KNIT STARS BLOG!

🧶An ode to Brad

You know the old Irish blessing, right? “May the road rise up to meet you…” Well when you’re traveling and filming for Knit Stars, sometimes the road does rise up to meet you. Other times, it roars up and rears back like a giant hissing snake and bites you in the butt. And that, my…
Read More

🧶The ultimate eye candy edition

What’s almost as exciting as learning who your Stars will be for an upcoming Knit Stars Season Premiere? (Well okay, maybe even more exciting?) It’s finding out which amazing makers our Stars have chosen to partner with, and the exclusive yarns, kits, and bags (yes I said bags, PLURAL 👜👜💃🏽🎉) that our Earlybird enrollees get…
Read More

🧶Meet your shiny new Stars!

Did you catch it, ? That subtle shift in the energy of the yarn world… …the sun breaking through the clouds… …the stars shining a little more brightly in the sky…? You guessed it! The Stars of our upcoming Knit Stars Premiere Season have announced they’re teaching in Season 9: Permission to Shine! 💫🎉💃🏽🕺🧶 This…
Read More

Stick with us (a gift :-)

I have a confession… I’m a little obsessed with stickers. 🤓 Ever since I saw Gaye “GG” Glasspie posting about how she collects stickers and uses them in her journal each day…I thought, what a fun way to jazz up my planner! And yet somehow, I’ve resisted buying stickers for myself. It may sound silly,…
Read More

🧶A new twist from Joji

I hope you’re having a fabulous week and making some time just for you – to make, to watch Knit Stars videos, or simply to relax. 😌 This week I have a special treat for you. I caught up with Joji Locatelli. ❤️ She and I had been going back and forth, doing some secret…
Read More

🧶Jeanette, beaded colorwork and second chances

They say when opportunity knocks, you should always answer. But what if, right when that knock comes, you get knocked down by a tragedy you never saw coming? That’s what happened to Knit Star Jeanette Sloan right after filming her Beaded Colorwork masterclass for Season 6. I caught up with Jeanette this past week, on…
Read More

🧶 Shelley’s nine notables

This last week I celebrated my 56th trip around the sun. Part of my gift was that my cake had the wrong year…so I’m officially aging backwards! In celebration of the occasion and our upcoming 9th Premiere Season of Knit Stars, I thought it would be fun to share 9 notables with you…nine things I’m…
Read More

🧶 Seamless and fearless

Every one of Åsa Söderman’s personal emails have the same closing… Knit with abandon. If you’ve been lucky enough to take an in-person class with Åsa, you know she exudes this philosophy. Fearlessness. Adventure. Abandon. “When I do workshops I find so many people don’t trust themselves. They often follow the pattern too closely. I…
Read More

🧶Meet the maker: Mitzi

I first met Mitzi when she would come into our second location in South Tulsa, back in 2015. I remember what first struck me most about her was a) her bright smile, b) her cheerful energy, and c) the chip on her shoulder. 😜 You see, today Mitzi is one of the most prolific textile…
Read More

🧶 Your blue ribbon awaits…

Happy first week of March, ! It’s my birthday month and everyone’s been asking what I want. I know this is kind of a mom answer but when I say “nothing” I really mean it. I have my health. Lord knows I have plenty of yarn (hello, S.A.B.L.E.!) And best of all, I am so…
Read More

🧶Casapinka and the Land of Penguins

Just when I think I’ve started to make a real dent in my travel bucket list… My friend Bronnie a.k.a. Casapinka sends me a text… from Antarctica. 🤯 It just goes to show, there’s always somewhere new to explore, and always more to learn. That’s what we love so much about being Yarnies, right?! We…
Read More

🧶 Our crochet queen

It was 3am, in the wee hours before we opened our 3rd Loops location, at 61st and Yale in Tulsa. We’d all been in a mad rush for months, as we wound down two smaller locations, moved everything into storage. and built out the new store. Sherri Torrez had been crocheting chain-link rings for weeks…
Read More

