Made at Home

Hello everyone - here I am again with a Made At Home podcast, about the handmade things you can buy as souvenirs on holiday and things that are produced local to the place you go. This is my decorative plate we got from the ceramic shop in Seville which I talk about (I’m afraid you can see how terrible my cutting-in is in this photo but in my defence none of our walls are straight)And this is the little ceramic devil from Porto, sitting next to one of the taracea boxes I bought from a shop on the street behind the Alhambra. I’ve just googled and found this blog on taracea, it does seem to be an actual thing and not something people are just buying from Temu (I’m always suspicious). She’s also got a blog on the things you can buy from the area, I should look for embroidery and fans but it’s not something I’ve ever seen on the coast - I’ve definitely seen them in Seville so I’ll look next time I’m there. (Also I’m remembering swords and gold in Toledo being a bit of a thing - I’m not really in the market for either of these and I was quite stressed at the time, whole other story, but I wonder if this was real or just a tourist thing?).Anyway this will all make sense if you listen to the podcast (possibly! I was a bit disjointed today because we flew back yesterday and me and flying don’t go together very well) - and if anyone has any ideas for interesting crafts from Germany/ Nuremberg/ Bayreuth, which is where we’re going next, I’m all ears! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

I’m knitting socks with kittens on them, Ghost has done something unfortunate in the wool basket, and I’ve taken leave of my senses and decided to perform in the Buxton Fringe. And of course, as ever, the Guardian has annoyed me about AI.I’d like to reassure anyone listening to this that I love Ghost beyond all things and would never really take her to the Dove Holes Cat Sanctuary, no matter how many politically (with a small p) sensitive things she pees on. She’s currently sitting on a chest of drawers looking down at me (I’m sitting on the floor), having a very thorough grooming session, because of course she’s very fussy about hygiene in some contexts… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Today I’m talking about how I managed to have a panic attack in the middle of Peter Grimes on Friday, what went down at the Buxton Vintage Textiles Fair last week, and how we shouldn’t feel the need to optimise everything. We’re not robots! Do things badly and be proud of it! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

I’m going to be completely honest with you: this podcast is basically a rant about how rubbish social media has become. I had a moment last week of pure, unfiltered rage about how we are expected to jump through technological hoops, and so I started taking action: I threw away my google dot (well, I put it in a drawer), I cancelled my youtube account, and I started thinking about what I use my phone for that I can replace with analogue versions (torch, watch, map). If you aren’t in the mood for fury, I completely understand if you skip this one - I’ll do a more thought-out, sensible podcast at some point about how The Algorithm conflicts with the Made At Home Ethos (actually Keith said, unironically, why don’t you make a quilt about it, and I’m going to!), but this is not that podcast. This is very much the beginning of the conversation. I promise I’m in a much better mood now, and I’ve been doing lots of excellent creative things after my Damascene Revelation!So to put this into context for you, I’ve had an Instagram account, which I’ve never really used, for years. Sometime last year, I thought I would start posting on it, because I have family/ friends who are on Instagram, and because I thought it would be a kind of neutral shop window for people to contact me if they needed to (I mean honestly you can see where this is going). So I set myself up with a professional account (this is free, you just turn it on in your profile) and off I went.And this was my mistake. This is where it drove me mad. Because what I didn’t realise was, if you have a professional account, you are inundated with posts exhorting you to get likes/ followers/ go viral. Instagram tells you you should analyse what you have posted last week and see what was most successful, and plan your posting for next week. A number of brainless, cringey template videos are suggested to you by various people. You see influencers posting variations of the same brainless cringey video time and time again. You die a little inside. Now let me stress: this is not at all a criticism of influencers: I couldn’t be an influencer (I don’t mean that in a sneery way, I mean I straightforwardly haven’t got what it takes), it’s a massive amount of work, and I also don’t imagine they’re under the illusion that they’re creating great art. It’s basically a marketing job with people criticising you all the time, no guaranteed wage, no sick pay, and no pension.There are people who have been enormously successful on Instagram and made money, and I enjoy their posts: to these people I say wholeheartedly, well done, you have done exceptionally well in a difficult system and I admire and applaud you. However, many of the people posting on Instagram are not successful. They are basically selling their soul for a tiny bit of money for a Temu promotion or some Amazon affiliate link nonsense, and we are all losing - or at least dimming the shine of - a tiny bit of our humanity in the process.I don’t think social media per se - using the internet to contact people and share knowledge - is pointless. In fact I can tell you that, as someone with a number of quite obscure hobbies, being able to access people with fairly arcane knowledge over the internet, who have been willing to share their information, process, inspiration etc through message boards, facebook and blogs has been a game changer. I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do without it. I remember the 90s: it wasn’t better. Also I’ve met some lovely people on the internet who are now friends, I’ve been able to keep in touch with people I’ve moved away from, and felt involved in the lives of people I don’t see on a day to day basis. I think it has the potential to be wonderful. I still think it can be wonderful if we’re selective (basically, if we go back to pre - 2008 or so: message boards, computer set up in the corner of the living room, talk to people in real life, that kind of thing).But bloody hell. Instagram. Dance, monkey, dance! Do a variation of this trending video with this trending audio! Put out a political statement where you handwringingly condemn someone with exactly the same type of account as you but crucially with a few more followers for not putting out the exact same political statement and then go and do absolutely f**k all yourself to make real life better! Make more money for META! Don’t ask what you’re getting out of it! Don’t ask where your payment is! Just don’t bloody ask!You see, I really am angry. It just sums up everything for me about the enshitification of the internet. I’m sure there are people reading this who are thinking, no, she’s wrong, my experience of Instagram is lovely: and it may be: but I think it was probably lovely 10 years ago when it was about pictures, and when people were just posting a slightly nicer view of their everyday lives. If I could spend 10 minutes occasionally scrolling down a feed and looking at peoples’ cats, cups of tea and their knitting projects I’d probably like it too. I know we’ve done a deal with the devil for access to social media: we’re the product, and the price of being able to scroll through what our friends are doing is all the other rubbish that comes with it. But for me - and this is like the expensive Chesterfield coffee from a few weeks ago! - it’s just tipped the balance now. The game is no longer worth the candle. So I’m here with my delicious self-made coffee in a handmade coffee cup, working out how I can do the internet-equivalent without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Get your other monkeys to dance, META, you won’t be getting me. (Although, I’m a massive hypocrite here. I post a daily diary thing on Instagram Stories. No-one looks at it apart from mum, occasionally, and I enjoy it: but maybe that should be the first to go.) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

