Summer Fun Time

Wow, how & when did we end up in July?!

June was a blur of creativity for me getting ready for lovely big events!

Late June saw the return of Open Culture's Summer Arts Market, held in the incredible Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool - it is the just the most wonderful fair there is! 200 craft stall holders, vintage traders, foodies & I was lucky enough to be amongst them!

Although not as busy as The Winter Arts Market (who doesn't love craft shopping at Christmas though?!) - there's always so much going on in Liverpool & that weekend saw the Africa Oye Festival celebrate its 25th anniversary & the weather was glorious - it was just a brilliant day in a marvellous location surrounded by truely talented people.

The week after saw the arrival of this years MakeFest in Liverpool Central Library. This year there was no giant octopus but we had lots of fun decorating hand knitted cupcakes & crochet donuts.

So what's next you ask? 
I'm getting new stock up on my Etsy shop all the time now, including the new graduation crackers! 

The baby shower crackers will be launching next week too so watch this space!

New stock has landed in Arts Hub 47 - they got dibs on my new ice cream pens & Rare Bear Boutique are getting first dibs on the baby shower crackers.

My next big event is now not till October in which me & all my Halloween goodies will be at the Liverpool Horror Convention.

Im also planning the end of year seasons (if you catch my drift) & im toying with the idea of releasing some of my patterns for free, what do you think?

Sneaky of me but this is a dual blog - I’m launching a range of craft parties in conjunction with some other creatives & we had a secret teaser night at the very end of May - you can find out more about that here.

Who doesn't love crafts & gin?

4 Years Old

My little business is 4 years old! It had its birthday on the 9th of April & I am thrilled!

So excited that I did nothing to celebrate!



Is it perfect? No, its far from! I have a million & one things still to do to make it run efficiently. I still need to learn to work in one room & not spread yarn EVERYWHERE. I still need to organise my office efficiently, do admin more efficiently & over all learn how to balance my work (business)/work (day job)/social life (what is that?!).

However I do not really care about any of that, I still love what I do & after a full day in the day job will still go home & do 3 hours business work (do not tell my Mum!).

In March, Joanne Hawker, ran her amazing Instagram challenge & with all the gusto in the world I was totally determined to finish this one.

"The idea behind #MarchMeetTheMaker is to show the side that people don’t usually get to see… to show that we’re not all faceless brands. We’re just normal people creating beautiful things by hand." - Joanne Hawker

However I was ill again, I have been ill A LOT since Christmas, fingers crossed now resolved, so I ended up panic posting nearly a whole months worth of posts in a week.

So I thought I'd do a recap here just to give an insight into my chaotic, manic & disorganised life! So in no particular order...



My name is Gemma & this picture was taken on my 28th birthday (begining of February) I have been running Girl On Purl Action for FOUR years now as well as working a day job. 
My major loves in life (outside of crafting of course!) are bed, food, coffee & my pets; Tulip (the cat) & Ganthet (the hedgehog)

 I love any new idea I'm working on & I don't particularly have a favourite but I do love my creatures! 

My craft room is always my biggest work in progress! The desk is built & so are the 2 new storage units so just need to find the time to shift everything around (looks like a job for my days off this week!) 

For some unknown & accidental reason all my knitting needles & crochet hooks are red! My needles have come all the way from New York, thanks to my parents!

I am a knitter & crocheter that does not use wool! I personally find it itchy & with the development of acrylics & an ever growing vegan populace its my preferred choice of material. I also use a lot of cotton & bamboo too!

I am a member of The Merseyside Etsy Team, best bunch of supportive & wonderfully talented makers - you can shop a selection of our stuff here!

My local post office is located on a famous Liverpool street; Lark Lane. I'm incredibly lucky where I live, I have a massive park at the end of my road.

My photography skills are S...L...O...W...L...Y improving, although the pug close up was a total freaky accident - I swear my creature makes come to life at night!

The GOPA logo - which is supposed to be me - represents my love of all things 80's, animals, pink & hopefully demonstrates that my makes are a bit different.

Not sure how well this video will turn out...but here is me knitting my latest personal project, a grey yoga jumper for the summer. I do not think that a) I will do a lot of yoga over the summer, b) there will be a summer (its May on Monday & i'm typing this fully dressed with my dressing gown & the central heating on!) c) I will ever finish it - not picked it up in a month.

Me & my Mum at Christmas early 90's - shes amazing - currently off work with a chest infection & shes working on a secret (for now) project for me for June. She helps with MakeFest projects, is my helper at craft fairs & knits crazy amounts of stuff for everyone else! Shes planned 4 jumpers this year - finished my Dad's already & is halfway through my sisters on top of knitting for charities & new nephew due in August!

All the best ideas come to me in the shower. Its my go-to place when I'm feeling disorganised or creatively flump.

I even designed my new cat charity range in the shower! 

Books plan my life, I have a dual diary for GOPA & day job management - now to learn to follow the plans! 

Feedback - my heart sinks when I see the little Etsy feed back email as I always fear the worst (self-confidence issues) - but so far so good.

I love tissue paper so I try & package as much of my postal orders I can in it for no other reason than I love it! I also love coffee, so so much (typing this drinking coffee), I do not use it for caffeine purposes anymore but for taste purposes (I will never drink decaf so do not go there!)

Business advice is pretty much life advice - do not put too much pressure on yourself, yeah its the hardest thing to do, the back ground struggles are real & not displayed all over Instagram. Social media only serves to show the best of us but goals are met & its OK to feel happy when that happens & its OK to feel sad when they do not. No-one & nothing should be allowed get you down or make you feel bad but it will happen. Best thing to do? Dust yourself off & get back to it as the next occasion, customer interaction, sale or job application might just go your way! 

