Knit Stars | May 18, 2025
🧶 A wellness check-in
BY SHELLEY BRANDER
Happy Sunday!
Well, actually, if I’m totally transparent and a little vulnerable here, I’m not feeling my usual happy self as I write this.
How about you? How would you rate your wellness right now, 1 to 10? To be honest, mine has been hovering around the bottom of the scale, at the opposite end of where it usually hangs out.
That feels weird to admit here in this space, because I’ve always said “yarn should be the happiest part of your day.” I decided back in January that my word of the year would be JOY. I live in the place of my dreams, with the job of my dreams, and who could forget the world’s most loving and awesome dog?
My middle son, Chase, came to visit me and Charles Barkley this past weekend. ❤️
With all of this goodness, am I even allowed to be sad? To have days where I wake up and want to just pull the covers back over my head?
And yet, I am human – a creative human. I feel big, I feel deep. I put my work – and my heart – out on display for all the world to see and to judge. I dream in vivid colors, sometimes flying and often falling. I can easily let my imagination run away with me…with the highest highs quickly dropping into the lowest lows.
When I took a step back, I realized…I’d been burning that candle at both ends. Heck, is it possible to burn the candle at three ends? I went straight from filming in Vietnam, to our Season 10 Earlybird launch, to filming in Chile, to Chase’s momentous college graduation in Tulsa, all while juggling some big challenges in my personal life.
To celebrate Chase’s graduation, I crocheted my first Wooble plushie: Darwin the Owl (complete with tiny diploma, gown, and cap!)
While there have been many, many highs – and watching Chase graduate with his bachelor’s in social work after all that he has navigated was certainly the highest of highs – still, it’s important to acknowledge when you have come up against your limit, and give yourself grace.
If you’re reading this, I know you’re a creative too. And so I want you to know, if some Sundays are less than happy Sundays…if some days you’re too tired or sad to even make a single stitch…that’s ok.
Like, it’s really truly ok. And life will get better.
Thank you for being on this creative journey with me. Next Sunday I’ll be in Paris for filming with Franklin Habit, and with all the excitement (and croissants!) I’m sure to be smiling again and full of exciting things to share.
Meanwhile, I’m sending you love, peace, and tiny sparks of joy wherever you can find them.
xoxo,
“Knitting is mindfulness,” says Tatiana Sarasa in her Knit Stars Masterclass, filmed at the height of the pandemic.”
“It’s a chance to take care of ourselves, to spoil us, to breathe and flow. Knitting is rhythm. The tick-tock of the needles is like a heartbeat. So let’s follow our hearts. Let’s keep on knitting and sharing.”
We have just released a new Knit Stars Wellness Bundle. The timing couldn’t be better for me personally. I just re-watched Tatiana’s final module called “Knitting is love,” and I felt chills. Her masterclass, filmed on location in Mallorca, is such a wonderful reminder of how our knitting can bring us closer to each other, to our environment, and to ourselves.
- Tatiana Sarasa: Holistic Knitting helps you craft a mood board, create your own project and express yourself while exploring natural dyeing and sustainable practices.
- Jacqui Fink: Color + Emotional Health guides you through creating a meaningly shawl while exploring bold artworks and journaling practices.
- Carson Demers: Knitting Ergonomics helps you take a mindlful look at your posture, seating, tool and yarn selection so you can knit more comfortably and sustainably.
- Felicity Ford: Interpreting Art + Sound into Knitting will absolutely blow your mind and rethink what is possible with your knitting. Re-interpret your favorite art piece as your favorite knit piece with advanced color development, charting and much more.
- Ann Shayne + Kay Gardiner of MDK: Secrets of Knitting Happiness – You can’t watch this masterclass and not fall back in love with your craft! You’ll laugh, you’ll knit, you’ll laugh some more!
The new Wellness Bundle is just $147 and includes 6 patterns, 17 bonuses and a total running time of 9 hours.
Purchase the Wellness Bundle here.
And while you’re there, check out our other new Bundles:
- Sweater Lovers Bundle
- Crochet Lovers Bundle
- Artful Bundle
- Animal Lovers Bundle
- Beautiful Basics Bundle
In between making Darwin the Owl for Chase’s graduation (see photo above), I cast on for Pope Vergara’s “Bee Vest” and I’m about to start the beading. Love how this color is working up!
Photo credit New York Times Cooking
Lazy Daisy Cake
By Melissa Clark, New York Times Cooking
In my current mood, I’ve been opting for easy comfort dishes. This Lazy Daisy cake is about as easy as it gets – so much so that one reviewer writes: “This was the cake recipe 8th graders learned how to bake in Home Economics in the late 1960’s. It was delicious. Then, we learned how to sew an apron!”
A quick and easy treat to go with your morning coffee or as an after-dinner yum. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
For the Cake
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- Âľ cup/150 grams granulated sugar
- 1 cup/128 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
- ½ cup/118 milliliters whole milk
For the Topping
- ½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter
- Âľ cup/165 grams packed dark or light brown sugar
- ÂĽ cup/60 milliliters whole milk
- Pinch of fine sea or table salt
- 1ÂĽ cups/105 grams shredded coconut (either unsweetened or sweetened)
Instructions:
- Prepare the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square or round baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter the paper.
- Using an electric mixer or beaters, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. (You can also do this with a wire whisk, though it will take some time and effort.) Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat in vanilla or cardamom, if using.
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk and 2 tablespoons butter, stirring until the butter melts and the milk steams, but don’t let the mixture boil (a gentle simmer at the edges of the pan is fine). Pour the hot mixture into the eggs, beating briefly until you have a smooth, runny batter. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 22 to 32 minutes, until the surface is pale golden and the top springs back when lightly pressed with your finger.
- While the cake is baking, prepare the topping: In a small saucepan (you can use the same one you used for the milk, and you don’t have to wash it), melt the butter. Add brown sugar, milk, and salt, and stir until the mixture comes to a simmer. Turn off the heat and stir in coconut.
- When the cake is done, pour the coconut mixture evenly on top and place it under the broiler for 1 to 4 minutes, until the topping is bubbling and browned. Watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn (a few singed coconut shreds are nice).
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving. If not serving on the same day, store at room temperature and serve within 2 days.
