Purl

Then I went to Purl and it changed everything.

I came across Purl by accident, wandering around Soho with a friend of mine, looking for a crepe place we used to go to that we later found had closed. Purl was bright and shiny and filled with loads of slightly rabid people. It caught my attention and I looked inside to see what was going on.

Oh my. A yarn store. Did I mention bright and shiny?

I didn't mention anything to my friend because, well, I didn't want to appear too rabid myself, but later, when we were done with our shopping (I had been enlisted on a time-critical mission to find a cocktail dress for a work event she had later that week), I couldn't resist mentioning to her that, well, how about going back to that yarn store. We ended up not really being able to find it and running out of time, but we made a date to go back later in the week so she could pick out some yarn for me to knit her a scarf with. She ended up not being able to make it but I decided to go myself anyway.

And. Well. It's hard to remember how I felt about knitting before going to Purl. I guess I was pretty well along the way to being addicted, so maybe Purl didn't so much as change everything as accelerate and intensify everything. I felt a little bit like I was betraying Gotta Knit, my first yarn store, and I didn't quite get the same warm fuzzies I got from the Gotta Knit store, but the staff were helpful all the same and the yarn selection was much much bigger.

It was kind of overwhelming actually. I felt like I was going to go into anaphylactic shock. Ok, I'm sure that is a completely inaccurate and inappropriate metaphor but you know what I mean - a physical reaction to overdosing on beautiful beautiful things. Yarn! Swatches! Books! Kits! More yarn! Gorgeous examples of finished projects! Tools! Yarn yarn yarn yarn yarn!

It wasn't until I went to Purl that I felt the need to record and collect notes on yarns, patterns, things I knit, things I want to knit. It was in many ways one of the key inspirations for this blog because it reminded me of how much I love beautiful things - beautiful colors, textures, materials - and how much I love making things. I love what I do as an architect, and the opportunities it gives me to create for a living, but architecture is a long and involved process. Knitting is so tactile and immediate - you knit a stitch and the stitch is made. Yet there are endless possibilities for what you can do, and, with the internet, seemingly endless resources for information, sharing and learning. Knitting can be very very simple or very very complicated - you can choose where on that spectrum you want to land on any given day, with any given project.

So anyway, what did I buy at Purl? Trying to take it just one or two steps at a time, I restricted myself to buying yarn for my next project, which I already had in mind - a hat, scarf and mitten/hand warmer set for my eight year old nephew. I was already in the process of making such a set for his two year old sister out of the Noro Aurora and knew I would need to make him something similar so as to maintain sibling parity.

I settled upon Shepherd Worsted by Lorna's Laces in color 46 jeans.

I also bought a cable stitch holder (seeing as I had already lost mine in the nether regions of our sofa), a row counter (so I could cable on the go) and some stitch ring markers (so I didn't have to improvise them out of black wool loops).

AND, I bought the most gorgeous book ever, Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson, the owner of Purl. Really, it was the combination of the book and the store that got me so excited. The book has the most beautiful photos of the most beautiful items you could imagine, and many of the items from the book (literally from the photoshoot for the book I imagine) were in the store, including the most beautiful blanket you ever did see that I would love to knit one day and, well, it's just a really beautiful book with lovely photos and items and it makes you want to JUST KNIT EVERYTHING!!!!

I also bought One Skein by Leigh Redford, which I thought had some adorable stuff until I saw the Last Minute book which had even more adorable stuff but I decided to buy it anyway so those were my first two knitting books.

This, by the way, was a couple of weeks ago, Feb 27th, 2007 to be precise. I went back that weekend to pick up a coordinating white (color 8791 ons natural) and I also purchased my first Addi "Turbo" Circular Needles (US #7, 16" long) and my first set of 5 double pointed Crystal Palace Bamboo Needles (US #7, 6"). Oh, and a crochet hook for dropped stitches.

Anyway, here is the sneak preview of the hat:

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More on that when I complete the other matching items...

Comments

[mariannealice]

How lucky are you to be able to go to Purl in person....I have bought yarn online from there once ( the shipping to Australia is rather high) as they stock my favourite wool that I can't get here at all ( Manos de Uraguay). It would be one very expensive stop if I ever had the chance to actually physically visit the store.It appears that you have far more will power than me when it comes to resisting wool- as for those books,great choice for your first two knitting guides- Last minute gifts is just so visually delightful ( not to mention the patterns...)