Bad, bad, bad me for not updating in 3 months. No excuse really! But lots has been happening. After submitting my thesis I basically slept for the whole of January, only waking up to enjoy the New York snow. I went to Oxford in February for my viva (defence) which I didn’t want to publicise too much in case I jinxed it, but happy to say that I passed – and so now I am officially a Doctor, which still sounds a little weird! I have to do some corrections but all being well I’ll graduate in May (yet another trip back – our carbon footprint is expanding as fast as our airmiles balance).
As for NYC, things are going well and hopefully there will be good news soon in terms of my next steps 
This week I finally caved in and bought the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 lens that I’ve been lusting after for months. I’m super excited to get out and about with my camera now that spring is here (it was 30 degrees yesterday!)
Again, it’s been a while since I posted here hasn’t it! Well, since I wanted to keep this blog for mainly crafty stuff and photography, and I haven’t so much as looked at any knitting/goccoing/sewing in months, it’s a little sad. But I have a good excuse! After weeks of sleep deprivation and no contact with the outside world I have finally finished the dreaded DPhil thesis! Yes, it is done! And as of about an hour ago it is safely deposited at the exam schools in Oxford thanks to a friendly man at the printers who took it over there for me. PHEW! I still have the viva (defence) to contend with in February, but for now I am a free woman!
Hope everyone had a nice christmas and new year!
It’s been quite a while since I blogged here, ooops! Since I arrived in NYC things have been quite hectic; only last night did I finally unpack the last box of stuff which had all of my craft and gocco supplies in it, yay! Anyway, me and Mr Paperleaf have started a blog about our NYC adventures over here, which you might want to check out if you’re interested what I’ve been up to! In the meantime I’m keeping this blog for my crafty endeavours, of which there aren’t many at the moment, so might be a bit quiet. I have 2 weeks to finish my draft PhD thesis and then I have a friend arriving for a visit, so not much time at all for anything craft-related unfortunately. I’ll leave you with a photo of me and my mum, who visited last week. Hope everyone is doing well!!
Sock knitting may be the most therapeutic activity ever invented.
In other news, I finally got round to booking my tickets for the move. I was procrastinating since I didn’t still don’t know when my thesis will be finished and submitted, but whatever, I am leaving on the 10th October!
After packing away all my knitting supplies to be shipped to the US, I had an overwhelming urge to have a go at knitting some socks! I know, like I have nothing better to be doing with my time right now… After browsing Ravelry I decided on this pattern from Knitty as it got great reviews as a good first sock pattern, plus it is customizable to fit my weird shaped feet! After much deliberation I picked out some yummy yarn from Get Knitted (Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi in Flamingo Stripe) and some circular needles (all of mine are packed away, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t have any this small – 2.25mm! Hope they won’t be too fiddly!) I’m looking forward to getting started with them soon! Ravelry is a great site for knitters – I joined over a year ago but hadn’t really explored it until now – it has a huge database of pretty much every pattern out there, whether online or in a book, and you can see other people who are knitting the same pattern, what yarn they are using, photos, comments etc. Here is my profile if anyone is on there, feel free to add me as a friend
Things are progressing fast in the relocation build-up. This weekend we packed everything that is going to be shipped, as the relocation company will come in a couple of days to pick it up. We couldn’t quite believe that it all fitted into 8 boxes! Granted, they are quite big boxes and we did use a couple of vacu-bags for the clothes/bedding, but still it feels great to know that we don’t need much ‘stuff’. We still need to sort out everything else – either to go into storage (mainly books), or ebay/freecycle the junk. I would love to have a yard sale but I’m not sure – we don’t really ‘do’ them in this country! Plus I think the snobby people in our apartment block might get a bit annoyed… but it could be fun! What do you think?
