The Purple Purler

Catching up on the knitting…

thepurplepurler — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:09:38 +0000

I intended on blogging a lot more than this to be honest, but you know what it’s like…the actual making of things gets in the way of the writing malarkey, and without the making, etc. etc.

So what have I been doing? Discovering my perfect era, that’s what! And it turns out it’s quite a wide era: anything late-1930s right up to the early-1960s it would seem.

I’ve always thought vintage patterns, both knitting and sewing, were out of my reach: I was convinced that I wasn’t good enough to follow these (if indeed there was anything to follow!) Now, I’m still frigging petrified of vintage sewing patterns, mainly because it’s more difficult to rectify mistakes once your fabric has been cut too small, but my fear of vintage knitting patterns has finally been allayed. And that’s thanks to A Stitch in Time, 1920-1949, Vol. I by Jane Waller and Susan Crawford.

Yes I know that I’m not actually knitting from a vintage pattern, but a modern transcription. That said, I came across a few errata whilst knitting It Cannot Fail To Please and had to refer to the original pattern that was handily printed alongside the modern one.

Turns out, vintage knitting patterns really aren’t that scary. Good thing: my friend recently bought me a copy of Stitchcraft Magazine from November 1956, and there are one or two things in there that I might actually make.

The new direction…

thepurplepurler — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:01:57 +0000

I make many things that I think are beautiful and they don’t really get an airing. Now they may not be the most expertly made: there are always mistakes and things that would be done better by a more experienced crafter, like my amazing friend Blue Stocking Stitcher, but every time I make something I improve and I’m learning new skills and do you know what? I want to show them off!

So here goes, the new blog direction: showcasing the things that I’m proud of!

Dressmaking is something that I want to be really fucking good at, but I don’t get to practice nearly enough sadly! Well, it’s not like I can sit on the train with my sewing machine! But now that #TheDave and I have moved to a bigger flat and I have a designated craft room (woohoo!), practicing the sewing is becoming easier.

I’ve made a dress before, but my boss told me it looked like I should either be at playschool or presenting a kids’ TV programme. And he’s probably not wrong. It is a simple A-line dress, bright pink with huge white polka dots, with contrasting white-and-pink-stars bias binding and pockets. So fair play Mr Wood!

So I have tried to make something a bit more suitable for working in an archives but that’s still a bit, well, me!

About four months ago I took a trip down to Cornwall to see #TheDave’s parents, and there is a fabric emporium named simply Truro Fabrics. Here I found the most fantastic fabric: petrol blue with purple spirals…oh no…they’re little snails!! Wicked.

And then, whilst browsing the millions of pages of the Burda Style website, I found the perfect dress pattern: something quite simple, the Coffee Date dress.

As a newbie to this dressmaking malarkey, I did the sensible thing and made a toile. Now, if I’d discovered that there were actually instructions held separately to the actual pattern, I may not have run into as many problems as I did, and you know that when your friend who makes costumes for a living, The Fastener, doesn’t understand quite how the facings work, then there’s no hope for you! But I persevered. And after searching the web for some facing instructions (I still hadn’t found the dress instructions!!) I put it together…sort of! It wasn’t great, but I decided just to go for it, and I cut the actual fabric. Again the facings caused no end of issues, then I ended up with, what I’ve termed, 50s nipple as the darts just wouldn’t go right.

But after 2 months of hard work, swearing really fucking loudly, threatening to take the shears to it, and sticking so many pins into my ribs, I have ended up with a dress which is actually wearable…although please don’t look too closely at any of it, because it is so badly made!

All change…

thepurplepurler — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:57:05 +0000

Things in my life have changed, and so I thought this was the perfect time to change my blog. So that’s what I’m doing…changing my blog.

No more knitting graffiti

Sorry to disappoint those of you who enjoyed the graffiti, but it’s just not me any more.

What is still me though is:

1. swearing…way too much!
2. purpleness
3. knitting and crochet
4. making (what I hope are) beautiful things.

Notice how swearing is number 1…what does that say about me?!?!

I’m going to be getting rid of some of the stuff from here over the next few days/weeks. Not that it’s exactly life or death or anything.

Thanks for checking out my blog up until now. I hope you like the new direction.

First thing to report: I finally met my hero…

Nutcracker prince is a meany!

thepurplepurler — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:49:50 +0000

Dear Diary

Who does that Nutcracker Prince think he is? Does he not know that I am the most important person in the Land of Sweets? I’m the Prima Donna, for Wonka’s sake! It’s so unfair that he got to lead our capture of the Giant Ballerina Woman. She’s another one who thinks she’s IT! Well she’s not! I am!!! So there!

