Atlantic Thread

Hi everyone, hope this finds you well. Spring has truly sprung and the flowers are gorgeous! Let's not dwell on the tree pollen...trees do so much for us after all; cool shade, beautiful and inspiring shapes, homes and restaurants for our wildlife, oxygenation of the air, so I will just take my antihistamines and shut up! I did manage to build and light a Beltane fire on Monday, it was cathartic! I'm in the midst of a week of teaching job interviews, so appropriately enough am thinking more about language and making a knitting glossary for the journey. I'm unlikely to meet any monolingual Breton, Amazight or Irish speakers, but I've still included them- a little effort goes a long way in terms of goodwill I find. However this sometimes backfires- I remember once visiting the island of Texel off the coast of the Netherlands. I do know some of the language but have forgotten a lot more by not being there much in recent years, and in my times in Amsterdam, I used to feel...

Good afternoon all, and hope you are well. Droopy leaves here, please send sunshine. I was thinking of putting that message into a bottle as I was finishing off this embroidered map of the route, imagining each place having more sunshine than there is here, which let's face it, wouldn't be difficult. But I was also more positively thinking about the quiet contemplative time I'll be spending in them, and I'm looking forward to that...I love looking at the water, and even though I'll have a lot of hooking to do on the route, there's always time to stare into the waves. I chose a very dark blue grey for the background; very often the colour of our beloved ocean, ice cream colours for the coastal places, and a yellow chain for the route I'll be taking; 1,600 miles as the crow flies; 42 places, 42 scarves and 1 big blanket. The wall hanging is still a work in progress too, needing some refinement and embellishment yet (like all good stories/). I've embroide...

Good morning all. Hope this finds you well, and if you're in this part of the world; enjoying the sunshine. My skin has got that lovely mixed blessing of loads of Vitamin D, and loads of scratches from gardening; I'm crocheting outdoors again, with cotton more than wool, back on the antihistamines, and remembering times with lovely weather and birdsong from every tree at my friend Sam's place in Ghazoua, a small town near Essaouira. She's moved back to London now, but we spent the afternoon in a garden together yesterday; very lovely, if not quite the same in the middle of London as it was sunning ourselves on her rooftop in the clean and quiet air of rural Morocco. This is the final part of my journey, and planning this is a bit different from the others. First of all, I'm not going to be contacting the yarn shops in advance as I will be shopping in the souks. Planning the route and places is also a bit more dependent on ease of transport options, as it's qui...

Good morning all, I hope this finds you well. As you know I always begin with the weather, but it's almost too rubbish to mention today- winter seems to be thrashing spring in their annual card game, let's hope spring has some aces up its sleeve. This entry is a bit of history, and a bit of current affairs, which I can't really avoid when looking at this part of the journey. In Greek mythology, The Pillars of Hercules refers to the mountain peaks in Spain and Morocco that mark the gateway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The pillars hold up the world apparently, as for the ancient Greeks, this gateway was the western edge of the known world. Hercules placed these pillars here to ease the burden of Atlas, one of the old gods, the Titans, who had been condemned by the new gods to hold up the sky for eternity. He gave his name to both the Atlas mountains (though his own name perhaps comes from the Berber word for mountain, adrar), and the Atlantic Ocean. We now ca...

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 ...

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...