Katie McGown

Quebec

(before)

(before)

(after and close, close, close)

(after, step back)

(after, all the way back)

Launched on the Clyde in 1865 and sailed on through to Canada, past Montreal and through to Ottawa and then scrapped in 1938.

It took me a little while to find some neglected ties, but eventually a couple peeked out from a thicket of rose bushes. I crouched down to snip the old ones off, and tie the new one on, my legs cramping, co-workers walking past. An obscure image in an awkward location. This is a week where I wanted a ship that knew the same waters that I knew. I left it down there low, next to the ashes.

Onward

(before)

(after)

(after - closer)

Launched on the Clyde on 11.03.1905 and scrapped in 1948.

I clipped down two tiny white ties and put up Onward with the morning traffic constant below the footbridge. It was still there on my way back from work on Monday. Today I walked by it again and just forgot to look.

Monday March 16th, 2009 : 4898, 1

Steps

(step 2334)

4898 steps

3.33 kilometers walked

For most of the day I had my pedometer in my pocket, for most of the day I thought about you.

Stitches

(tangled in frustration)

one row knit

Over the weekend I coaxed half of a ball of yarn onto my needles and into my patterns. Today I knit three rows and they were all wrong. I started over and over again until I managed one serviceable row.

Prototype: Cameo, Zebra

SS Cameo

(before)

(after)

(after - closer)

Launched on the Clyde on 05.03.1898 and scrapped in 1954.

I cut down three white ties, their undersides covered with a silky green algae. In their place went Cameo. The rain was spiteful and the wind vindictive and I assumed that these weather conditions would have meant deserted streets, but small groups filed past, looking quickly. I sighed and huffed in the drenching cold. Most of my pictures are blurry. I wondered how long it would take Cameo to develop an equally luxurious layer of flora. I thought about infusing it with fertilizer, but this must be unnecessary in Glasgow.

Installed on Sunday March 8th, 2009. Still there today, Tuesday March 10th.

HMS Zebra

(before)

(after)

Launched on the Clyde on 08.03.44 and scrapped in 1959. 

I cut the thick white tie, but left the tiny blue one. It seemed to delicate to move. Secured Zebra in the easing afternoon sun on a railing barricaded by roadworks, pavement pouring. 

Installed on Sunday March 8th, 2009. Still there today, Tuesday March 10th.

Wednesday March 5th, 2009 : 6850, 288

Steps

(step 5463)

6850 steps

4.65 kilometers walked

A snow shower in the sunshine. Got off the train a station early and walked outside into a space newly revealed after construction. We still don't know how to walk through this space, how to use this extra room. Our steps start out unsteady and we look around, figuring out this new place.

Stitches

(a good chunk of the bad ones)

288 stitches stitched

I stitched for an hour or two and almost every one of them was wrong. 

Tuesday March 3rd, 2009: 12343, 123

Steps

(step 9597)

12343 steps

8.39 kilometers walked

Walked home from work to try and find these. Although they are everywhere on the street, they're somewhat more elusive in the shops.

Stitches

(stitches 99-123)

123 stitches stitched

I used my tiny oblong embroidery hoop for the first time. I brought it back from one of the cavernous secondhand shops of Winnipeg, a city that seems to collect and not release the things that roll through its borders. Piling them up, setting them out in the sun. There wasn't a price tag so the woman just charged me a nickel. 

Monday March 2nd, 2009 : 8450, 91.12

Steps

(step 3374)

8450 steps

5.74 kilometers

The same branches, two weeks later.

Stitches

(after the 91st meter)

91.12 meters of thread stitches

It's just a compulsion, a tick, a desire for greater exaggeration. A yearning for the repetitive turns through the machine, the building up of thread.

Sunday March 1, 2009 : 10956, 26.8

Steps

(step 8644)

10956 steps

7.45 kilometers

Stayed in the house for as long as I could stand it, working away. Broke out to walk aimlessly for a few hours before settling back down to talk to you.

Stitches

(new thread)

26.8 meters of thread stitched

I had trouble starting something. I couldn't stop.

Wednesday February 25th, 2009: 3466, 0

Steps

(step 3276)

3466 steps

2.35 kilometers walked

Sometimes my pedometer measures every rotation I make while cycling, sometimes it acts as though I am just walking in long, looping strides. And sometimes it refuses to acknowledge any of that movement. It suggests I traveled three miles in the same number of steps that it takes to get to the end of my block.

Stitches

I searched "length of thread" and learned about methods of accurately predicting thread consumption in finished garments. And about bolts. And about a painting.

I plotted a strategy for future accuracy in future endeavours. I thought about graphs and charts.

Tuesday February 24th, 2009: 7536, 10

Steps

 

(step 3117)

7536 steps

5.12 kilometers walked

Biked home through extremely aggressive traffic, nearly died at least a few times. 

Figured I need something really fucking good to happen every 2-3 months. Four to six times a year. Probably enough to make me happy but not enough to make me an egotistical disaster. Would probably still be able to mix socially amongst my peers.

Stitches

(colourful, misguided stitches)

10 meters of thread stitched

I'm only guessing. I have no idea. I'm doing something called learning, some process of skill acquisition. It's unbelievably irritating.