O Fio Portugues/ The Portuguese Thread
Good morning all,
I hope this finds you well and happy. I've had a bit of a wobbly week, hence being a couple of days late with this- had a bit of a crisis of confidence about the financial side of things- I am a worrier after all- but now the trip is pretty much planned, I've been able to make a detailed budget, and if I get enough pledges, I'll be able to do the whole trip without accruing very much debt. With the pledges I've got so far, I've booked my flight to Ireland, and all the ferry trips, and I have finished the blanket I will be raffling off to raise funds. I'm going to spend the next few weeks finishing the embroidered map, and sorting out a teaching job full time over the summer months, which is when I'll also be running a kickstarter campaign. Of course, still taking pre-orders now, so email me if you're interested (billyblacklondon@gmail.com)- everything now goes onto a travel money card in euros- I have found this to be pretty safe way of managing money while abroad, so it's good to have started that.
I wrestled a bit with the idea of teaching again- anxiety again, which is silly, as I actually love teaching...I think the roots of this are getting demoralised with it from spending the last two years working while the University was deliberately running our department down before closing it, and government regulations and the climate of hostility towards 'foreign' students was at its height. It felt like a losing battle- and indeed it was, but it would be silly of me to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and avoid doing a job which I like and have a lot of experience in. I do get very anxious travelling on rush hour trains such a long way every day, so am looking for language schools within walking distance, of which thankfully there are quite a few. Obviously this is much less pay than a University, but at least it would be working in a more positive atmosphere. Summer schools start at the end of May, so this gives me a focussed few weeks to finish planning and embroidering the map of my route. I haven't learned by experience and have still chosen some towns with long names...but not everywhere can be called Rye.
It's also been a very good week, as I'm a bit reeling from the news that a crochet sculpture I made has been selected for the Contemporary Textile Art Bienal in Guimaraes in Portugal http://contextile.pt/2018/. The organisation came about through Guimaraes being still home to a thriving textile industry, and people there recognising the artistic side, as well as the commercial side of textiles. It will be shown in September and October, so I will be able to make a brief detour inland to see it, so have rejigged the Portuguese leg a little bit. I wrote last week about how Portugal is the spiritual home of this trip, and it does seem to be the country where it's at for me at the moment. I did some work for a Portuguese designer last year, https://moreccolisboa.com/, and so my knitwear was on show at Lisbon fashion week in October last year, and this all came about through a lovely Portuguese drag artist, David Motta, from New York. He was stranded in London when it was very cold last summer, and so he came round to buy a mohair sweater from me, and brought his mate the designer- we had a lovely afternoon drinking green tea and rifling through my yarn stash, and then I spent a month realising his designs- mohair and tinsel dresses, hats, gauntlets and leg warmers. All those bright colours really cheered me up during a bit of a challenging personal time. I'm not someone that believes that 'things happen for a reason', as very often things don't work out, and bad things happen randomly- this is not the best of all possible worlds, but sometimes serendipity happens, and I really appreciate when it does.
And so the Portuguese thread, a little harder for me to research than the others, as it is a language I am new to learning, and online presence the further south you go is definitely less than in the other countries I have looked at.
Tuesday 9th October: Viana do Castelo: Lola Botona
(then a couple of days visiting the exhibition in Guimaraes, where there is a strong possibility that I might buy more yarn of course)
Friday 12th October: Porto: Ovelha Negra
Saturday 13th: Figueira da Foz: Love Las
Monday 15th: Lisbon: Rosa Pomar
Tuesday 16th: Alcacer do Sal: Casa Grenha
Wednesday 17th: Sines: Sinesmoda
Thursday 18th: Cercal do Alentejo: Anonymous?
Saturday 20th: Vila Nova de Milfontes: Colibri
(the last four are provisional and harder to plan- I have bought wool in all of these places, but some have ad hoc opening hours, some sell on the markets, and the one in Cercal I don't think has a name...but I got the most gorgeous bamboo yarn from them last year, so I know what is going in the basket there)
Monday 22nd: Odemira: A Casa das Linhas
Tuesday 23rd: Lagos: I have a few addresses thanks to tripadvisor, but no names
Wednesday 24th: Albufeira: Retrosaria Uranita
Thursday 25th: Olhao: Retrosaria Modular
So, with 12 shops and scarves, this is the longest leg of my journey, as befits its spiritual home, and reflecting how inspirational this country has been to me; and with two short breaks; to see my work in an exhibition, and to visit my dear friends Monica and Carlos. I have attempted translating my letter into Portuguese, but not sent yet- I have sent this attempt to a couple of my old Brazilian students to check through, allowing them to get their own back for marking their writing. I won't post it on here until it's checked, at the end of my next post; Atlas and Al Andalus.
