on this list and therefore definitely deserve to be on there!
There are many, many reasons to celebrate yesterday’s Cybher 2012 and I felt really honoured to be involved. With such a wide choice of sessions, catering to an array of expertise and tastes, delegates each had their own unique experience and opportunities from their day. Bravo!
My day was a mixture of pride, elation, inspiration, excitement and passion! It was truly awesome to be in a room with so many like minded people who were willing to share ideas, laugh at ourselves and encourage each other – brilliant.
I’ll be honest and say I would like to see more technology talked about at future conferences. As bloggers, we are part of the technology space no matter what we write about and we have a responsibility to encourage future generations of girls to get involved in STEM subjects at school and make technology a valid career choice. There is still a lot of sexism in technology (especially on the San Francisco start up scene) so it would be great to see some keynote speakers from the technology sphere.
So why was my day so special? It started with a great keynote from Zoe Margolis of Girl with a One Track Mind fame. We heard from the horses mouth about the opportunities (like being invited to talk on Newsnight about Slut Walk) as well as the discrimination and downside of being the girl behind the blog. It was so interesting and though provoking to hear her side of the media storm. A really great choice of speaker.
The first break out I visited was from the lovely Mark Solomon, blogger and author of Black Cab Wisdom (which I’m really enjoying!). It was a pleasure to hear Mark speak. I love London and I never get tired of starting random conversations with strangers at bus stops, commuters on the tube and yes, taxi drivers! What a lovely man and a real inspiration and example of someone who blogs for the love of it.
My second session was Pump Up the Volume with my friends The High Tea Cast ladies Sam Sparrow and Lea Rice. Now, full disclosure, I already think very highly of these women. However, I train people for a living and can honestly say that their session was a perfect example of how to run a workshop (a short workshop at that, given that they only had 40mins) where they established why we should listen to them, what they recommend and followed with practical examples and demonstrations. Just because someone is good at what they do, doesn’t mean they can train other people and these ladies CAN! I defy anyone to have left that session without feeling confident that they could create their own podcast. Really well done.
At one point during the break, I was fondled by a lovely lady who wanted to know the make of my bra (if you’re reading, I checked later and it was Freya). Palmers provided probably the most generous and useful goody bag I’ve ever seen (I’m particularly grateful for this as my hubby used a whole bottle of cocoa butter moisturising his new sleeve tattoo *grrrr*) and The Leather Satchel Co supplied possibly the best conference bags I’ve ever seen. Here is said hubby modelling mine (yes, it’s mine Simon – hands off!):
My husband @SimonBegg rockin my Cybher satchel
Despite the amazing freebees, it won’t be a surprise to learn that the highlight of my day was being involved with the Social Good panel. It was a great privilege to promote Half the Sky with Liz Scarff, Christine Mosler and conference organiser Sian To and to talk about how it inspired me to start Janie’s School. If someone had told me in Dec 09 that within a year we would have raised over £20K, built a school with facilities for over 400 children and that I’d then be talking about it at the first conference for women bloggers… you get the picture.
The response to our discussion was so inspiring and if only a fraction of the people in the room end up reading the book and taking action to protect girls worldwide, we will have done our jobs. My mum taught me at a very young age that education was the gift that no one can take away from you no matter what happens in your life. Reading Half the Sky gave me the opportunity to honour that memory and give hundreds of children the gift of education, not bad going really.
If you missed the session, please check out the book and take a couple of minutes to watch this video trailer of the upcoming documentary:
Another video shared during our session was from the awesome Girl Effect. Again, more about the solutions than the problems we face:
I took a cheeky wee break from attending sessions after this one but popped in to the Women Using Their Power for Good panel with Cat Turner, Lori Smith and Ryan Wenstrup-Moore. It’s always difficult to have this kind of discussion in such a large room and some really pertinent questions were raised just as we were wrapping up. I really hope some of the attendees from this session write posts we can weigh in on (maybe I’ll do one myself), especially from the perspective of “defining feminism today” and “I am a Christian and a Feminist”, really great ideas!