The Liverpool MakeFest 2016

Last Saturday was The Liverpool MakeFest and the grand assembly of Octo The Moody Octopus!

It was a wonderful day! There was so much for families to get involved with all over the Library on every floor from arts & crafts to cosplay to robotics!



We where at the back on the ground floor but still clearly visible. It was a long day but a fulfilling one; we had people stopping by who could knit & crochet who wanted to add a few rows on to a leg. We had people with craft related questions, people with mental health awareness related question. People who just wanted to know what was going on & people who just wanted to congratulate us on our efforts & how fabulous it looked.



He really does look fabulous.



He even took part in the cosplay-ing! 



As well as Octo we had embroidered bookmarks hidden around the library for people to find just as a little mood pick me ups!

We where also inviting people to make them with us & Tish from Pretty Twisted had brilliant animal badges for children to make.



Octo is currently residing at Liverpool Central Library & is going on display THIS WEEK - I will let everyone know when you can go see him.

I was sent this photo from the staff on Friday, he seems to be having a wonderful time there!



I worked out a few sums about Octo;

We ended up with 74 pieces on his legs - for now.

That is the equivalent to nearly a year & a half of knitting or crochet.

Or 518 days.

2,072 rows.

62,160 stitches

That is not including his head!

I have been emotionally overwhelmed by this project so below is the mushy thank you's!

I want to thank my team for volunteering their time to help me at The MakeFest.

My Mum especially for going to my flat to pick up forgotten items!

My Sister for travelling up from London to help.

Tish Toglet for keeping the children entertained.

My best friend Michelle for the beautiful bookmarks.

Vicky from Vix The Zebra for her beautiful bookmarks.

The MakeFest team for another fantastic event.

Hobo Kiosk for accepting all my post.

The Royal Mail postman who double checked all pieces where received.

Every single one of you that emailed, posted on social media, called, offered help, wrote letters & especially those that contributed pieces.

If you contributed a piece & DID NOT  put a return address on the envelope can you PLEASE email me an address at enquiries@girlonpurlaction.co.uk 

Its not for returning pieces.

The Moody Octopus Project; The Night Before

Tomorrow is The MakeFest.

It's the final day for submitting Moody Octopus pieces as it is assembly day.

I had a goal in mind for how long I wanted each leg & I have just gone for it in the advance sewing up! 

I wanted 96 pieces in total which would be 12 pieces per leg. Realistically we are going for 8 pieces per leg which means I have 6.5 legs!

Expecting more tomorrow too!



Am I worried? 

No.

Does it matter if we make that target?

No.

The response I have gotten from this project has been outstanding. I have learnt a lot about myself through running this project & I hope you have too.

I have had such wonderful emails/letters/posts of encouragement, luck & personal reasons of why people are getting with this project.

I've had international & domestic pieces going into these legs so I hope you find the head suitable!

Its a 42" striped beach ball - special thanks to the boyfriend for blowing it up - with cream crochet over the top so the colours show through just a touch. Was a huge undertaking in itself with a total of 5 balls of yarn used by crocheting on a 10mm hook with the wool doubled.

An yes, I did crochet plate sized eyes! 

The support pack from Time To Change has arrived, my helpers are ready to go & the next blog post I will be posting (I am crazy busy this week!) will be post MakeFest but do not worry there will be A LOT of photographs.

I'll be updating my Instagram, Twitter & Facebook accounts on the day if you want to see Octo (he has a name finally!) in advance! 

Follow the hastag's #moodyoctopus & #girlonpurl

I want to wish everyone who has donated time & effort to this project!

Sincerely, it started out as something I needed to do for this event but it has grown into so much more...

If you posted an Octo piece & DID NOT put a return address on the envelop can you please email me a postal address at:

enquiries@girlonpurlaction.co.uk 

Do not worry, I am not sending the pieces back but I do need it for personal reasons.

Speak soon!

A very happy Gemma xx

Macramé, horror knitting & branching out!

Hello crafters!

First of all I want to thank everyone who has gotten on board with The Moody Octopus project so far! If you haven't started yet then don't worry! There's still plenty of time to get involved!

I've set up a Facebook event for it here!

You don't need to attend on the day, pieces are welcome to be posted in advance! You can find the address here!

I'm thrilled to be doing this project in conjunction with The Liverpool Mental Health Consortium, Time To Change Campaign, Up For Arts and The MakeFest!

The Octopus now has a home at Liverpool Central Library after the day of the MakeFest so if you are local & cant make the day you can still view him afterwards!

Special thanks to The Merseyside Etsy Team for blogging about him too!

I am accepting suggestions for a name...keep referring to it as male. Take from that what you will!

In other news I finally have my couch! Only ordered it 7 weeks ago so finally feel like we can settle properly in our new home & no more living like students out of the bedroom!

Not my living room but my new couch!

I’ve also branched out...I’m now in comics! Well, not strictly speaking, but I am working in conjunction with two lovely chaps on a Kickstarter campaign for a graphic novel which has received rave reviews! I'm making some merchandise for them as one of the Kickstarter rewards; it is an adult comic & it is horror based so you have been warned! The artist Macro 'Sbrillo' Fontanili designed my latest logo & the knitting hedgehog.

It’s been 16 months of hard work for them both so I really hope it does well. If you like any of the old slasher films you’ll love it. I like Kickstarter as a format too; getting a product, just the same as you would via any other method of purchasing but you are directly funding a bit of someone’s dream.

It’s really gotten me in the mood for Halloween though! You can expect a big range from me this year, I have actually started planning...think I have about 30 patterns drafted.

New skill moment! I have taught myself macramé! Totally addictive...takes a while to get your head around all the knots but so worth it!

Due to popular demand I'm announcing new workshop dates over the weekend so keep your eyes peeled!