I’m Jen Cantwell, I’m on the Hi-Arts Making Progress programme, I’m a mid career maker with my practice Sporran Nation, I also work across mediums in a more experimental way and for the making progress programme I’m working with knit and sound technology, with a virtual element added in.

Aided + abetted by my partner, sound designer Dave Martin I’m turning birdsongs and ambient sound  into knitted fairisle patterns. The idea evolved like this —> random chat about birds having regional accents —> regional identities within textile mediums (knit,lace+ crochet) —>  Scottish ganseys and Irish Aran patterns that identify individual families —> the concept of knitted thumbprints —> identity, homeland and movement —> data transference  —> virtual community and viral behaviours.

We’ve been out + about recording + have done two locations and are planning a third this weekend, I’ve yet to happily translate the sound files  into images, the knitting machine has been controlling the process and all I could see was the restriction of a 24stitch repeat but just this week I’d an epiphany, y’know one of the ones where you sit down full of despair + hopelessness + headbanging brick walls,  and then you make a visual connection and then another and another and then there it is, staring you in the face like it should have been all along and blimey that was SIMPLE and god you’re so STUPID you should have had that in your head all along but how clever at the same time, brilliant …WINE!  One of those epiphanies, so rain permitting we’re back on the road on Saturday and work permitting I’m knitting next week.  I’ll be dictating to the knitting machine instead of it dictating to me, I’m the boss of it so I am.