Atlantic Thread

Good Friday everyone. I hope this finds you well...I've been sniffing and snivelling for the last couple of weeks- spring has been so very shy this year- I'm hoping that the sun will find its hat or its mojo, whatever's been lost, very soon. This, of course, is not so much of a problem in Portugal- quite the opposite as seen by the tragic fires last year- but it's not only the weather that makes me excited about writing this entry and about the Portuguese stage of the trip. This is really the spiritual home of the journey- I first had the idea while sitting on a beach in Sines in November last year, and my visits to this country over the last few years have been maybe the biggest source of inspiration for all of my craftwork recently. I first went to see my friend Monica there for her wonderful exhibition about Connection and Belonging in a gallery in Sines, in the Alentejo. She'd asked me to contribute something- a giant knitted talego- the name for the drawstrin...

Good morning all. I hope this finds you well, and not too brought down by the lack of spring warmth, and all the cold bugs going around...at least the light is returning, the buds are on the trees, and someone invented knitting so we have jumpers to keep warm! Plans are progressing well here, I have received some pledges, so my passport is renewed and the first travel tickets are bought...I have begun to embroider the map of the journey. I loved sewing the smooth Moroccan coast, but I feel the inlets and nooks and crannies of the Breton and Irish coasts will be much nicer to travel along than to sew. I want to embroider the name for the Atlantic Ocean in every language spoken along the way- having trouble finding this in any Berber language, so if you know any Berber speakers (especially Shilha), then please get in touch. Have also nearly finished the woollen blanket I will be raffling off to raise funds- it contains wool from Iceland, the Orkney Islands, Donegal, France, Portugal and...

Good afternoon y'all and hope this finds you well. I'm being very inappropriate- this weekend is for all things Irish, but I've already planned that part. I will make sure to have a Red Velvet tomorrow (split a glass of port between two pints of Guinness- it's rather special), but my mind is further afield, planning the Spanish part of the trip. I will arrive in Santander on Monday first October, and will be travelling through three Spanish regions in the North; Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia, then down the coast of Portugal, and briefly back into Spain, to Andalucia to take the ferry to Morocco. I know very little about the North of Spain, although someone did tell me once how much it looked like Surrey; the whole area I'm going through is really where the rain in Spain mainly falls, and the Atlantic climate and green landscape is not so different from Ireland or Brittany. I'll be arriving in the port of Santander at lunchtime on Monday 1st Octob...

Good morning all, I hope this finds you well. I'm feeling excited and a little bit daunted- in exactly six months today, on the 10th September I will be setting off for Ireland to begin my journey. A lot of planning and thought has gone into it already, and it's all taking shape, but I need to keep my feet on the ground (not always easy for a dreamer), and get on with the parts about being a maker that few of us enjoy; promotion and raising funds. It is a very DIY project- I was born in the 70s after all so I think I must have breathed in that a lot of that punk ethic in my youth- but doing all that selling of myself and my ideas doesn't come naturally...but I'm slowly getting there! I took the first pledge for a scarf this week- thank you to my dear friend Monica, who has been incredibly supportive through all the planning process (and, in fact, in all the time I've known her), and it's fitting as I was with her on a beach in Sines when I first had this idea....

Good morning all Hope this finds you well and those of you in the Northern hemisphere are keeping toasty warm- I can't help thinking it would be sensible to move Christmas to the end of February- this is when we really want to close the doors from the world outside, and all those snowscape cards would make a lot more sense. However, my mind is elsewhere and deep in the planning of my autumn journey, which is just as well because researching campsites in Ireland would be a bit scary if I was focussed on the weather outside. I have heard back from most of the yarn shops in Ireland, and all seem very interested in the project and are happy to be photographed. I have made one adjustment- I couldn't find any contact details for the yarn shop in Tralee, it may well have closed down- such being the fate of so many independent yarn shops alas, so my stop on the 17th September will now be at Commodum in Dingle/ Daingean Ui Chuis. And so, onwards to Brittany/ Bretagne/ Breizh. I leav...

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...