purlJam - Your New Creative Partner
If you opened one of my project bags, you’d likely find more than just yarn and hooks - a notebook filled with hand drawn sketches and notes, print-outs of charts and perhaps a new swatch or two.
Our making lives are often a collection of these scattered "bits and pieces." We spend our time searching for lost PDFs, scrolling back through our phone for a tutorial we saw last week, or trying to find a calculator to work out a simple increase.
I started thinking about how we could gather all these fragments into one place - a portable home for our knitting and crochet life. That’s why we’ve been building purlJam.
A Pocket-Sized Studio
We like to think of purlJam as a "pocket studio." It isn't about replacing the physical joy of making; it’s about clearing away the "technical friction" that often gets in the way of it.
We’ve focused the studio around five core ways of supporting the maker, ensuring that every part of your process has a home:
- A Portable Digital Library: It’s about more than just storage; it’s about having your entire library, in your pocket. You can store every pattern you own in one secure home and access your projects from any device, wherever you are.
- The Stitch Hub: This is your space for instant expertise. You can master new techniques without ever leaving your project, with a library of tutorials and video guides - no more searching the internet for a single stitch.
- Intelligent Generation: This is where we use technology to bridge the gap between an idea and a finished pattern. You describe what you want to make in plain English, and the studio handles the technical design and calculations instantly. You can read more about our AI pattern generator.
- A Curated Pattern Collection: Our growing library is a place to discover your next project. From free community favourites to premium designs, your next spark of inspiration is always with you.
- Stash & Project Tracking: A place to manage your yarn stash and track every stitch. You can log your materials, monitor row-by-row progress, and keep a complete record of your making journey from the first cast-on to the final photograph.
We recently put these design and tracking features to the test with our Scrunchie Bag Collaboration. It’s a practical example of how to partner the studio with your own creative ideas, and you can find the pattern for free inside the app.
For a deeper look into the technology that powers these automated design drafts, you can read our introduction to purlJam.
A Journey in Progress
purlJam is a work in progress. It's growing every day as we add tutorials and refine the ways it can help us stay organised.
My hope is that it becomes a supportive companion for your making journey - a place that handles the administrative side of the craft so you can spend less time searching and more time with your needles and hooks.
Start your making journey with purlJam →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it suitable for beginners?
Yes, absolutely. Whether you’re casting on your first scarf or designing your tenth sweater, it’s meant to be a quiet aid that grows with your skills.
Can I save patterns from other designers?
Yes. The goal is for this to be your complete digital home. You can upload and store any pattern you own so they are all in one secure place. These are only available to you and are not publicly accessible.
How does the pattern generation work?
Think of it as a technical assistant. You provide the vision, and it provides a draft with the yardage and stitch counts. From there, you can follow it exactly or use your own experience to tweak and refine it.
Is it available on mobile?
Yes, it’s designed to be a "portable companion" that works beautifully on your phone, tablet, or computer.