“I’d Rather be Knitting” Spurs Purl Soho Success Imagine an old-fashioned dry goods store with yarn, fabric, and notions visible through large, glass windows. If you update that image with pops of bright color, a hip sensibility, and lively online presence, you’ll have Purl Soho, a modern craft emporium opened in 2002 by Joelle Hoverson ’89. A politics major, Hoverson was also passionate about photography and painting. She earned two fine arts degrees and maintained a studio even while working as a senior style editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Yet when Hoverson left her job to paint full-time, she found herself pulled in a surprising new direction. “I would be in my studio and realize that I would rather be knitting,” says Hoverson. “Instead of angst, I decided to give myself over to women’s work.”
Joelle Hoverson ’89 in her modern craft emporium in NYC, Purl Soho
For crafty inspiration, visit purlsoho.com.
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Hoverson admits she would have been happy knitting rectangles for the rest of her life. Then Chicago-based photo stylist Kelly McKaig, with whom she worked on a freelance project, “pushed” Hoverson to learn more about knitting technique. McKaig, who later collaborated on Hoverson’s highly regarded craft books, proved to be a catalyst. “As a stylist, I was constantly shopping. It was my job to be familiar with retail, to know where the cool boutiques were,” Hoverson says. “There were a couple of neighborhood knitting shops and when I got burned out on being a stylist, I thought, ‘Why don’t I open a shop that features beautiful, amazing materials?’” Purl opened in a tiny storefront in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood. It took Hoverson eight months to plan, but it took customers only a nanosecond to empty the shelves. “Purl could not have opened at a more
perfect time for knitting,” she says. “My goal was to create a destination store, and everyone who was a knitter came out of the woodwork. I ran out of everything. Even the manufacturers were unprepared.” Purl has grown in a decade. The successful online business is managed by Jennifer Hoverson Jahnke, her sister. Purl Patchwork, a fabric shop that grew out of Hoverson’s love of quilting, opened in 2006. Today, knitting and sewing supplies happily coexist in a larger space; the sisters have a third partner, Page Marchese Norman. And the creative team behind the craft blog The Purl Bee has made it a go-to destination for inspiration. “The overarching change is that people take craft seriously now,” says Hoverson. “Craft, something you can actually teach someone how to do, is now viewed as legitimate.” —By Avice Meehan ’77