🧶 Bobbin and weavin’ with Nancy

Recently, I was scrolling the ‘gram and something grabbed my eye. I’d never seen anything quite like it. Then I glanced at the account and saw that it was @nancymarchantbrioche – none other than Nancy Marchant from Knit Stars Season 2… I reached out and asked if we could zoom and catch up, so she…
Read More

🧶Goody goody gift time

Welcome to your Sunday, ! How will you use the gift of this day to fuel your creativity? Well for starters, we’ve put together a little goody bag as a gift with purchase this week. Everything on our site is 30% off right now, and when you order $100 or more we will include these…
Read More

🧶 Solitary refinement

The last couple weeks I had some extended time to myself for the first time in a couple of years. After two weeks of traveling around for work (from Florida to Texas for Luke’s job, then to Tulsa for mine), he was called back to Nacogdoches, TX for another unspecified length of time. Having slept…
Read More

🧶 Summer’s sock-tacular new book!

There’s nothing quite like opening the box with the first printed copy of your very own book. It’s difficult to explain the swarm of emotions. Excitement and exhaustion. Relief and trepidation. Not unlike giving birth…you’re so proud of what you’ve made, and you’re holding your breath as you prepare for it to go out into…
Read More

🧶Getting the Nac of it

Hello from Nacogdoches, Texas, a.k.a. “Nac!” 🤠 Yes, you read that right. After several idyllic months working from paradise in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, Hot Luke’s work has brought us to East Texas for a spell. It might be a week…or it might turn into a month or two…or longer. We got word of this…
Read More

🧶What to do with those gauge squares

Visible Mending, directed by Samantha Moore, © BFI / MediaActive Projects 2023 I first met Lorna Hamilton Brown during Knit Stars Season 6. Often when we film our Knit Stars Masterclasses, we’ll arrange for another expert to be present on set with the Star, to provide an extra set of eyes and to act as…
Read More

🧶Your shiny new Sunday yarns

Happy New Year and a happy new newsletter look for you, ! As promised, we’ve re-thought and renamed the newsletter I’ve written every week for the past 18 years. We’ll still be doing what I love most: telling stories and sharing curated project ideas from across the yarn world. But as we shift our focus…
Read More

🧶A seed…and growing together

A Yarn Story in 3 Chapters Chapter 3 Dear faithful reader, Eighteen years ago I planted a seed…a humble little yarn store with a big dream. To honor the craft that’s given me so much joy, and to share that joy with other like-minded people. Like everything that grows, so much has evolved over those…
Read More

🧶An ode to Brad

You know the old Irish blessing, right? “May the road rise up to meet you…” Well when you’re traveling and filming for Knit Stars, sometimes the road does rise up to meet you. Other times, it roars up and rears back like a giant hissing snake and bites you in the butt. And that, my…
Read More

🧶The ultimate eye candy edition

What’s almost as exciting as learning who your Stars will be for an upcoming Knit Stars Season Premiere? (Well okay, maybe even more exciting?) It’s finding out which amazing makers our Stars have chosen to partner with, and the exclusive yarns, kits, and bags (yes I said bags, PLURAL 👜👜💃🏽🎉) that our Earlybird enrollees get…
Read More

🧶Meet your shiny new Stars!

Did you catch it, ? That subtle shift in the energy of the yarn world… …the sun breaking through the clouds… …the stars shining a little more brightly in the sky…? You guessed it! The Stars of our upcoming Knit Stars Premiere Season have announced they’re teaching in Season 9: Permission to Shine! 💫🎉💃🏽🕺🧶 This…
Read More

Stick with us (a gift :-)

I have a confession… I’m a little obsessed with stickers. 🤓 Ever since I saw Gaye “GG” Glasspie posting about how she collects stickers and uses them in her journal each day…I thought, what a fun way to jazz up my planner! And yet somehow, I’ve resisted buying stickers for myself. It may sound silly,…
Read More