Love and light to you, and enjoy the flowers- it isn't the worst of all possible worlds either. xxx
I hope this finds you well and happy. I've had a bit of a wobbly week, hence being a couple of days late with this- had a bit of a crisis of confidence about the financial side of things- I am a worrier after all- but now the trip is pretty much planned, I've been able to make a detailed budget, and if I get enough pledges, I'll be able to do the whole trip without accruing very much debt. With the pledges I've got so far, I've booked my flight to Ireland, and all the ferry trips, and I have finished the blanket I will be raffling off to raise funds. I'm going to spend the next few weeks finishing the embroidered map, and sorting out a teaching job full time over the summer months, which is when I'll also be running a kickstarter campaign. Of course, still taking pre-orders now, so email me if you're interested (billyblacklondon@gmail.com)- everything now goes onto a travel money card in euros- I have found this to be pretty safe way of managing money while abroad, so it's good to have started that.
I wrestled a bit with the idea of teaching again- anxiety again, which is silly, as I actually love teaching...I think the roots of this are getting demoralised with it from spending the last two years working while the University was deliberately running our department down before closing it, and government regulations and the climate of hostility towards 'foreign' students was at its height. It felt like a losing battle- and indeed it was, but it would be silly of me to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and avoid doing a job which I like and have a lot of experience in. I do get very anxious travelling on rush hour trains such a long way every day, so am looking for language schools within walking distance, of which thankfully there are quite a few. Obviously this is much less pay than a University, but at least it would be working in a more positive atmosphere. Summer schools start at the end of May, so this gives me a focussed few weeks to finish planning and embroidering the map of my route. I haven't learned by experience and have still chosen some towns with long names...but not everywhere can be called Rye.
It's also been a very good week, as I'm a bit reeling from the news that a crochet sculpture I made has been selected for the Contemporary Textile Art Bienal in Guimaraes in Portugal http://contextile.pt/2018/. The organisation came about through Guimaraes being still home to a thriving textile industry, and people there recognising the artistic side, as well as the commercial side of textiles. It will be shown in September and October, so I will be able to make a brief detour inland to see it, so have rejigged the Portuguese leg a little bit. I wrote last week about how Portugal is the spiritual home of this trip, and it does seem to be the country where it's at for me at the moment. I did some work for a Portuguese designer last year, https://moreccolisboa.com/, and so my knitwear was on show at Lisbon fashion week in October last year, and this all came about through a lovely Portuguese drag artist, David Motta, from New York. He was stranded in London when it was very cold last summer, and so he came round to buy a mohair sweater from me, and brought his mate the designer- we had a lovely afternoon drinking green tea and rifling through my yarn stash, and then I spent a month realising his designs- mohair and tinsel dresses, hats, gauntlets and leg warmers. All those bright colours really cheered me up during a bit of a challenging personal time. I'm not someone that believes that 'things happen for a reason', as very often things don't work out, and bad things happen randomly- this is not the best of all possible worlds, but sometimes serendipity happens, and I really appreciate when it does.
And so the Portuguese thread, a little harder for me to research than the others, as it is a language I am new to learning, and online presence the further south you go is definitely less than in the other countries I have looked at.
Tuesday 9th October: Viana do Castelo: Lola Botona
(then a couple of days visiting the exhibition in Guimaraes, where there is a strong possibility that I might buy more yarn of course)
Friday 12th October: Porto: Ovelha Negra
Saturday 13th: Figueira da Foz: Love Las
Monday 15th: Lisbon: Rosa Pomar
Tuesday 16th: Alcacer do Sal: Casa Grenha
Wednesday 17th: Sines: Sinesmoda
Thursday 18th: Cercal do Alentejo: Anonymous?
Saturday 20th: Vila Nova de Milfontes: Colibri
(the last four are provisional and harder to plan- I have bought wool in all of these places, but some have ad hoc opening hours, some sell on the markets, and the one in Cercal I don't think has a name...but I got the most gorgeous bamboo yarn from them last year, so I know what is going in the basket there)
Monday 22nd: Odemira: A Casa das Linhas
Tuesday 23rd: Lagos: I have a few addresses thanks to tripadvisor, but no names
Wednesday 24th: Albufeira: Retrosaria Uranita
Thursday 25th: Olhao: Retrosaria Modular
So, with 12 shops and scarves, this is the longest leg of my journey, as befits its spiritual home, and reflecting how inspirational this country has been to me; and with two short breaks; to see my work in an exhibition, and to visit my dear friends Monica and Carlos. I have attempted translating my letter into Portuguese, but not sent yet- I have sent this attempt to a couple of my old Brazilian students to check through, allowing them to get their own back for marking their writing. I won't post it on here until it's checked, at the end of my next post; Atlas and Al Andalus.
Love and light to you, and enjoy the flowers- it isn't the worst of all possible worlds either. xxx
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