Leaving the house with phone, wallet, keys & an open <3

Knitting phone, wallet, keys and an open heart gloves

The most legendary thing that happened on the Camino imo was the ex-Mormon who bet his record of drinking two beers in one night (he had four beers) and then had a threesome with two very pretty girls. I called him obnoxious in my last entry, but I have to hand it to him. The second most legendary thing that happened on the camino was me making these gloves.

I have left Spain and have now arrived back in London via Cork. Walking for 30 days is really good for peace of mind, being in the beautiful green space of Cork with my beautiful friends is also good for the mind, but being unemployed in London might be detrimental to it. We will see.

The gloves are made out of merino yarn that I brought in one of the cities and knitted in the afternoons drinking beers. In the beginning, the beers were mostly cold pints at bars, then slowly cheaper, room temperature beers brought from the supermarket.

I like to think the gloves have a function beyond keeping your hands/arms warm. Functional clothing I have realised while walking, is very important to me. I hope when worn, these gloves will remind the wearer to check not only for their phone, wallet, keys, but also, that heir heart is open to possibilities. Maybe I should have thought about having an open-heart had when I called the guy obnoxious, but I guess hindsight is 20/20.

I am pretty good at remembering my keys, wallet, phone, however, last year while living in Melbourne I accidentally posted my house keys to my mum in New Zealand. Asides from that, I am only locked out of my house occasionally. Having an open heart is often not my strong suit. I think it’s the vulnerability that is challenging, but maybe these gloves can fix me. Or better, maybe they can fix you, but now as I type this and think about it more deeply, they could actually fix both of us. If you buy these gloves, I can continue to eat another day and you can be warm, open-hearted, and with your possessions.

I started knitting the gloves while in Spain, and finished knitting them in Cork. Here is what I was doing while making them:

Eating snickers

This walk made me feel like fucking Paul Blart from Mall Cop. There were a few times where I ate three snickers bars B2B. I don’t even remember the last time I brought a snickers bar before this. I can’t look at them the same anymore.

Being unemployed

I love walking, towards the end of the 890km I kind of resented it, but now that I am more stationary, I miss it. The best day was when we brought a cone of cherries and made a game out of throwing the pips into the vineyards. It was also nice to be surrounded by a lot of unemployed people. I miss a pay check (hire me or buy my knitwear).

Visiting Santiago De Compostela Gay club scene

It was epic, drinks were cheap and there was a person holding a small wind machine while a drag queen performed Christina Aguilera. I got back to my hostel accomodation at 6am and was woken up at 9am by the cleaner who told me I had three minutes to pack up and leave. My friend who I went to the club with had gone home with a guy he met. So while still very drunk, I had to clean up both of our things and go sleep on a bench outside.

Visiting Cork and having a spice bag

Ireland is so epic, the people are nice, the greenery is nice, my friends there are wonderful. I had my first spice bag, watched a lot of love island, and swam in the sea. The only thing that wasn’t nice was the guy I met on the way to Cork airport who started blowing on my neck to keep me cool. He described himself as a ‘self-aware narcissist’. He then put his email and phone number into my notes app incase I ever needed a rebound (I made up a long-term relationship which he questioned in detail).

Back 2 London

Now I am back in London in my sister’s flat, looking for work and thinking about what to do next, endless possibilities ahead. Moving ahead with an open heart.