I Wish I Was There- last public screening?

As the title alludes, this may (or may not) be the last public screening announcement for I Wish I Was There. I'm unsure, because there's a few festivals I'm waiting to hear back from, but not many and I never expect (though I do always hope) to be selected. So, this might be the last chance to see it on a big screen, before it goes online at some point next year.

Without further ado, the festival in question (drum roll please) is the London International Animation Festival! So if it is the last one, then it's a really exciting one to end the festival run on. I'm so grateful for this selection and it's honestly one I thought I wouldn't have even a slither of a chance of getting in, as well as the fact that it was chosen from out of over 2,300 films, which makes it even more special. Though I can't lie- the imposter syndrome is hitting ridiculously hard right now. I think once I know for a fact that the festival run is over on this film, I'll do a post about imposter stuff and self doubt etc with having a somewhat 'successful'* festival run (something I've never before experienced).

*in this instance meaning getting into a number of festivals and a good submission hit rate percentage

Before I get pulled too far down this rabbit hole, I need to announce the details don't I! It's actually part of two screening blocks, the first one is at 9pm on Fri 27th November, at The Barbican, as part of the 'British Showcase'. I will be there to introduce my film, so come say hello after!

And secondly, it's showing at the intriguingly named Horse Hospital, at 7pm on Tues 1st November, as part of the 'Are You OK?' shorts, which is a special programme focussing on mental health in animation. I'll not only be there to introduce my film, but also as one of the panelists for the screen talk afterwards. I'll also aim to get along to a few of the other festival events during my time down there, as the whole programme looks amazing!

Tickets for both can be purchased from the festival website HERE xo

Crochet Cloud Sweater

I’ve always liked the idea of a cloud sweater for some reason. I’ve seen them around and always thought it’s a really cool design, so now with my crochet capabilities, I was able to make one.

I had *some* blue and white yarn (unassigned to a specific project), but only 100g of blue, rather than the 200g or so I really needed. But I did have some turquoise, which I thought could be a good mix, providing I did a sort of ombre design. I did want to test this first, because I had no idea if it would look any good. Here’s the design on paper:

But first I needed to design a ‘test cloud’:

…as I didn’t know how it would translate into crochet from the paper, especially with the fact that I was going for a ribbed look. This grid paper was pretty accurate in representing each stitch, so I sketched out a rough cloud shape and created the above test. And it actually looked pretty cloud like, or at least in my opinion. So with that, I was able to carry out the aforementioned ombre test:

I wonder if anyone else’s crochet designs go through such a scientific process or if it’s just me- fellow crochet designers please let me know!!

Side note: I learned that the odd row numbers needed to be the front of the design, while equal were the back, so all the cut yarn strands etc need to be on the even number rows. You can see the ombre one is the opposite way round to the pink/ blue one, as I didn’t realise this at first.

As I sort of predicted, the ombre unfortunately wasn’t the look I wanted. It lacked contrast and didn’t match the bold image I had in my head for this design. Which meant I had to purchase another 100g ball, which was a problem in itself, because I bought the original ball a year ago and yeah finding the same dye lot one year on wouldn’t be easy! So I was stood in Hobbycraft trying to find the closest match for about half an hour. Bet I looked really normal and not weird at all. To be honest, I can’t really tell on the finished garment that it was two different dye lots and I should be the one to notice it, so I guess I picked right! I also had to buy yet another ball, because I didn’t have quite enough yarn to do the ribbing, so I now have almost a full ball of blue to use up in another project. Great! Maybe I could do an inverted version, so it could be a white backing, with blue clouds. Might be an idea…

Anyway, knowing the scale using the grid paper, I was then able to draw out a further four clouds (five was the right amount for this). I went with a variety of shapes and sizes, as I didn’t want them too uniform or anything:

I then created a grid in Excel- the same size of the grid paper I was using, which I printed out with enough rows/ columns as I needed for the vest- I was using the same row/ stitch count as one of the previous vests I made. I then marked out the front and back in different colour felts on the grid and transferred the clouds onto tracing paper. I cut those out, so I was able to move around and position them how I wanted and then taped them down once I was happy with the layout. When it came to doing the back, I would peel off the tape and reposition the clouds, so the back would be different than the front- I didn’t want them identical.

Once the rigorous design process was over, all I had to do was crochet! I used a 4mm hook (which seems to be my standard these days), using Wendy Supreme DK acrylic yarn for the blue and Women’s Institute DK acrylic for the white. The yarns are slightly different weights/ thicknesses, but I actually didn’t mind in this context, because the thicker white yarn makes the clouds look slightly fluffier and I was fine with that. I did actually have to re-do the back panel almost in full, as well as the sleeve ribbing, but can’t be bothered to go into the whole story as it’ll not be a riveting read!

The total weight after adding the ribbing is 230g (26g was the ribbing). I used approximately 20g of the white yarn, therefore 210g of the blue. And I absolutely love the outcome! It looks exactly how I envisaged it and I’m so proud of what I achieved with this one. It might be my favourite thing I’ve made to date…

Also, just want to say that September marked 1 year of crochet. I’m not sure if ‘life changing’ might be a little extreme here, but learning crochet has had a serious impact in my life in the best possible way. Once I got over the initial hurdle/ struggle of learning it, I felt like I found my ‘thing’. It’s so versatile in terms of what you can create and there’s so many different styles and directions you can take it in. It’s a great mix of creativity and practicality and it’s got such a calming feeling when you’re creating something. I also love just coming up with a design or idea for something and then seeing it being brought to life in my hands <3

I Wish I Was There- October Screenings

Yeah so I've not blogged since *checks notes* August- which is extremely off brand. But, I have been very, very busy, as well as not being in the best state with my mental health. So this has fallen by the wayside unfortunately. And my latest crochet project has taken a lot longer than expected and don't just want to put something on here when I haven't owt to say.

The last couple of weeks have been super full on- in a good way, albeit exhausting. I've attended 4 film festivals with I Wish I Was There, 3 of which were back to back, with the next only two days after the last of those! So yeah, you can see why I might be feeling it a little bit! Though I've got to say all the festivals were absolutely amazing- I met so many lovely people, saw some great films and generally had a good old time at all of them. And it was so cool to see how each festival does things and check out a few new cinemas/ venues. So a huge thank you to Worcester, Mansfield, Spirit of Independence and Bolton for selecting my film and making me feel included and welcome at your festivals <3 Would highly recommend checking out any of the mentioned, as you won't be disappointed. I'll stick a few pics below...

But, the show is not over yet! I have a couple more to announce right now, both of which are in Bradford as it happens. I wouldn't usually apply for more than one in the same place, but to be honest I didn't think I'd get into either, so two shots is better than one, am I right?!

The first one is THIS SATURDAY! Short notice, I know. So that's Sat 10th October 7pm, at the Bradford Movie Makers Clubhouse, for the inaugural Bradford Movie Makers Film Festival. This one is run by the group featured in that amazing feature doc 'A Bunch of Amateurs', so when I heard they were putting on a film festival, I couldn't not enter my film and I'm delighted it was selected!

Tickets are FREE and you can get those HERE.

Secondly, it is screening at Bradford International Film Festival, which takes place 23rd-25th October at Bradford Arts Centre. My film is showing on Sunday 25th in the 'Hard Times: Modern Pressures' block at 11am. The full programme across the whole weekend looks absolutely amazing and I'm so honoured to be part of it. Tickets are only a fiver and you can get those HERE. See you at both xo