So anyway, that Nutcracker, who frankly needs his nuts cracked, if you know what I mean, heehee, chose the COLDEST DAY EVER to attack. We were all standing around in the cold waiting for his command. Idiot!! I couldn’t be bothered to wait any longer so I just went for it. And look where I got to: I sat on her shoulder giving her the evil eye, bitch! Wankcracker, as I like to call him, was sooo mad! Ha! I showed him!

Harlequin and Columbine were meant to be on my side, but they are so slow! And all they want to do is have fun! I would’ve beaten Wankcracker to the top if they’d done their job properly! They’re smelly poopey-heads. I’ll make them pay. They’ll have to feed me ALL THEIR CHOCOLATE. Ha!

Lots of love and kisses and hugs and sweet things

Sugar Plum Fairy

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

DEATH’s Halloween Haunting

thepurplepurler — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:20:17 +0000

Halloween lends itself to a yarnstorm. FACT! So there was no question at all that Knit the City wouldn’t stalk London’s streets to find a spooky setting for a spooky ‘storm. And where better than the ghoulish disused Strand Station, built on (under?) the site of a Victorian theatre, haunted by an actress who failed to make her final curtain call, and a staple film location for any British film that needs an underground station… Ladies and gentlemen, won’t you please put your hands together for (some of) the stars of the Knit the City Gate of Ghouls.

DEATH: he’s one cool dead guy. He once left his post to join a rock band and ride around on a motorcycle! Also a FACT! He also only ever speaks in CAPITAL LETTERS. There would be no ghosts without DEATH. DEATH is KING of the Spooky. So he had to be in attendance, carefully eyeing those who passed, eagerly awaiting his next victim. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Harbinger of Death.

With all the mice and rats that live in Tube stations, DEATH OF RATS wasn’t going to be far away. Not quite as cool as DEATH, but he does only SQUEAK in CAPITAL LETTERS. In the supporting role as the, erm, Harbinger of Death (of Tube Mice and Rats)…

And no West End show would be complete without the Chorus Line. Ladies and Gentlemen, PacMan Ghosts make a cameo appearance in the Gate of Ghouls as, err, Ghosts.

For a full cast list and synopsis of the show, visit Knit the City’s Gate of Ghouls

Thank you DeadlyKnitshade for letting me use her photos. My camera is almost as old as the Viennese Waltz!

“Oranges and Lemons,” said the bells of St Clements.

thepurplepurler — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:39 +0000

It started off as an idea, casually mentioned over pear cider, for one of my Sisters in Yarnstorming’s solo projects which was superbly hijacked by the rest of the Yarn Corps. Whilst eating mezze at the frankly splendiferous EV, final plans were put together and churches were drawn out of a bread basket.

St Clements…although not the most exciting one (surely Old Bailey would be the best), I didn’t quite expect it to be so shockingly…drab! Imagine my horror when, on the day of the reccy, I walked passed House of Fraser, turned the corner into St Clements Lane, saw a beautiful church at the other end, and was then told that, actually, that gorgeous place was not my church…but the dirty building that I was currently standing outside of was! I held out for a beautiful church yard round the back…alas I was disappointed further, when I saw the two graves and the patio tables in a yard that was smaller than my living room!

Oh! The despair! What the fuck was I going to do and where, exactly, was I going to put it?!?!

Being a stickler for thorough research, I headed home and looked for a history of St Clement. Who was he? Why was he a saint? Turns out he’s the patron saint of sailors, and was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown overboard. Nice! So I figured, a nautical theme may be in order, and initially I thought of creating an anchor out of oranges, lemons and bells, like a funeral wreath. But where’s the fun in that? Eh?

So one Friday evening, I grabbed some brown acrylic and a hook, and freestyled a ship! Much swearing, frogging and retrying later and I had created a ship! Huzzah!! And my imagination kicked into overdrive…

Next…the mermaid

Then…the sails

But what to do with all those oranges and lemons I’d made for that anchor? Why not have the ship riding on a wave of citrus fruit! Huzzah!

The line from the song? That’s what felt and fabric paint are for…

Mounted on the crest of a wave, et voila!

Now…where the fuck was I going to put it? Fast forward to the day of the yarnstorm, and after surveying all the options (there weren’t that many!) I plumped for the door handle. Death-defying feats ensued, and I risked being impaled on some savage (!) looking railings.

Yarn was hastily tied to the four corners and it was set in place to beautify the piss-stained alley in EC3.

