here comes the sun.....(well, fingers crossed!)

Hopefully, the sunshine we are having now is here to stay, at least until next week so it can include MY WEDDING DAY. it has actually arrived, who knew time went so fast?!
the wedding preparations are well under way, so with any luck it might actually all get done in time!!
And thanks to my lovely fellow purlettes for a great evening watching Carrie and the girls (SATC2), although i did refuse to wear the sash, it will be worn, perhaps around the house, for the next 8 days!
(idea for quirky wedding service, knitted  'bride to be' sashes?!?!)

all for now, should really get on with what i am supposed to be doing i.e not this!!!

kate (the Charlotte York of Ashton or so I would like to think!)xxx

sunny days

Well, I have only just finished one baby blanket, and now there is news yet another one to make!!!it is never ending, i suppose we should really only be taking orders but new babies are such cuties, and everyone needs their own specially made little blanket, don't they?!
Me and the family are moving very shortly, and have done nothing, which makes actually working on things very difficult as when i'm sat watching telly, i should actually be packing but hey, it'll get done one way or another!
what is exciting is the decorating!all the painting is nearly done, but just doing the finishing touches is what i'm looking forwards to. i've got my eye on some cath kidston style fabric for cushions and bedspreads and luckily i bought a whole bag of super soft fluffy wool which matches my living room walls quite nicely, so i'll be making a delicious snuggly blanket out of that!
i can't wait to move, get the garden sorted and get back to the kitchen and doing some proper cooking. it's all just got waylaid in the past few months but i'm really looking forwards to it, and to those days when the sun is shining first thing in the morning and you can sit outside and eat your breakfast and you just know that it's going to be the most gorgeous day.....love it!!!!
k xxx

wedding pictures!!

So, we have finally got the pictures from the wedding and here they are.....

we made 80 cupcakes for the guests to take home, they were in little perspex boxes with ribbon around them!

this was the arrangement on the registrar table

these are the flower arrangements. all the flowers were done ourselves, including the bouquet, which the bride forgot when she went down the aisle!

                

absence makes the heart grow fonder...

I certainly hope that is the case!!!!
we've been so busy with Alex and Amys wedding recently that we've had no time!!
the wedding was quite loevly i might add, cupcakes made by yours truly(with an enormous amount of help from 'alexandra' and Jill, we managed to knock out 80 cupcakes, iced and boxed, in a matter of hours before dashing off to buy dresses at the 11th hour!(at least our priorities were straight!)and then off for flower making!
we did a fantastic job, pics to follow shortly!
So, what next?well. as Jill mentioned, knitted breasts are next on the agenda, and then its more wedding wedding wedding with my wedding only 11 weeks away, and Gina's wedding only about 4 months away.

tata for now(wont levae it so lng next time)

Kate

Yes, it has been rather a while since a blog was posted but life has got in the way. 
the baby  blanket is now finished and looks rather good, if I say so myself.  I am now learning to crochet and finding it quite difficult but will persevere.
The next knitting project is likely to be the ongoing blanket for Mike and also, knitted breasts.  This may sound weird but it is in a good cause.   The PCT need them to demonstrate to nursing mothers how to express their milk.  Flesh coloured wool is now needed.
In other news, we have moved our knitting group to the IKEA cafe.  Who knows where this will lead?  Making knitted goodies for IKEA?????
We are also expanding our empire and thinking of starting The Purlettes Alternative Wedding Service; this will be a quirky and ethical wedding service with lots of lovely goodies.
that's all for now.
Jill

delays....

sorry for the delay in posting our lovely little followers, things have been rather busy all round!!!
some updates for you, we bought some wool!!!!!wooh. i know, thats actually the most exciting thing this week re knitting etc. oh, we found out have some more time to do baby blanket which was supposed to be for tomorrow(!!!!!)but now is a couple of weeks.
but at least the wools very nice, and also extremely cheap!!!!
ttfn

kate xxx

Apology

Sorry I missed the Purlettes' meeting last night.  Gina has still not brought me any of the cookies that she made!!!! I still need to keep practising with crocheting but I'm getting there.

Love Jacqueline (the one that could crochet but has now forgotten) xxxx

fast forwards

is this like the time travellers wife, and a glimpse into our futures?

www.saraholiverhandbags.com/knitters

ok, technology is quite clearly not my thing, does anyone have any tips on how not to make it go googly and wierd???
k x

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!

Firstly i would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lovely mother ,and the purlettes original, Jill!!!most of us have probably already said it, but it deserves another!

ok, so these are the DELICIOUS crumpets me and mother dearest made. they were bloody lovely, and very very easy to make!!!i mean, i wouldnt just pop in the kitchen and whip some up for a quick snack, unless it was a preplanned and already prepared snack, but yummy all the same!!!

these lovely looking items were some of the things that went into people's christmas hampers, and quite good they looked, i might tell you!!i think ive said earlier about how we made hampers for people, a bit of credit crunch christmas going on,and even though we are now officially 'out' of the recession (ha!), dont be suprised if you get one for your birthday/christmas present!!!

seville orange marmalade green tomato chutney chilli jam

lip balm

damson jam body scrub

we went to the farmers market in ashton today, and did a little bit of competition scouting, and to be honest, its pretty high standard to compete with, but you never know, if we do it, everyone better come and support us!!!

