Atlantic Thread

Good afternoon all, hope this finds you well and happy! I left you last week on a happy bus journey to Sines, and it was happy too to arrive. It's the first place I had ever wandered around in Portugal, and I did just that on this day, with a pilgrimage to say thank you to the town beach where the idea came of doing this project. This is an Atlantic town, and stays in touch with the rest of the world through being a port, and its World Music Festival every summer.  I end up wandering quite a lot backwards and forwards throughout the whole town, eventually finding the lovely Fernanda at the yarn shop. Someone recently, on seeing the pictures, asked me for directions to the shop, as she was from Sines and wanted to visit next time she saw her folks. I couldn't tell her, and I couldn't tell you either, but if you go around on a spiral from the art gallery in the middle, you will eventually come across it. Probably. And then followed an even happier bus journey to Cercal, ...

Good afternoon all, Hope this finds you well- and warm, it's cold outside, but I do love a bit of winter sunshine, and I have Grace Jones in the background, which always makes things feel quite sunny anyway. I've just posted off the last of the scarves, so work on the blanket is well underway, and am starting to look for an exhibition space, and aiming for April/May. I have found a couple of possibilities, both local, but if you have other ideas, please feel free to suggest! I'm now casting my mind back three months...three rather difficult months in my life...but I won't go into that here. I left you in Porto, just after my birthday, when I had a teeny weeny meltdown, but also a speedy recovery. I'm pretty introverted in general, and having three days in the same place, being able to stay in, away from too many people a bit, with time to reflect is pretty essential; and quite hard to get while travelling sometimes. The brightness and energy of Porto definitely ...

Good afternoon all, I hope this finds you well and happy. Please excuse the title if you're a bit fed up with people larking about with the names of the months. Movember was always particularly annoying when I already had a moustache anyway, and Sobertober isn't very inspiring either...but gloan is the Breton for wool, and it's nice to think of what's glowing amidst these dark months, so Gloanuary is my choice over Lainvier, Lenero, Olannair or Laneiro. I know I broke off from blogs mid-journey, so three or four more diary entries to add soon, but wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year, and to celebrate that the Atlantic Thread journey has finished, the final scarf is on the hook, the blanket is well underway and have just started compiling all the photos; have posted on facebook (billyblacklondon) those of the yarn shops and their inhabitants; here is Mohamed at my final stop in Essaouira. It's been a very tough time emotionally, and I'm grief-stricke...