Atlantic Thread

Hi all, hope this finds you all well and happy, although I know this week seems to have been a bit tough for many people close to me...events, emotions, behaviours....please be gentle with yourself if you're struggling. I've been working frantically to finish off a crochet sculpture, so have had little contemplation time, but I have been thinking about Ireland, and firming up dates and places, and beginning to contact the yarn shops there. Researching ferry companies (which like to change and delete routes year by year to keep sea travellers on their toes I guess), I've had to modify the itinerary a little; my route is much more the West of Ireland now than my original plan along the south coast, and I have a start date- flying from London to Shannon airport on the 10th September, the second day of the new moon, and spending a couple of days acclimatising around Galway before beginning properly on....and at.... Wed 12th: Leenane/ Leenaun: The Connemara Sheep and Woo...

Hello all Hoping this finds you well, despite this bitterly cold weather- just when you think how spring seems to be springing, it's another round of warm coats and sneezes...it's the time of year when we long for summer, for beaches and cocktails and warmth on the skin; and while we remember it, we can't quite believe it will ever be possible to walk out the door in shorts and a tshirt again. Many of us fill in our evenings with holiday porn, and turn our dreams into bookings, marking our escape routes into the calendar- a chunk of freedom with a soft centre of excitement. I am no less excited about planning this trip, even though it begins at summer's end. I aim to begin on or as close as possible to the 9th September, the new moon. In many cultures around the world, it is traditionally seen as an auspicious time to begin new projects; perhaps I am merely susceptible to superstition, but I have observed in my own energy levels over the years that it often is the d...

Money talks. Or in late stage capitalism, or however future historians come to view our times, money shouts and screams.  And it also tells lies. There always seems to be plenty of money to buy weapons, but not enough to buy medical equipment; a huge amount for business consultants, but not very much for those who clean up after them. We all know that life isn't fair, but the distribution of material wealth, both globally, nationally and in just about every city in the world now is just taking the piss. It hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to be this way. I don't believe there has ever been a utopia in this sense; there are many historical examples of slavery all across the world, but since the arrogant and wealthy European elites decided that the rest of the world was theirs to plunder, that their fellow inhabitants were commodities to be bought and sold- and who cares if they live or die- it went to a new level. It became virtuous and clever to make mon...

Hi y'all, and hope this finds you well...today's full moon seems to be going either one way or the other for people I've spoken to. And this is a bit of a difficult posting for me, so bear with me- it's quite personal- and I can be quite guarded about that (I can just hear the raucous cackling of some of my mates as they read that!). I'll try not to ramble on, as that's how this moon is affecting me... Since first having the idea for this project in November last year, I've run it by a few people who know me well. I was surprised that none of them asked me why- they all seemed to get it, and thought it was something worthwhile in terms of the connections it would make, both with the past and the present, and between different people, and that it would be an interesting thing to follow. They also recognised that it brought together many aspects of my life- the crafts, the languages, the writing, the connecting with people, the love of nature and slow travel...

Good morning, hope this finds you all well, and surviving any January blues...it's not so cold here, but everyone is sniffling, and it's very hard to imagine those lazy days of summer in times like these when you really want lazy days in bed. Nowhere in this part of the world does wind quite like the Atlantic coast. The waves here both dissuade those who want a relaxing soak in a warm and calm bath-like sea, but attract surfers, windsurfers and those who enjoy that delightful and slightly dangerous feeling of being dumped on the beach by the sea. Storm chasers come here, walkers and thinkers who like to feel the primal energy of the elements, as well as those are not afraid to eat a lot of sand in their sandwiches. In Ireland, there is the Wild Atlantic Way; in France the Atlantic cycle route; the Cantabrian coast route in Spain; the Rota Vicentina in Portugal. In Morocco, you can walk along much of the coast too, and many tour companies organise walking and camel trips there...

Good afternoon! Hope this finds you well. I wanted to give you a bit of a context for my journey. Crafts, using our hands and tools to create, are a universal human activity. Skills and techniques have been shared across what we may think of different cultures for time immemorial, so much so that where they originated is often unknown, and to a certain extent, I believe irrelevant. What is produced by each craftsperson will definitely be influenced by the cultural context within which they work, and also by the commercial demands of their potential customers, but their inner world also comes out to play. What we generally understand by crafts is just one individual producing something from start to finish, and so it is inevitable that much of their own self is invested and reflected in their work; their thoughts and experiences and the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches that have come into their lives. Crafts, not requiring language to learn, teach or practise, are sensual an...

Good morning all I hope this finds you well. If you have just joined me, this blog is about my crochet journey along some of the North Atlantic coast. The first post 'Germination' details the ideas behind this project; and this one sets out the route I plan to take, travelling simply by ferry and by bus. To keep to a modest budget, I will mostly be camping in my trusty old little canvas tent, except for the Moroccan stage. In a country where economic opportunities are more limited, camping is not so much of a leisure activity, so I will be staying in locally owned accommodation. I am trying to keep as close to the coastline as possible- a little dependent on bus and ferry routes of course. My journey will begin in Killarney, in the south-west of Ireland, going by bus along the south coast, through Cork and to Rosslare, from where I will take the ferry to Roscoff in Brittany. From here, I will go to Quimper and along the south Breton coast to Nantes, and from the port a...