responsive nav toggle responsive nav toggle iCRAG logo
  • Home
  • Contact
  • iCRAG Members
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram
Show menu
Earth System Change Earth Resources Earth Science in Society Platform Technologies
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Vacancies
    • Membership
  • Research
    • Research
    • Research Challenges
      • Research Challenges
      • Earth System Change
        • Earth System Change
        • Climate and Environment
        • Geomarine Environment
        • Connected Waters
        • Environmental Geoscience
      • Earth Resources
        • Earth Resources
        • Offshore Basins
        • Reservoirs and Storage
        • Renewable Energy
        • Mineral Exploration
        • Critical Materials
        • Building Materials
      • Earth Science in Society
        • Earth Science in Society
        • Geohazards and Geoengineering
        • Responsible Decision Making
        • Bio-based Solutions
      • Platform Technologies
        • Platform Technologies
        • Geomodelling
        • Geochemistry
        • Geophysics
        • Geosensing
        • Geodata
    • Project List
    • iCRAG-linked Projects
    • Data
      • Data
      • Lisheen
        • Lisheen
        • Lisheen Data
      • Silvermines
        • Silvermines
        • Silvermines Data
    • Open Access
  • People
    • Meet Our People
    • Executive Management Committee
    • Advisory Committees
      • Governance Committee
      • Industry Advisory Committee
      • Scientific Advisory Committee
    • EDI Committee
  • Industry
    • Industry
    • Partnering with iCRAG
    • Current iCRAG Partners
    • Workshops
      • Peatlands
        • Peatlands Index
        • Programme
        • Registration
        • Venue Information
        • Speaker Profiles
        • Posters
      • Offshore Wind
  • Education & Engagement
    • Education & Engagement
    • The Changing Planet
      • The Changing Planet
      • Purls of Wisdom
        • Purls of Wisdom
        • Purls: About
        • Purls: Get started
        • Purls: How to’s and downloads
        • Purls: Get in touch
      • Poetry and geology
      • Cinema and theatre
      • Inception Horizon
      • A Feat of Clay
      • Artist in Residence
      • Caibleadh
    • Resourcing our Sustainable Future
      • Resourcing our Sustainable Future
      • Primary Level
      • Second Level
        • Second Level
        • JCT STEAM
        • Mining a Sustainable Future
        • Grounded - Explore YOUR World
        • Geography Teacher CPD
      • National Crystal Growing Competition
    • Earth Science in my Life
      • Earth Science in my Life
      • Taking Stock
      • Get into Geoscience
    • Factsheets
    • EDIG
  • Facilities
    • Facilities
    • Infrastructure
  • News & Media
    • News & Media
    • Conferences & Events
    • Event Archive
    • Gallery
    • News Archive
    • Podcasts
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Disclaimer
  • ReStoRE
    • Organising committee
    • ReSToRE 2022, 2019 Blogs
    • ReSToRE 2022 Archive
    • ReSToRE 2019 Archive
    • Sign up for updates
  • iCRAG2019
    • Programme
    • Registration
    • Venue information
    • Speaker Profiles
    • Abstracts
    • Posters
  • EDIG
    • Sponsors
    • Survey
    • Conference
    • Contact
    • Resources
  • iCRAG2022
    • Programme
    • Registration
    • Venue Information
    • Speaker Profiles
    • Abstracts
    • Posters
Science Foundation Ireland: a leading SFI research centre

Get started

  1. Home
  2. Education & Engagement
  3. The Changing Planet
  4. Purls of Wisdom
  5. Purls: Get started

Get started

First things first!

The first thing we need to think about is what we are going to create. Purls of Wisdom is entirely flexible you can make whatever you feel inspired to. We would caution that as the changes in climate are shown by colour changes, a project that lends itself to stripes would work best for this. Scarves and blankets are great starter pieces, but feel free to let your creativity run wild! Some example patterns can be found in our downloads section. Also think about how many colours you have available, you can use whatever you have, but four or more colours with a bit of contrast will show the changes best.

What do you want to show?

The second thing we need to consider is what we want to show with our creations. What aspect of the climate is most important to you?

The most commonly used indicator is temperature. Met Eireann has made long term temperature records for the Island of Ireland available on its website. The temperature series has been derived using data from Armagh Observatory, Co Armagh, Phoenix Park, Co Dublin 1829; Birr Castle, Co Offaly (The meteorological station at Birr closed in October 2009, since then adjusted data from the close by meteorological station at Gurteen, Co Tipperary was used), Valentia Observatory and Malin Head, Co Donegal. This is a fantastic resource and the raw provisional data series is freely downloadable. Look for the link in the “The Long Term Island of Ireland Data Series” section underneath the graph (click the word here).

We have divided up the Island of Ireland temperature series by colour. This is available to download here - Annual colours download. Whether you’re working with two colours or ten, this download will show you what to craft with when!

Remember, there’s plenty of other aspects of climate that you can work with too, for example rainfall, soil temperature and maximum temperature. This data is available to you on the Met Eireann website, and you can watch our videos about how to make this data into a craftable format here and download detailed instructions on our how to’s page.

Climate change images

Get crafting!

So, we have our project in mind, we know what colours we’re using and we have our the data/pattern sorted – what do we do now?

Simple! Start your project using the colour for the first year of data, craft it to the thickness you’d like it to be, then move onto the colour for the second year, craft to the same thickness and continue like that until you’ve finished all the years! When you’ve finished, don’t forget to take a picture and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook!


Introduction to Purls of Wisdom video:

our partner logos

Newsletter Signup

iCRAG is funded under the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres Programme and is co-funded by GSI and industry partners.

  • iCRAG
  • O'Brien Centre for Science (East),
  • University College Dublin,
  • Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
  • P: +353 (0) 171 62939
  • E: info@icrag-centre.org
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Disclaimer
  • © 2023 iCRAG
Science Foundation Ireland: SFI