I learned a new word this week thanks to Bertie Wooster, P.G. Wodehouse’s famous character of Bertie and Jeeves fame. I just had to reread Code of the Woosters again, considered by many to be one of the all time greatest comic novels. As Bertie would say, “and it did not disappoint.” It’s a veritable Gordian knot of plot twists and it shakes me loose of all encumbering baggage. Good medicine.

In C of the W, Bertram is a guest at Totleigh Towers, country estate of Sir Watkyn Bassett, father to “God’s Daisy Chains” Madeline Bassett, betrothed of newt fancier Gussie Fink Nottle. The betrothal is in jeopardy, along with another upcoming union between Stiffy Bing and Stinker Pinker and Bertram has gone to save the day. But Sir Watkyn suspects Bertie of intentions to purloin his newly (but unjustly acquired) antique silver cow creamer. Sir Watkin turns the thumb screws on Bertie to the degree that Bertram reflects:

Life at Totleigh Towers had hardened me, blunting the gentler emotions, and I derived nothing but gratification from the news that Constable Oats had been meeting with accidents. Only one thing could have pleased me more — if I had been informed that Sir Watkyn Basset had trodden on the soap and come a purler in the bath tub.

And here’s the word.

purler |

noun Brit. informal

A headlong fall: the horse went a purler at the last fence.

ORIGIN nid 19^th cent: from dialect purl ‘upset, overturn’.

Of course, the image of Sir Watkyn possibly coming a purler is so incredibly delightful because he’s really asked for it and one can’t help but fall into the soup with the possibilities. But purler?

Remind you of something? It’s even spelled like the purl stitch.

I did a web search to try and find more about the word, but the origin is murky at best, it being a colloquial expression. So if anyone has any light to shed here, please come forth. I did find that Aussies consider a purler to be something mighty fine, but that is about all I could really find.

Meanwhile, when I overturn a knit stitch to make a purl, I will be thinking about Sir Watkyn slipping on the soap and falling oh so ingloriously headfirst into his bubble bath in his dressing gown and doing a slippery, blubbery somersault in the drink. And since everything always comes out well in the end of a PG Wodehouse, I can be confident that no injuries will be sustained, only the sublime indignities so justly deserved.

I think it’s only fitting, since I want this site to be a gallery for my retrospective work as well as current, that my first post would include a favorite piece (and friend/model) from my first years as a fiber artist. This is Leah and she’s wearing a piece I designed when I lived in Taos, NM and had daily access to the fine handspun yarns from La Lana Wools. La Lana is the place that drew me into knitted fabric as canvas, to yarn as paint. It was my first real introduction to handspun yarns as well, and though I messed with learning to spin myself at this point, I was spoiled by the gorgeous long draw handspun singles yarns in Luisa’s shop.  This piece is knit in panels of forever random blends (probably potpouri and moonmist) with a panel of pure bombyx silk dyed with (Luisa, tell me if I’m wrong) onion skins or onion skins over marigolds or chamisa. For more pieces of this period, check out the Gallery under New Mexico.

When I moved to Oregon in 1987, my style naturally changed to reflect the quality of light and color of my surroundings. And my yarns changed too when I met Sandy Sitzman of Woolgatherings (now in its second generation thanks to Kate Sitzman), who taught me the easy dye methods that are immortalized in The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. We collaborated on yarns during the period from 1989-1995 when I finally took up spinning seriously. I dyed a lot of the fiber, designed the color blends at the carder and she spun the yarns you see here in the background colorblocks of this mosaic vest. Mosaic Knitting (brainchild of Barbara Walker…see Charted Knitting Patterns, Mosaic Knitting, etc) uses alternating rows of yarns to form a slip stitch pattern. I think of these two yarns as foreground and background yarns, the foreground forming the pattern, in this case the chevrons and dots, and the background filling in the colorblocks. To achieve this complexity of background colors, I used intasia within mosaic. The background yarns are mostly Sandy spun, but there are a few of La Lanas forever random blends in here as well, I believe. The foreground is brushed mohair that I handpainted to match the colorscheme. This is the technique that Melanie Falick featured in my section of America Knits and you can find my Tree of Life pattern there. For more pieces like these, see Gallery under Oregon.

I’ll be adding more and more so please come back as often as you’d like. As any website, it’s always a work in progress.

For Patterns with immediate download capability, go to my Ravelry Store.

For Fiber and Yarn, particularly the Superfluity Kit for my Superfluity, Hat Scarf Cowl Mitts and Flowers, and Wavelength patterns, go to Three Waters Farm: website and Etsy shop.