🧶A new twist from Joji

I hope you’re having a fabulous week and making some time just for you – to make, to watch Knit Stars videos, or simply to relax. 😌 This week I have a special treat for you. I caught up with Joji Locatelli. ❤️ She and I had been going back and forth, doing some secret…
Read More

🧶Jeanette, beaded colorwork and second chances

They say when opportunity knocks, you should always answer. But what if, right when that knock comes, you get knocked down by a tragedy you never saw coming? That’s what happened to Knit Star Jeanette Sloan right after filming her Beaded Colorwork masterclass for Season 6. I caught up with Jeanette this past week, on…
Read More

🧶 Shelley’s nine notables

This last week I celebrated my 56th trip around the sun. Part of my gift was that my cake had the wrong year…so I’m officially aging backwards! In celebration of the occasion and our upcoming 9th Premiere Season of Knit Stars, I thought it would be fun to share 9 notables with you…nine things I’m…
Read More

🧶 Seamless and fearless

Every one of Åsa Söderman’s personal emails have the same closing… Knit with abandon. If you’ve been lucky enough to take an in-person class with Åsa, you know she exudes this philosophy. Fearlessness. Adventure. Abandon. “When I do workshops I find so many people don’t trust themselves. They often follow the pattern too closely. I…
Read More

🧶Meet the maker: Mitzi

I first met Mitzi when she would come into our second location in South Tulsa, back in 2015. I remember what first struck me most about her was a) her bright smile, b) her cheerful energy, and c) the chip on her shoulder. 😜 You see, today Mitzi is one of the most prolific textile…
Read More

🧶 Your blue ribbon awaits…

Happy first week of March, ! It’s my birthday month and everyone’s been asking what I want. I know this is kind of a mom answer but when I say “nothing” I really mean it. I have my health. Lord knows I have plenty of yarn (hello, S.A.B.L.E.!) And best of all, I am so…
Read More

🧶Casapinka and the Land of Penguins

Just when I think I’ve started to make a real dent in my travel bucket list… My friend Bronnie a.k.a. Casapinka sends me a text… from Antarctica. 🤯 It just goes to show, there’s always somewhere new to explore, and always more to learn. That’s what we love so much about being Yarnies, right?! We…
Read More

🧶 Our crochet queen

It was 3am, in the wee hours before we opened our 3rd Loops location, at 61st and Yale in Tulsa. We’d all been in a mad rush for months, as we wound down two smaller locations, moved everything into storage. and built out the new store. Sherri Torrez had been crocheting chain-link rings for weeks…
Read More

🧶 Bobbin and weavin’ with Nancy

Recently, I was scrolling the ‘gram and something grabbed my eye. I’d never seen anything quite like it. Then I glanced at the account and saw that it was @nancymarchantbrioche – none other than Nancy Marchant from Knit Stars Season 2… I reached out and asked if we could zoom and catch up, so she…
Read More

🧶Goody goody gift time

Welcome to your Sunday, ! How will you use the gift of this day to fuel your creativity? Well for starters, we’ve put together a little goody bag as a gift with purchase this week. Everything on our site is 30% off right now, and when you order $100 or more we will include these…
Read More

🧶 Solitary refinement

The last couple weeks I had some extended time to myself for the first time in a couple of years. After two weeks of traveling around for work (from Florida to Texas for Luke’s job, then to Tulsa for mine), he was called back to Nacogdoches, TX for another unspecified length of time. Having slept…
Read More

🧶 Summer’s sock-tacular new book!