OK I’m sorry everyone. This is one of those where I had something planned to talk about and then I set off on a completely random rant about something else, then when I had finished my random rant I thought, well I’ll talk about what I was going to talk about anyway. So the result is that this podcast is quite long and also changes direction in the middle, much like Dick Dastardly and Muttley in Wacky Races. I apologise for that. Anyway the book on soapmaking I talk about is called Smart Soapmaking by Anne L Watson , I’ve never got much beyond the first recipe and the reason is that it’s really good and works every time.This is the bakery which kept us all going with flour through Covid, Fitzgerald’s, and I have realised when googling it that it has really terrible reviews on Tripadvisor and really I’m not sure why. It is one of those places where you feel a bit like you’ve walked into 1984, but quite a lot of Derbyshire is like that. The women behind the counter do have a particular manner, but again, quite a lot of Derbyshire is like that. That’s the type of middle aged woman who built the Industrial Revolution. One person managed to pay £27 for 2 x coffees and 2 x jam tarts which is not possible. Perhaps Fitzgerald’s have pissed off the local Mafia. It is a mystery. I may discuss this in a future podcast but in the meantime I shall continue to call in for my Malteser Brownie and a Chocolate Flapjack for Keith. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Well, I recorded today’s podcast yesterday while I was in the middle of making a number of quite confusing things in the kitchen, and Ghost was being very unhelpful and kept coming in and looking me right in the eye while pretending she was going to knock everything off the dresser. So it has a slightly hysterical quality. Anyway, this episode is thoughts on the desirability (or not) of homemade presents for Christmas, what I’m actually making for everyone (and I still won’t have finished Dan’s by the time you listen to this), and musings on how I find myself trapped in an ongoing Christmas Situation. Also - I mention a drawing Dan did for me years ago of Pagan Santa riding a horse wearing a hat with the skulls of his enemies - looking at it I realise I misrepresented it slightly. He is actually riding a reindeer. Anyway here it is:(sorry for the bad light - we just don’t have light here any more -but never mind! We’re at the Solstice!) so you can see what I mean. Have a lovely Sunday - I’m going to be sitting here seaming seaming seaming little bits of garter stitch! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Today’s podcast is a bit shorter, because I started talking about post structuralism and I thought your tolerance for that was probably the same as mine! So just a few thoughts on simulacra, but also on Shirley Conran’s advice on how to know if you’re too fat (let me assure you that I don’t pass the test). And luckily Ghost was here to help, in her capacity as Podcast Room Supervisor, so she kept the whole thing from going anywhere near Derrida. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

