Dork Adore: Lovely Things for Geeks (including craftsters)
So, not only have I been busy knitting, growing a human from scratch and packing up to move house, I’ve also been working away at a brand new pet project: Dork Adore.
It’s basically a geek haven, designed to have a category for nearly every area of the internet that dorks adore. And, of course, it goes without saying that there’s a craft section.
Recent posts include:
I’m very proud of my new site, and I’m also blown away by the number of lovely writers who have given their time to what is basically a labour of love.
Lots of ex-Shiny writers are on board, including Susi Weaser (my successor as editor of Shiny Shiny), Gemma Cartwright, Robyn Wilder and Anna Waits.
I’ve also had world-famous children’s author, Alex Milway (he’s my husband, I’m allowed to be biased. Buy his books!) and Gemma’s other half, Charles, who has written a hotly debated piece about Twilight and how rubbish it is.
And last but by no means least, my wondrous editorial assistant who works for my company, Miramus – Emma Cossey.
Anyway, have a look at the site, and let me know what you think. And if you’re a crafty person and have any tips (or want to write!) you can get in touch over on Dork Adore.
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Brace yourselves, people, I’ve been… KNITTING!
It’s outrageous, I know. I’m basically a traitor to the crochet community. But the fact is, I got myself knocked up (intentionally, I should probably add), and I started making a few crochet things, but soon even I had to accept that knitting has the edge over crochet when it comes to clothes.
But knitted toys still aren’t as good as crochet ones. Which is probably why the “knitted character” on Harry Hill’s TV Burp is clearly crocheted and should be renamed immediately.
Anyway, that was an unplanned side-rant and I should probably move on before I start getting foam bubbles round my mouth.
So, here’s something I still haven’t finished crocheting.
And here’s the same thing, made by my crochet-whizz of a mother.
And this is the point that I got bored of crocheting trebles round and round and picked up the needles.
As you can see, my first attempt at knitting is a little bit iffy. There are clearly some errors in there. However, it turns out that one of the things that has always bored me about knitting was the simple fact that I always knitted scarves because I didn’t know how to make anything else.
And knitting up and down is as dull as crocheting trebles round and round.
But once I’d actually decided to work out a pattern, it turned out to be surprisingly fun. And now I know how to pick up a stitch (why did no one tell me it was so easy – I used to unpick it all!) and do some basic stuff, I’m 2 jumpers, a cardie, and a nearly-finished cardie the richer.
I’ll upload proper photos once I locate the memory card I took them on. But rest assured they’re a lot less dodgy than my first cardie. Plus, I actually made sure I had enough wool to finish the pattern – unlike this red one with the dash of “oh crap I’ve run out of wool, this will have to do” blue.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Announcing Dork Adore: a haven for geeks
I’ve been thinking for a while now about what to do with all those spare minutes in between 5.30 and 11pm during the week, and wondering whether there was a way to do more work during my weekends and I finally hit on a solution: launch a new website!
So that’s what I’ve done.
Dork Adore, brought to you by Miramus, is the culmination of many hours of labour. I’ve launched it just before I’m required to put in many more hours of labour to produce yet another Miramus project (a baby girl).
Dork Adore is brought to you by Katie Lee, founding editor of Shiny Shiny – the first gadgets site written by women for women. Dork Adore isn’t here to give you the latest tech press releases, it’s here to provide the best advice, opinion, reviews and the odd bit of geek news.
Since the site is written by a group of dorks, you’ll find every obsession covered, from TV to beauty; lifehacks to coffee makers. If you want to get in touch, click here.
Please feel free to have a mooch about, maybe click on a few links and read a few articles. And if you’d like to leave me some comments, or email me with any non-crazy thoughts, please do! You can use the contact form on Dork Adore here.
Popularity: 42% [?]
Article for the Times
I wrote a piece for the Times Bricks and Mortar section recently. Not my area of expertise usually, but since you can’t stop me bleating on about how great Crystal Palace is, it had to happen some time.
It’s strange talking about “housing stock” and “local schools”, though I guess it’s not much different from harping on about “storage capability” or “processing power”.
While I was grabbing the link, I found this article from 2005, which I don’t remember ever seeing. I was a bit of a gadget girl rent-a-gob for a while there – until Shiny Shiny writers flooded the market and lady tech writers stopped being such a novelty – and 2005 was a vintage year for flippant Lee-quotage .
For Katie Lee, founder of the female-friendly gadget site Shiny Shiny, laptops mean “I can do all my work in bed, wearing jimjams and eating Hobnobs”
Which is *exactly* what I’m doing right now – right down to the eating Hobnobs part. It’s like my life has come full circle!