we've also been doing baby blanket knitting/crocheting, we're on deadline for it, only 10 days to go (ok, 9 and a bit),its coming along though, and then its baby season and wedding season so it'll be non stop.

so there you have it, we've all been busy little bees, and we will be for the forseeable future. love it!!!

au revoir mes amis!!

kate xxx

pictures of crumpets and stuff coming soon, I PROMISE!!!xx

Knitting Klub

Hi all,
Just to let you know we all had a fab time at knitting klub on Tuesday, Kate made lovely biscutes and muffins (with Jack's help). YUMMY YUMMY cheers Kate ;0) You made this vegan freak very happy.
I helped Gina G and her Mum with there crocheting, hookers will take over the world ha ha ha & continued with my baby blanket ( will get a photo and put it on the blog).
Kate & her Mum worked on a baby blanket together making scrummy cream coloured squares.
I have now finished the bag & purse I have been making for peoples birthdays!!!! and very lovely they are too if I may say so myself.
Speak again soon from the happy hooker Sharon ;0)

Mmmmmm

Mmmmmm
Mmmmmm
Mmmmmm
Pictures to follow.....
Jill

Well, here is an update on further activities since the last post. Yesterday, Kate and I made marmalade. We were a bit worried that it hadn't turned out but, I am happy to say, we have a baker's dozen of delicious jars of marmalade. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures.
Today, we are making home made crumpets; the batter is fermenting as I write. We will update later after the tasting.
The latest nana blanket is well under way - I will hardly have time to keep up with Mad Men!
Jill

One of the Pearlettes ;0)

Just wanted to say hi, I am one of the pearlettes. I am the one that does crocheting and wants everyone to have a go at it because it is fab, fun and quick YIPPEEE!!!

I have been hooking this morning before work, I am making a blanket, bag and flowers at the mo so I hope to get some photos of the great stuff I have been making up on the blog. As you can see my painting is on its side not sure how to turn it, so calling all pearlettes if you know how help me out. Good luck to all the Hookers out there and keep on hooking love Sharon ;0)

apologies if that last post was a bit dull, i think my mind has gone to mush tonight....

k xxx

yum

hello!!

i decided to make a start with the cake shop menu, obviously a long way from an actual shop, but it means plenty of cake tasting in the mean time!!i made rocky road cupcakes. there's probably a recipe out there somewhere, but i put marshmallow, biscuit and maltesers in chocolate buns, topped with vanilla buttercream!delish!

i do, however, think they might be better with marshmallow frosting, so im gonna make some of these next!!

So, as promised, a picture of the 1st ever 'nana blanket'....it has since come in many different shades and sizes, some still in progress as we speak.

Also, i dont know if we mentioned this at the time (ha!i think i managed to drop it into every conversation i had for about a month!!)but recently the purlettes took part in the poetry societys 'knit a poem' for their 100th anniversary, and we knitted letters for a HUGE poem, that we went to see!!it was ridiculously big, so big in fact, they had to unsew some of it and it couldnt all be displayed!!but it was amazing!

it was displayed at victoria baths in longsight which was pretty cool to see as well. this is the website address, they have templates and stuff for the poems.

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/knit/

i think next on my cake list, besides the hundreds of birthday cakes i am going to be making(its like 1st birthday season of the year in our family now til march, then its weddings then back to birthdays!), i fancy trying a spiced apple cake with caramel frosting..keep your fingers crossed, it could go horribly wrong!!!

kate xx

Kate introduced us very well and we are pleased that she has made the first blog. (Some of us have the technology skills and some of us don't!) We are really excited by the possibilities ahead and we will keep you up-to-date with our progress towards world domination (and our cafe)

Jill (the founding member) and Gina (the one who doesn't do very much knitting) xxx

first date

hi!!

well, as you can see this is the first official post from the purlettes, so in the interest of breaking the ice, i will let you into a little secret, i don't really know what to write about!!(and i know my grammar is probably terrible mum, sorry)so if its all abit gobbledygook, just go with it. embrace it.love it. and please pretend it was interesting to read!!

so I'll let you know a little bit more about 'the purlettes'. we started out as a little knitting group after my mum (that's Jill) made my baby the most gorgeous baby blanket, known by its official title as the first 'nana blanket' ever. we decided to start knitting some stuff, mostly blankets, at requests from others and its snowballed from there to become a sort of knitting/making/gossiping get together. I cant honestly say hand on heart that we do a lot of knitting most weeks, but we do some, and we get things done!!!
in regards to other things we make, well, Sharon makes amazing jewellery and does crocheting rather than knitting, but does brilliant things, like hats and all kinds of other delicious things.
For Christmas this year, me and mummy dearest decided to make most of our gifts from things we could do ourselves and stuff we had grown ourselves, like jam and pickles.
we actually only ended up only doing about half our presents like this, but they were brilliant!!we made jams, chutney, onion marmalade, chilli jam, body scrubs, moisturiser(which i have on good authority is very very nice!), lip balms...the list goes on.
and it was great, very fulfilling and nice to see people amazed that we actually did it!!!i was very proud of us, and hope if you were the lucky recipient of said gifts, you were happy to!!!

so, 'whats next?!' i hear you cry. besides world domination, we're hoping to expand on our little enterprise and this is what this lovely little diary of our lives is for. to let you know we are here, and coming to a kitchen cupboard/baby cot near you soon.

til next time...

kate xx