My claim to fame

I never know how to start the first post of a blog, and this is my first proper blog, so I don't have much experience. Why have I started this? Well, I like making things, and whilst I already post photos up on Flickr and show things off on Craftster (as Angry Angel), I thought it would be nice to have one place where I could keep everything together.

I have a few projects that I've been working on - I'm re-writing my free patterns and will post them here, I've recently finished a new crochet creature ready to go into my Etsy shop, and I'm busy designing cute little Star Wars amigurumis - but for my first post I thought I'd share my geeky crochet claim to fame.

Nearly two years ago I was contacted by a television production company asking if they could use a photo of Wicket the Ewok that I had crocheted. I said yes, but never heard anything else from them.

Then, last autumn an eagle-eyed crafter contacted me and said she'd seen him on a Channel 4 programme, Bring Back.... Star Wars, with Justin Lee Collins. I checked out the repeat, and there he was! The show has Justin contacting the various actors from Star Wars and trying to get them back together. He had a big board with photos with all the actors, generally publicity shots from their agents. But bizarrely, for Warwick Davies they had a copy of my picture! Anyway, I was very excited to see my Ewok on telly. Here it is on YouTube, you can see the picture after 4m 30s : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhdbFVMY6DM&feature=related

However, this was just the beginning. Not long after that I had an email from Hat Trick Productions, asking if they could use my photo of a crocheted Dalek and Doctor Who for an episode of Have I Got News For You with Tom Baker as the guest host. Of course, I said yes (they paid me too, which was even better!), and since HIGNFY is filmed only a day before it's shown, I soon got to see my creations up on screen. Having advance notice was good because I got to tell a few friends and family so they could watch too.

Here's the clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pYj82q2SDQ - my photo turns up 1m 20s in. I was rather pleased that none of the panellists were rude, it even got a couple of jokes!

So, that's got me started. If anyone would like to make their own Wicket the Ewok watch this space. I originally put up a simplified tutorial on Craftster, but I've written into a more conventional format and as soon as I've given it a test, I'll be posting my pattern here.