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

🌟You’ve earned it

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to “deserve” something. Here’s why.  Tomorrow is the last chance to sign up for our 7th Masterclass Event called Texture + Wonder. And all week, I’ve been in the comments online, listening as knitters and crocheters all over the world angst over whether to invest…
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🧶How did I get here?

CLICK HERE to listen to an audio version of this newsletter These days we’re all moving so fast… Many of us live in such a constant state of fight or flight, we actually become accustomed to fighting against what’s possible. When challenges pop up, we tell ourselves “I can’t” over and over. And then one day,…
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🧶Before and after

This past week, we debuted the new Hot Loops Project Wall that we curated with Aimée from La Bien Aimée hand-dyed yarns. Apparently, this is what happens when you get a hot indie dyer, a bunch of awesome designers and 1,500 yarn lovers on Zoom all at once: To say I’m grateful to our amazing team and our loyal…
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🧶Steady through the storm

I’m writing this week’s newsletter by candlelight, looking out onto the south Florida sea as Hurricane Ian huffs and puffs out my window. When I moved a few months ago, I thought I was trading a lifetime of Oklahoma tornadoes for a hurricane or two here and there. Silly me! Last night Ian served up…
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🧶Hot off the runway 🔥

It’s here! Last night, we revealed our 36th Hot Loops Wall. What started as my antidote to the frustration I experienced as a younger knitter – always struggling to find a cute pattern paired with the perfect yarn – has evolved into a sort of New York Fashion Week for yarn. On a live, global Zoom…
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🧶Making of a custom color 🎨

Have you ever wondered how a custom color is born? I get this question a lot, actually. People wonder how we work with indie dyers to develop our custom yarn colors. And the truth is, every collaboration is a little bit different. So this week, I’m sharing a couple behind-the-scenes stories of two very different,…
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From Paris with love…and yarn 💛

Y’all I am soooooo excited! Ahem, I mean… Je suie ravie!!! I could not be more thrilled to announce that our featured Fall Hot Loops Wall dyer is none other than La Bien Aimée! I met Aimée for the first time back in 2017 when my daughter Mallory and I were in Europe filming Knit Stars…
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🧶 A one-sock confession 😳

Urth’s Uneek self-striping sock kit in colorway “oranGGe.” Pattern is “Magnolia Socks” by Helen Stewart. This week, I’m on the confession couch… I’ve only ever knitted one sock. Not one pair of socks, mind you. One. Single. Sock. I needed to know I could do it, and it was fun to make…but the whole time I kept thinking,…
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🧶Top 12 ideas for our #1 yarn 🏆

“Ms. Harrison, did you knit your shirt?” “Yes! Yes, I did!” Is there any better feeling in the world than having someone notice your knits? Especially if you’re a teacher and it’s one of your favorite students on the first day back to school? 🥰 Star Guide and high school teacher Amber, pictured above, wearing her…
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🧶 Diane Ivey’s First Project

Do you still have the first thing you ever knit? To this day, I don’t know what happened to that pink cable sweater made with scratchy wool that I cobbled together on a road trip at the age of 16. I hope that out there somewhere, someone in a really cold place with unusually long…
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🧶 Beth’s first sweater!

This week’s “Moving the Needle” guest writer is Beth, our Knit Stars Relationships Manager. She recently finished a new version of one of my favorite older designs, and agreed to share a story about it. Read on and enjoy! – xoxo, Shelley I am not a great flyer. I am the one in the window…
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🧶Become a colorwork star

Oh, what I would give to go back in time… Back when I was making colorwork sweaters for my babies, completely winging it. If only I’d had Knit Stars Arne + Carlos, Mary Jane Mucklestone and Andrea Rangel by my side. Those tiny sweaters – while precious heirlooms – would be so much less embarrassing!…
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🧶To speed up? First, slow down

As I write this to you, I’m looking out over the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway in southern Florida. Watching a mama osprey and her baby, high in a nest above the water. Every morning, I rise before the sun and walk 4 miles across a bridge and back, pelicans and gulls gliding by lazily overhead. Six…
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🧶New: a Smoothie Operator 😎

Watch this clip from Masterclass Season 5 and hear GG’s secret to authenticity. If you follow @ggmadeit on Instagram or YouTube, you know that Gaye Glasspie, the iconic orange-loving goddess and Knit Stars Star Advisor, has been seriously under the weather. In the hospital for 25 days with double pneumonia, followed by recovery at home…
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🧶A Sunnie takeover 🌞

This week, Sunnie – our intrepid Project Manager – takes a turn at authoring the newsletter. We hope you love and appreciate her high-energy vibes as much as we do around here! – xoxo Shelley Is your list of places you’d like to travel as long as your pattern queue? Mine certainly is. I absolutely…
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🧶Simpler, and simpler still

How complicated is your life right now? …and how about your knitting? Personally, I’ve found that when my life gets more complex, my knitting has to get simpler. It’s like a seesaw. When one end is up, the other has to go down. Over the past few months, I’ve traveled to film in 5 countries,…
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🧶Ready, Set…start!

Today I’ve got something completely new for you… And it’s been 17 years in the making. Back when I opened my first yarn shop in 2005, I had a famous visitor one day. Jeanne Tripplehorn, the Tulsa-girl-turned-Hollywood-film-actress, walked into my shop. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was a knitter! Jeanne had seen…
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🤍 A very personal bind-off

This week’s newsletter is a hard one to write, and yet I write it with so much joy in my heart. The same kind of joy that happens when you’ve been working on a beautiful project for years, and it finally comes time to bind off. As I write this, I’m in the final stages…
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🧶How can one row look this good? 👀

Believe it or not, this scarf is a 1-row repeat. 🤯 When I read that, I honestly didn’t quite believe it. But it’s true. This pattern called SØLV by Season 3 Knit Star Cecelia Campochiaro is a one-row pattern repeated over and over, except for the increases and decreases at the ends of alternating rows…
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🧶Ann + Kay bust a knitting myth

Have you ever thought of knitters as lonely? In Knit Stars Masterclass Season 3, Ann + Kay of Modern Daily Knitting set out to bust a bunch of knitting myths… Like “You must always finish what you start.” And “Garter stitch is boring.” And “Knitting is a lonely, solitary activity.” I don’t know about you…
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