There’s nothing quite like opening the box with the first printed copy of your very own book. It’s difficult to explain the swarm of emotions. Excitement and exhaustion. Relief and trepidation. Not unlike giving birth…you’re so proud of what you’ve made, and you’re holding your breath as you prepare for it to go out into…
Read More

🧶Getting the Nac of it

Hello from Nacogdoches, Texas, a.k.a. “Nac!” 🤠 Yes, you read that right. After several idyllic months working from paradise in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, Hot Luke’s work has brought us to East Texas for a spell. It might be a week…or it might turn into a month or two…or longer. We got word of this…
Read More

🧶What to do with those gauge squares

Visible Mending, directed by Samantha Moore, © BFI / MediaActive Projects 2023 I first met Lorna Hamilton Brown during Knit Stars Season 6. Often when we film our Knit Stars Masterclasses, we’ll arrange for another expert to be present on set with the Star, to provide an extra set of eyes and to act as…
Read More

🧶Your shiny new Sunday yarns

Happy New Year and a happy new newsletter look for you, ! As promised, we’ve re-thought and renamed the newsletter I’ve written every week for the past 18 years. We’ll still be doing what I love most: telling stories and sharing curated project ideas from across the yarn world. But as we shift our focus…
Read More

🧶A seed…and growing together

A Yarn Story in 3 Chapters Chapter 3 Dear faithful reader, Eighteen years ago I planted a seed…a humble little yarn store with a big dream. To honor the craft that’s given me so much joy, and to share that joy with other like-minded people. Like everything that grows, so much has evolved over those…
Read More

Posts

🧶Big week ahead!

    Thank you for a beautiful response to Moving the Needle last week. Your words filled my soul and I am so grateful that people take the time to read this newsletter. It’s always amazing to hear from you!  Although we did receive a little bit of backlash over the fact that the newsletter was exclusively…
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🧶It’s better with friends

    To make Shelley’s version of “The Shift” by Andrea Mowry, you’ll need one skein each of Spincycle Dyed in the Wool “Starstruck,” Spincycle “Wilder” and 2 skeins Sweet 16 “Sea.” Nearly a year ago, I left Tulsa – the town  where (not counting college) I’d lived since birth. The town where I raised…
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🧶We are hooked!

  The pattern is the Edith Dress by Dominique Calvillo and I used a DK weight cotton in the photo above. BUT you could gauge swatch, potentially use a smaller hook, and try our beautiful Plant Based Princess!   Hello Fiber lovers and HAPPY CROCHET MONTH! Sunnie here, and when I heard March was crochet month, I…
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🧶Square needles and running in circles

Catch the replay of this week’s Yarniverse LIVE with Ann + Kay of MDK here Remember when there wasn’t enough knitting content out in the world? This past week we did a really fun Yarniverse LIVE with Ann + Kay of Modern Daily Knitting. And we were musing back 10 years, when we were all so desperate for…
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🧶Wear the dang knits

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Hunter via Ravlery Just the other day, an email from a faithful newsletter reader named Dez dropped into my inbox. She was responding to a recent issue of Moving the Needle titled The sweater you’ll wear 24/7. I’ve excerpted her very thoughtful letter for you here. “Thank you for calling my attention to…
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✨it’s the alpaca-lypse 🦙

Don’t look now but it might be… The Alpaca-lypse! 🦙 In this week’s Yarniverse LIVE!, hosted by Knit Stars Gaye Glasspie (@ggmadeit) and Louis Boria (@brooklynboyknits), there were so many great moments. Louis gave us a sneak peek of his runway look for VK Live… He talked about why he said “yes” to Knit Stars……
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🧶Joji bag dream come true

Somebody please, pinch me. No really… Has this all just been a dream? Did Joji really make a bag just for us? And is it really the style I love the very most, the Santa Cruz with its modern square shape and exposed seams, big enough for a big sweater project plus all my other everyday bag stuff (wallet,…
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🧶5 favorite things

Sometimes in life, you just want to keep things simple. In fact, I believe that the appeal of simplicity is the very thing that brings most of us to knitting to begin with. Taking sticks and string and a simple repetitive motion and creating something beautiful. That’s why we’re all here together, isn’t it? Over…
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🧶The sweater you’ll wear 24/7

