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With Covid-19 ravaging populations and the World trying to come to terms with lockdown reality, it seems an appropriate moment to reactivate this Platform-7 project from 2013 exploring the trauma that follows on from a sudden shocking change in circumstance.
 Silence of Knitting in Margate...Margate on Nov 11th at 11am. The shelter, next door to Primark on Marine Drive, overlooks the sea where on March 31st 1916 a Zeppelin crashed... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...On the 31st March 1916, at 9:45pm, the L15 received a direct hit from the AA gun at Purfleet, Essex.... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...eventually the Zeppelin became too heavy to fly, and she came down in the sea off Margate at 00.15 (1st April) – close to the Kentish Knock lightship... |
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 Silence of Knitting in Margate...One crew member, ObsigMt Willy Albrecht, was drowned. The rest of the crew (16 members in total) were rescued by the armed trawler Olivine (and then transferred to HMS Vulture).... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...These enormous, silent, airships created terror amongst the population, as often, only when bombs began exploding were people first aware of an attack... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...On Monday, 11th Nov at 11am people will be joining together in a common task,... |
 Silence of Knitting in Margate...that of knitting in silence a piece of shamrock lace using white wool... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...The pattern for the lace comes from the archive of WW1 VAD Nurse Clarice Spratling... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...This pattern, handwritten in her notebook dated 1908... |
 Silence of Knitting in Margate...one amongst several others but seemed the most appropriate to use... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...An unexpected aspect of this project has been the sense of people coming together... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...all joining together for a common purpose... |
 Silence of Knitting in Margate...I sat in the shelter knitting in silence alongside friends, acquaintances and near strangers, my thoughts jumping... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate... The silent way that this happened, mostly through the mighty power of social media, sent such a loud and resounding message of the desire for people to have a way to actively remember.... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate... remembering doesn’t necessarily mean or lead to understanding, but provides an outlet for the confusion... |
 Silence of Knitting in Margate..Cast on 7 stitches 1st row: Knit 2, make 1, knit 2 together, knit 1, make 2, knit 2 2nd row: knit 3, purl 1, knit 2, purl 1, knit 2 3rd row: knit 2, make 1, knit 2 together, knit 3, make 2, knit 2 4th row: knit 3, purl 1, knit 4, purl 1, knit 2 5th row: knit 2, make 1, knit 2 together, knit 3, make 2, knit 4 6th row: knit 5, purl 1, knit 4, purl 1, knit 2 7th row: knit 2, make 1, knit 2 together... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...The origins of the word Lace are in the latin laqueus, meaning a noose or snare and lacere... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...I have spent the weekend finalising the design for the labels, printing them and then hand stitching together to form small booklets... |
 Silence of Knitting in Margate...Although this proved quite time-consuming it seemed an appropriate way... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...These small booklets will be attached to each individual piece of lace... |  SOK Margate image 20.jpg...and the lace then left tied to the bench in the shelter for others to find... |
 Silence of Knitting in Margate...Each tells a little of the story behind the lace and for those taking part in other places there will be space for them to tell about the location where their lace is placed... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate...The symbol of a four leaf clover has been seen a symbol of good luck for centuries... |  Silence of Knitting in Margate.... |
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Images & Copyright: Kim Conway & others
11th November 2013
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