This week y’all have had me in all my feels.

My weekend was a little rough. First off, I’m in a hand splint (ruptured ligament in my right pointer finger) and tried knitting on the plane – a definite no-go for the next 6 weeks 😩. Then all my credit cards and license were stolen from my purse at a restaurant (but thank you, thieves, for NOT taking my passport! 😅)

So I woke up Monday morning needing a little boost, and since I can’t knit, I opened our Knit Stars email – to this sweet letter from Sandy in response to last week’s newsletter.

Creatives like you and me know… making something really new and different can be exhilarating – and terrifying.

I remember the day I opened my first yarn store – will anyone “get” this Hot Loops Wall thing? And the day we first opened Masterclass signups for Season 1 – will anyone “get” the value of learning directly from the Stars’ homes, online?

So when someone takes a moment out of their busy day to tell you they get what you’re doing…well, it just really hits home. 😭❤️

It can be long or short, email, post or just a kind word in passing. But it truly makes all the difference.

P.S. The Yarniverse Founding Member Launch is now open with special Founder’s pricing for newsletter readers. Get all the details here. And to see how and why the Yarniverse is giving back,  check out this little video

P.P.S. Extra thanks to Sandy for calling me “young” – a welcome gift on the week of my 55th birthday! 🎉

Now onto your weekly dose of Curation Exploration…straight from the Flagship Store team! Here’s what our fabulous helpers are putting together and recommending for visitors to the store this week.

“The lace shawl for non-lace knitters”??? Sign us up!

“Growing Lilies” by Jen Peck is a long, shallow triangular shawl, offered in two sizes and worked from end to end using luxurious wool, silk and mohair or alpaca blend yarns to create a dreamy, delicate accessory.

With an easy-to-remember lace motif and an intuitive pattern, this shawl is an enjoyable and relaxing knitting experience with an impressive end result. It’s the lace shawl for non-lace knitters, with clean edges, a modern shape and fuss-free design.

We’ve put together some extra-special yarn combinations for your spring-into-summer Growing Lilies. Choose your favorite color combo here and let’s cast on!

“Crystal Fantasy”  Jojo Locatelli is my favorite kind of spring wrap – light, lacy and voluminous, so you can get a pop of color around your face without the warmth.

Joji designed the shawl with a geometric, almost crystal-like shape, with diamonds and ridges.

It’s worked from both ends towards the middle, so for most of it you will work two identical pieces, until you join everything together at the center.

It calls for two types of yarn: a single ply merino and a fuzzy blend of alpaca and silk in the same colorway.

We recommend our own Moondrake Merino-Cashmere-Nylon and Suri Silk, in colorways dyed just for us!

Choose your “Crystal Fantasy” kit here.

Bolognese Sauce

This week I had a craving for a good bolognese sauce, so “Luke” and I did some quick research and found this recipe from The New York Times. The description read: “After the death in 2013 of Marcella Hazan, the cookbook author who changed the way Americans cook Italian food, The Times asked readers which of her recipes had become staples in their kitchens. Many people answered with one word: ‘Bolognese.’” 

This recipe appeared in Ms. Hazan’s book “The Essentials of Classic Italian Cuisine,” and one reader called it “the gold standard.” So we tried it – and it was a big winner! We served it over angel hair and also some spaghetti squash. Also, we only simmered it about an hour, since one reader commented it would be 97.32% as good that way. It was! Try it for yourself and see.

Yield: 2 heaping cups, for about 6 servings and 1½ pounds pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
• ½cup chopped onion
• ⅔cup chopped celery
• ⅔cup chopped carrot
• ¾pound ground beef chuck (or you can use 1 part pork to 2 parts beef)
• Salt
• Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
• 1cup whole milk
• Whole nutmeg
• 1cup dry white wine
• 1½cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
• 1¼ to 1½pounds pasta
• Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table
  

Preparation:

• Step 1
  Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat them well.
  
• Step 2
  Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
  
• Step 3
  Add milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating — about ⅛ teaspoon — of nutmeg, and stir.
  
• Step 4
  Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, add ½ cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.
• Step 5
  Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.