Alas, one of the downsides of moving is that my bizness will have to come to a halt, since I am not technically allowed to do any kind of work including freelance or my own business on my visa. It is kind of insane, but the US immigration system is all a bit complicated and scary, so for now it is safest to put the ‘closed’ sign up and think of something else to occupy my time. Every cloud has a silver lining though, and it will be nice to get back to my crafting roots without having to spend all my ‘make time’ on Paperleaf. For example, I am looking forward to getting back into knitting – I haven’t picked up a pair of needles for well over a year! And I think in NY there are lots of knitting groups so it will be a good way to meet some nice people. I also have an itching desire to have a go at embroidery after seeing Katie’s post, And I hope to spend more time on my photography. So all in all, I’m looking forward to new things, and who knows, once the dust has settled hopefully Paperleaf will be reinstated sometime in the future! In the meantime I’ll of course keep on blogging about my goings on in NYC – Craft In The City anyone? 
Soooo, with all that said, I’m having a little sale! I’ve got quite a lot of cards which I don’t really want to haul all the way to NY, and it seems a bit sad to pack them away in storage. So until further notice all of my cards are available at Etsy/Folksy for $8/£4.50 for 5, including p&p within the UK. Pop over and take a look!
photo by Jasoon at Flickr
Thanks so much to the lovely Ellie of Mint Design Blog who invited me to take part in an interview about packaging! I don’t go too overboard in packaging my orders, but I like making them look pretty and inviting. Click on over to the article to hear me waffle on, alongside some other lovely talented crafty folk!
Things in the Paperleaf household are getting ever more hectic as we prepare for our move to NYC! Only 2 months until I go now (Mr Paperleaf is going a little sooner than me) so we’re in the middle of organizing and packing… We’re being quite strict in sorting stuff out and getting rid of junk we’ve accumulated – it’s been a great opportunity to get rid of stuff! Now there’s just that small thing called my thesis to finish, hmmm.
Handm@de Winchester was lots of fun yesterday! I saw lots of old faces from the previous Handm@de fairs, including Monda, Fabric Nation, Quercus Silver, Moments By Martha and Twinklyspangle who I shared a stall with… It was nice to meet lots of other great new people too, including Raspberry, Coco Crafts, Tomatotea, Swell Vintage, Beads by Sam, Coco Crafts, Half an Acre, and finally our neighbours Hung, Drawn and Quoted, and Nimu Yarns and their gorgeous baby! Sadly this was my last Handm@de fair for a while because of the move, but there are more planned in Oxford and Cambridge later in the year. See their website for more info!
Here are some photos from the day…
Monda
Hatastic
Half An Acre
Nimu Yarns
More at Flickr.
I was so busy taking pics of other peoples stalls that I forgot to get any of my own! Duh. So here’s one taken by smokingdrum!
Thanks again to Alice for organizing such a great day!
A few weeks ago my good friend Ramón recently starred as the butler in The Importance of Being Earnest, set in the beautiful surroundings of New College Cloisters in Oxford. I was somehow coerced into filming the play since my college has a great camcorder that students can borrow. I then edited the footage using iMovie – my first experience with it, but it was so easy to use and I think it came out pretty well! You can check it out on my Vimeo page.
I then went along again the following night and took along my camera with the old manual lens I bought a while ago. It was the first time I’ve really used it properly and it took a while to get used to the manual focusing but I got some nice photos that would have been impossible with the kit lens! Ramón is in the background of the first one…
More at Flickr.
In other news, tomorrow is Handm@de Winchester! If there is one good thing to come out of Andy Murray losing at Wimbledon, hopefully it means people will be out and about rather than watching the final! Hopefully I will see some familiar faces there
Phew, it’s roasting in Oxford at the moment, not that I’m complaining – I love this kind of weather. Long may it continue!
I finally got around to taking some photos of my latest invite creations, and I’m so pleased with how they turned out! Many hours of painstaking work went into these which I designed from scratch (except the monogram, which was provided by the bride and groom). The invite is double sided, and even the envelopes received some gocco treatment too! I designed them for an Italian couple after the lovely Silvia recommended me. Thanks Silvia! What do you think?
details blurred for privacy