On today’s episode I have Keith, who is my husband, talking about how the Made At Home ethos applies to making music, and in particular to the kind of music he makes. We establish early on in the podcast that Keith is The Enemy in terms of my philosophy, and in fact probably has no soul; but we carry on anyway.We talk about all sorts of exciting music here which I have then not put clips of. This is because for some reason (because Keith was doing it and not me) garage band actually let us put in the jingle and edit things: and so everything was fine and I became completely paranoid that if we did anything else to it it would bugger it up and we would lose the whole thing. So I owe you a number of bits of music which would mean you could see what we were talking about. In a future podcast! I promise! Also - the tickets for my play which I referred to - you can buy them here and if anyone is coming please let me know so I can come and say hello or you can come and have cake and meet the cats. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Today’s episode may be a bit disjointed because we are currently a House Of Flu, but here are some thoughts on my ongoing obsession, ceramics, and things being made in the UK. I feel we may be exploring both of these things again in future podcasts :-). Just a couple of things to add - here is the bowl I’m referring to that cost 25 Euros and which I managed to get in my underseat baggage allowance on Easyjet - if you’re thinking of doing the same, this was ok but any bigger might be pushing it…And the ceramics shop in Andalucia I’m talking about is called Céramicas Zayas - there’s one in Torre Del Mar and one in Nerja. There are also their ceramics (and sometimes slightly different ones) on all the markets in the area - the ones at Torre Del Mar, Torrox and Nerja. ++ this is the Denby factory shop - cheap pots and there is a café so you can have a day out. Those are my ceramic recommendations and if anyone else has got any I’m all ears! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Well, I really think Garage Band and I are arriving at a critical point in our relationship. Picture the scene. It is 2001. You are trying to edit the newsletter for your small voluntary organisation on Microsoft Word. All is well until you try to insert the picture of Tony receiving the big (in size, not amount) cheque from Elaine at the Council who caused a scandal by leaving her husband for one of the Lib Dem Councillors who was only elected last March. Every time you add it in all the text goes mad and moves everywhere. The talking paperclip is not helping. Fairtrade Instant Coffee, which is all there is available to you, is also not helping. Jo the admin assistant keeps telling you Quark is better and you should get with the times, and you want to strangle her. This is me and Garage Band, or at least the aural equivalent. Anyway here we are, I think this hangs together and if it does not I am very sorry. I tried my best. Also, I think I was wrong about the sheep: I think £20,000 was too much: but my overall point stands, and that is the only errata (erratum?) about which I would like to notify you.I hope you enjoy. Thank you for listening! x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Here is episode 3 of my podcast - an interview with mum who bravely volunteered/ was pressganged into becoming my First Interviewee! Now I had an absolute NIGHTMARE trying to edit this with garage band which fought me all the way, so please bear with me. I think I won. Anyway we cover all sorts in this episode, which is ostensibly about what mum was taught to make as a child and what she still makes. I hope you enjoy. I won’t say people are lining up to be on my podcast, because that would very much be an exaggeration, but I do have two more interviewees lined up, and if I can work out at some point how to record people who aren’t actually sitting next to me in the room then the world is my oyster.So anyway here is the tale of the lost cable cardigan and quite a lot more! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Welcome to Episode 2 of my podcast, where I explore Difficult Feelings around creativity and making things, and how it can be a powerful force for change. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com

Hello everyoneAs promised, here’s episode one of my podcast!Before I let you listen to this, I’m going to need you to promise you’ll listen to it with a generous ear. It’s basically like the Samuel Johnson quote about women preaching being like dogs walking on hind legs: it’s not that they do it well, it’s that you’re surprised they manage to do it at all. That’s me and podcasting. And you’d also be astonished how difficult it is to talk clearly, concisely, on topic, and not with any verbal tics for half an hour: which is why I absolutely haven’t managed it. But the major plus is, we all know now what my verbal tics are and I’ll be able, like, to, you know, work on avoiding them in the future, you know. So please bear with me.My podcast is called Made at Home: and I’m confident that that will cover anything I’m ever going to talk about. For example, in this one we range from how I never got the good fuzzy felts to a woman I once witnessed on facebook having a virtual strop about salad dressing; so next time I may write more detailed notes and rein myself in a bit.Also I hope you like my jingle. That was also Made at Home by my husband and we may have more discussion of that at a later date. But in the meantime I hope you enjoy my podcast a bit, I hope you don’t find my accent too flat and sarcastic: and in the next one I’m going to interview my mother, who, I think it’s fair to say, is gearing up and metaphorically drawing herself up to her full height of 5 foot 1 in preparation.Have a lovely Sunday! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit susiehalksworth.substack.com