We finished the day with a presentation from WorldVision who do some awe inspiring work in developing countries to protect and support women and girls. I’m really excited to follow Sian‘s journey with them in Niger and no doubt will be tweeting about it in the not too distant future…
Phew! There is so much more I could say but I’ll finish by just thanking Sian so much for inviting me and by saying how excited I am to continue following the new friends I made and watching what amazing things we go on to achieve :D
Simon has had his new phone for a few months now but has been using his old knitted (or actually, my old knitted) phone cover which wasn’t quite long enough. So, for our anniversary, I decided to surprise him with a new custom made one.
Finished phone cover
He’s been asking for me to knit a cover with an android logo on it for a while now but I’m afraid I wimped out and went for the trusty felt and cross stitch option instead:
This is my little graph paper plan of the Android logo.
Planning out my pattern
I then cut out cross stitch fabric according to my pattern. I pinned and tacked the fabric in place and then cross stitched my Android according to my pattern.
Pin and sew
Lining the cover
The lining I’ve used is actually an old pencil case that I ruined by leaving it on the windowsill next to a candle… I cut out two rectangles the size of simon’s phone and used running stitch to attach them to the felt.
Fitting the phone
I then made sure the phone fit inside the case and sewed both sides together leaving a .5cm space along the edge for blanket stitching.
I’ve been looking for a business card holder for a little while now and have been largely disappointed with what’s on offer so… Channelling my inner Blue Peter, I grabbed a cereal box, some spare fabric, a pair of scissors, multi purpose super glue, ruler, pencil, masking tape and a spot of velcro and this is what I did:
I then cut out my design and scored along the folds using my ruler and a penknife. I covered one side with the glue before placing it on my fabric (making sure the design was in the correct position). I left the glue to dry then folded over the edges and covered the whole inside with strong masking tape (to ensure the glossy surface would stick to the inner felt fabric)
I then covered the masking tape in glue and placed the whole template on my sheet of felt
When the glue was dry, I cut the felt close to the edges and folded the template over my cards. Using a velcro circle as a fastener, I simply folded my new business card holder and fastened.
How cool is this!? Just wandering along Whitstable High Street and was surprised by this sight. Not sure if it would shrink in a spring shower though ;O)
Christmas shopping is poopy at the best of times but when the pavements are covered in slush, it’s freezing and you know you only have a few days left to get everything, poopy turns to anxious terror!So instead of worrying about how many of my pressies I didn’t manage to get today and how little time I have left to get them, I decided to do some knitting.
Now technically these count as Christmas shopping… we bought the mugs as gifts so the hugs will go with them :O)
This one is just knitted in Garter Stitch (plain all the way) using 4mm needles and chunky wool with varying thickness. I cast on 11 stitches and knitted until my Hug reached around the mug. To make the fastening overlap, I cast off 2 stitches at the start of the row and knitted 2 stitches together at the end. I knitted the next row and then reduced again using the same method.To make the button holes: Knit 3, Cast off 1, Knit 3, Cast off 1, Knit 2. Knit the next 2 rows then cast off. Mark where your buttons should be and sew them in place, then you’re done!
For the next one, I used 2 balls of thick, double knit wool with 4mm needles. I cast on 14 stitches and knitted 2 rows in one colour to make a border. Row 3: Knit 2 with same wool, knit 10 using both balls of wool, knit 2 with border colour. Row 4: Knit 2 with border wool, purl 10 with both, knit 2 with border.
Continue with this until the Hug fits right round the mug. Repeat the last 2 rows of knit with the border wool to complete the circle, cast off until you have 3 stitches and continue with stocking stitch for 10 rows to make a button hole. Cast off final stitches and loop the last 10 rows round and sew in place. Bring the two ends together and stitch at the bottom, leaving the button loop at the top.
Choose a button and sew onto the opposite corner and you’re ready to go!Et voila! A potentially boring, impersonal gift turned into a thoughtful and unique talking point. Also, more fun and less stressful than wandering round the shops :O)
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How cool is this!? Just wandering along Whitstable High Street and was surprised by this sight. Not sure if it would shrink in a spring shower though ;O)