“I want to help you make that sweater you’ll wear out to lunch – not just to that knitting festival.” – Amy Herzog, Knit Stars Season 2 Raise your hand if you’ve ever cast on a sweater design just because everyone else on Ravelry was making it? If you finished it, how often did you…
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🧶The joy of the shift

Ghost Ranch Hat by Andrea Mowry, made by Sunnie. You need 1 skein Spincycle Dyed in the Wool + 1 skein Rowan Felted Tweed. Raise your hand if you remember your first skein of color-changing yarn!✋ In the early days of Loops, it was Noro Kureyon. The yarn was scratchy AF, but you didn’t care… Because the way…
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🧶 From our family to you

“My favorite project I made this year was the Brookline Blouse by Kate (@mezzomakes) in Loops Luxe Plant-Based Princess in the colorway Cottonwood.” This project kept my mind calm and hands busy in the days following a bad car accident. It was also my first non-wool project and kept me stylish all summer long. -Sunnie Operations Manager,…
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🧶Curse schmurse

This week I have a bit of a different story for you. Back when I was dating in my 20s, my friend Kristy and I made a pact: to never knit for our partners. Why? Somewhere along the way, we’d heard it was back luck. Superstitions like this abound in knitting. There’s even a book…
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🧶The gift of a lifeline

Isn’t it interesting how much beginners can teach us? I’m reading Michelle Obama’s newest book, “The Light We Carry.” Or to be more specific…I’m listening to her read the book on my morning walks, then running back home to highlight my hard copy. Even if she didn’t talk about knitting and how it helped her through…
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Zero pressure gift knitting

My latest WIP: “Strata” hat by Tif Neilan from “Worsted” by Aimée Gille, made with LolaBean Cool Beans Worsted. Kits here. I’ve noticed a trend the past few years… More and more people seem to be swearing off holiday gift making. Maybe it was the pandemic, that made people re-evaluate how they spent their free time.…
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🧶 New genius needles 💡

Since many of us are all hanging out in a turkey tryptophan haze… I decided to start out this week’s newsletter with an ode to the premiere of our 7th Masterclass Season, which just finished premiering last week. And what better ode than a blooper reel? 🤪 Enjoy watching the 3-minute clip above, where I…
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🧶 Sweaters, socks and freebies oh my

Paper clips. Safety pins. Yarn scraps. Dental floss. Ever used any of these things as a stitch marker in a pinch? I sure have. We’ve all found ourselves stuck without a stitch marker right when we need it, digging in the couch cushions while lifting up a silent prayer to the notions gods… Amiright? But…
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🧶Making peace with your yarn

“Wispy Haze” shawl in custom colorway “Cayanne’s Wedding” This week I finished one of the most joyful projects I’ve ever made… But it didn’t start out that way. My niece Cayanne was married this weekend in the Bahamas. I wasn’t there, but I can imagine how stunning she looked walking along that Bahamian blue water, wrapping…
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🧶 Knitting at 32,000 feet ✈️

Writing this newsletter at the ATL airport enroute from the beach to TUL. Right now, if it can’t be knit at 32,000 feet, it’s not going on my needles. I’ve always loved “airplane knitting” – the portable, meditative projects that don’t require a lot of concentration… (read: can be worked while sipping a Delta bloody…
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🧶An extra-special hat

Last week we told you about our project manager Sunnie and her Noodlyknits Hat Drive benefiting patients at the cancer treatment hospital her uncle runs in Gwangju, South Korea. Now it’s true, the usual thing when making for charity is to use a basic pattern and stash yarn and knock them out “on repeat”… But…
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🧶Did I ever tell you you’re my hero

Make the Ena Pullover with our exclusive colors of LolaBean Cool Beans Sport. It’s a funny thing… As makers, sometimes we get so busy making things, we don’t even realize how much impact we’re having on the wider world. Our amazing readers helped make a heroic difference last week – and at first I didn’t even…
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