Amigurumi Madness!

thepurplepurler — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:30:49 +0000

So I’ve been causing a (yarn) storm with the most wonderful Knit the City this weekend, creating a most taran-tacular masterpiece (if I do say so myself). Although if I have to complete another amigurumi project in the foreseeable future, I may just poke my eyes out with my needles! Oh yes, we went overboard again at the iKnit London “gritting” event at the Leake Street graffiti tunnel, a stone’s throw from Waterloo station.

Breakfast was provided by the wonderful people at Coral Bay Cafe, Lower Marsh – the veggie options were more than sufficient! Thank you!! Sufficiently stuffed, my ladies and I headed towards the site, where our hooks, placed there on Thursday and held up by No More Nails, were awaiting our arrival. And thus…

The Web

Comments were made by passers-by who thought it was amazing, and as much as we appreciated their kind words, little did they know that this was only the beginning… Oh yes! Amigurumi was the order of the day and our (rather humungous) web would soon be filled with tasty treats for the Knit the City spider.

The Knit the City spider

So, what had my poor hands created for this? Let me introduce to you The Purple Purler’s crocheted amigurumi:

Lady Love Bug

Poor Mr Frog

A rather alien-looking fly!

Percy the Snail

A rather scared Fairy of Graffiti

Green Fly's little brother, Blue Fly

Teeny Tiny (scared) Totoro

And the result?

Et voila!

But that is not all…there was a tragic love story which made all who heard it weep. Read it at your peril…

Knit the City stole my life!

thepurplepurler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:11:15 +0000

I was kidnapped by my fellow yarnstormers and made to knit like a complete loony in order to create this masterpiece:

Actually, I did the kidnapping! I became rather dictatorial and made Deadly Knitshade, Blue Stocking Stitcher, Lady Loop, Knitting Ninja and Shorn-a the Dead WORK! I had an RSI. We all had headaches! I lived, breathed and ate brightly-coloured acrylic. I cracked the whip and was very bossy…but it was worth it, right?

Just some of the sewing...

Tourists flocked to take a picture. Old men in suits took pictures on their phones. Even the Rozzers took a sneaky pic whilst giving Lady Loop a “5090”. We were praised! We were thanked! And it made the sleepless nights and the aches and pains all worthwhile. I didn’t even need my usual dose of Rescue Remedy – the sleep deprivation caused a delirium that no drug could possibly induce!

Lady Loop and the Rozzers

So that’s why there have been no solo yarnstorms! I’ve been too bloody exhausted!

Read the full story at www.knitthecity.com

Freedom…!

thepurplepurler — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:25:17 +0000

Having been held captive in the arse end of nowhere for seven days, where original thought is frowned upon, I felt the most fitting way to celebrate my release was to free another knit into the city.

My capture meant I missed Knit the City’s first TV appearance and group yarnstorm of Covent Garden, and also Stitch and Bitch London’s manly-themed activities for Worldwide Knit in Public Day. However, fleeing to the pub and meeting my fellow artfags over a spiced rum and coke or four (spiced rum is the new Rescue Remedy…maybe!) I was encouraged to part with a rather beautiful fluorescent orange lace panel teamed with a regal purple flower. Talk had turned to the legality of our ventures, so what better place to storm than Scotland Yard.

Okay so no amount of Rescue Remedy, or spiced rum, could make me attempt New Scotland Yard, but this is the historic home of the Rozzers. I got away just in time: the sirens were blaring and I knew that Charing Cross police station had a cell waiting with my name on…and I didn’t have anything left in my bag that I could storm it with!!

Summer’s first release

thepurplepurler — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:21:06 +0000

: Ooooh how artfag

The third released knit followed a day of excessive spending and cake-eating with friends in the goth town of Camden. Blinded by the sugar and the adrenalin (caused by the emptying of my bank account 24 hours after it was filled) I totally forgot to leave a little knitty present for the colourful (well monochrome) folk of London’s best shopping area and had to wrack my intoxicated brain for a ‘next best’ option.

The calling card

The opportunity arose when I came across illegal gambling ‘booths’ made of easily packed-up cardboard boxes on the Hungerford Bridge, exploiting the tourists. Boosted by the fact that people were doing things more wrong than me in the immediate vicinity, I set about being an ‘artfag’ and released the third knit. It was a risky business: one false move and the beautiful purple eyelash adornment would end up floating down the Thames (the Thames Estuary is in need of beautifying, so maybe I should’ve just dropped it!!). The Pimpernel would not have tolerated such butterfingeredness!

The knit fits in beautifully with its surroundings

The crowds of foreign tourists went wild, and I was papped endlessly. I fear that my identity will be revealed, but with the aid of my trusty stash of Rescue Remedy, I’ll continue to make this city a more knitty, and purple, place!!