I’m like Proust, but 90% more shallow.
Popularity: 24% [?]
When geeks collide
The internet’s famous Susi Weaser came over today in order to work from a different home to her own.
As you can imagine, Crystal Palace was aflame with the burning humour of our wit and intelligence. We had many interesting conversations that probably should have been recorded for posterity and stored in some well-guarded vault for the benefit of future generations.
Here are some samples of our conversations:
Me: Do you like my Vax Cone? It glows when you charge it up.
Susi: Why do you need one of those?
Me: Just think of the spot cleaning I’ll be able to do once the baby’s here!
Susi: That’s true, I could do with spot cleaning my rug at home, the fluff gets everywhere so I have to walk around it.
Susi: Actually, Dyson is launching something in a few weeks and they won’t tell me what it is. I’m excited.
And
Susi: I’ve got to find battery chargers that look nice for this article.
Me: I love battery chargers! Energiser and Sanyo both have nice looking chargers.
Susi: I’ll send it to you once it’s done so you can enjoy reading it.
And
Susi: You like To Do lists don’t you? Check out this To Do list app I’ve got.
Me: That’s great. I’ve been looking for something like that. I’m not happy with the solutions I’ve found so far. [Insert lengthy conversation about To Do lists apps followed by a digression into the wonders of Drop Box and Fresh Books].
Etc etc all afternoon.
So, as you can see, the nation really has missed out on something magical happening right here in my living room and it’s a poorer place because of it.
Next time maybe I’ll set up a webcam and you can all sit and gaze, agog at just how interesting two humans can be. In the meantime, here’s one of my favourite videos we made back in the Shiny hay day about a gadget no one was interested in.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Introducing Miramus Ltd – my new company!
If you want to know what I’m up to at the moment, you can head over to Miramus.com where you can read all about my new business. I’ve set Miramus up as a catch all company for all the exciting projects I’m working on, and as the launch pad for a few personal projects I’m formulating, so expect the company’s output to be quite diverse!
There’s a blog on the site too, which should give you more information about clients I’m currently working with.
Popularity: 24% [?]
I’m Alpaca Girl’s Fiber Arts Friday featured blogger!
The lovely Katy from Alpaca Farm Girl contacted me to ask if I’d talk about the fine art of crochet for her Fiber Arts Friday feature. How could I refuse? I am but flesh and blood.
You can read my hilarious insights and homespun wisdom right here.
Also, I know it’s shameful of me, but I gave Katy the scoop on two things I finished making recently: my crochet blanket (well I say “finished” – I’ve still got a row of edging to do) and my amigurumi Milo, which I made for my Milo-mad niece over in Australia. She’s already picked a hole in the back of his neck, which I think speaks volumes about the ingratitude of 2 year olds.
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Talking to (Shiny)Katie post-Shiny:
Here’s an interview I did with Journalism.co.uk after I left Shiny Media.
In terms of where we went wrong, we’ve certainly made some pretty big mistakes over the years, but with no model to follow over here, I think Shiny is still a pretty impressive success story.
I’ve got some ideas that have been bubbling away quietly in the back of my mind for some time now. I’m going to take a bit of time to work out which to focus on and where to take it and while I’m doing that I’ll keep myself ticking over with a bit of freelance consultancy and some journalism.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Leaving Shiny Media
Get your hankies ready because it’s true: I’m no longer working for Shiny Media. I was very sorry to leave such a vibrant, fun and brilliant business (OK, I know I’m biased), but after four years it felt like the right time to move on.
I’ll be announcing a couple of new ventures/projects in the coming weeks and in the meantime, you can still find me in Look magazine, and (of course) on Twitter.
Stay tuned for more news!
From the press release:
We also announce today the departure of our editorial director and co-founder Katie Lee from Shiny. Katie played a massive role in developing Shiny and in particular several of its hero blogs. She has now decided that the time is right to leave the business. She does however remain a significant shareholder in Shiny and we are very grateful for all she has done over the years.
Popularity: 8% [?]
I’m one of London’s 1000 most influential people!
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard has named me one of London’s most influential people in New Media! Along with my co-founders, Ashley and Chris, I got to celebrate with the likes of Boris Johnson and Gok Wan at the Wallace Collection a few weeks ago.
I’m one of the youngest people on the list… right up until the sections on fashion and acting and then I start to look quite long in the tooth…
More about it all over on the Shiny Media blog (or click on the image to read the full entry).
Don’t worry, I plan on using my new powers for good.
Popularity: 26% [?]
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