Hello and hola!
It is summer 2022, and I’m in Spain.
And this is the traditional Andalusian town of Alhaurín de la Torre.
It is a beautiful place,
just 10km inland from the Costa del Sol -
the famous Sunshine Coast,
where thousands of my fellow cultured British tourists flock every year
to drink at el Rovers Return pub
and go shopping at Spainsbury’s
while gradually turning the same colour as the Spanish flag.
And of course, we’ve come here
to see some crochet.
This is Calle Malaga, the main shopping street in the centre of the town,
and as you can see, it is covered from start to finish
with home-made granny blankets.
(Yes, this video brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “blanket coverage”.)
The 500m2 giant woolly masterpiece is the work of resident crochet expert Eva Pacheco
and her class of about a dozen students.
And to be fair they might not all actually be grannies,
but they are pretty much exclusively local women over the age of 50.
And speaking of local women,
I am joined today by my friend Fran,
who lives in this part of Spain, as regular viewers may remember.
Which bit of Spain are you from Fran?
Manchester.
Do you want to explain where we are Fran?
Because you’ll be able to pronounce it better than me.
What’s the name of the town?
- Alhaurín de la Torre.
Again?
- Alhaurín de la Torre.
There we go, perfect Spanish pronunciation from the local Mancunian...
Oh are these the flags of Spain, and Andalusia,
and what’s the one in the middle?
I’m guessing that’s probably the town flag,
because the green and white is Andalusia…
Yeah – it’s also the Nigerian flag!
And then I guess that’s probably the town flag, I’m not quite sure.
Must be, right?
Aside from the flags, the artwork is mostly made up
of variations on the classic crochet squares
that are beloved by grannies and other crochetists all over the world.
But here and there you’ll see where one of the students went experimental
and tried a more advanced technique;
evidence suggests that this design was inspired
after one of the grannies got very drunk playing Tetris.
But what is the story behind this carnival of crochet?
Why would anyone spend so much time making warm woolly blankets
in a place as hot and sunny as this?
Well if it wasn’t obvious already,
these particular woolly blankets are not designed to keep you warm,
they’re designed to keep you cool.
In the scorching summer heat of southern Spain,
it's not unusual for busy pedestrian high streets to be covered with some sort of shade.
For example, here’s the main shopping street in Malaga:
you can see the giant awnings strung between the buildings,
providing shade to the masses below.
And here’s an example of the same thing on a smaller scale
in the nearby town of Mijas.
These canopies are usually made out of canvas, or plastic,
or some other cheap disposable material.
But in 2019 the authorities here in Alhaurín de la Torre
announced they wanted replace their plastic canopies
with something that would be both more beautiful and use less plastic.
And that’s where Eva and her crochet-crazed disciples came in.
They began by covering a short section of the street that summer,
and they’ve been adding to it every summer since.
Four years later, the unstoppable grannies have already covered a second street,
and to be honest, by the time you watch this video,
the entire town may now be under crochet.
It doesn’t stop there either -
they’ve started to inspire copycat projects elsewhere in Spain
and the crochet canopy craze has even reached their twin town of New Iberia over in Louisiana.
Needles to say,
Sorry.
Needless to say,
the town hall has been delighted by the results.
Local councilor Jessica Trujillo is quoted here saying
the crochet canopy isn’t just more sustainable than the old one,
it’s also attracted more visitors to the town, and helped to promote local commerce.
And quite apart from anything else,
the project gave residents a much-needed sense of community,
and something to keep them busy,
during the days of lockdown.
Basically, the giant granny blanket of Calle Malaga
has been an absolute win-win for everyone in Alhaurín de la Torre.
And if that sounds like an over-generalisation,
it’s really not,
it’s just a blanket statement.
RIGHT.
WHO WROTE THAT?
If you'd like to visit Alhaurín de la Torre
and witness the giant granny blanket for yourself,
or perhaps you want to join Eva’s crochet class
so that you can start making one of your own,
it’s a 30-40 minute bus ride from central Malaga,
or 20 minutes in a car.
And obviously it’s best to visit in the summer months
when the canopy is actually there.
The town is only small, so don’t expect to find a lot of other things to do here,
but it is a lovely place for an afternoon out
and maybe testing the local tapas.
And as always, thank you all for watching,
and I'll see you soon.