KNIT STARS BLOG!

🧶The most important one

This feels like the most important newsletter I’ve written all year. I really want to get it right…for you to feel what’s in my heart and for it to touch your own heart, deeply. So here goes… (deep breath)… This past week I met with some dear friends from around the world. We are a…
Read More

🧶The no that launched thousands of yeses

Pull up a chair and get comfy, because this week I have a little longer yarn that I’ve never shared publicly before. When was the last time you had to build up your courage for weeks to ask something of someone you really admired, and they told you no? Or even worse, just ignored you?…
Read More

🧶Revive your whole wardrobe

Happy Sunday! Is there one compliment you love getting more than any other kind? Over the past 9 years of producing Knit Stars Masterclasses, there’s one customer comment that’s my absolute favorite to read… “This workshop alone was worth the price of admission for the whole Season!” And of course I feel that way about…
Read More

🧶Is this a “crazy” idea?

This week, let’s talk a bit about “crazy” ideas. Knit Stars Season 5 was the high Season of COVID. I had planned the ultimate travel bucket list year, with plans to film in Australia, Japan, Mallorca, Copenhagen and points all across North America. It all fell away in a heartbeat as all the countries closed.…
Read More

🧶Join the inner circle

You know how last week I talked about dissolving the “nots” in our knitting? Well this week, it’s confession time. Because there was an insidious “not” that ensnared my first couple decades as a maker. I was NOT going to touch circular knitting! I made dozens of adult and baby sweaters, all seamed. I was…
Read More

🧶Goodbye, nots!

Lately I’ve been doing some deep thinking – about knots. You’re a Yarnie, so you know the feeling. You’re flowing along in the zone on your project, and all of a sudden you hit a dreaded knot. You have to stop, decide whether it can be undone or cut, leaving two more ends to weave…
Read More

🧶Your next capsule wardrobe

It’s that time of year when my WIPs begin that eternal battle with one another… Crank out one more crochet crop for those last dog days of summer…Or cast on a new knit sweater in fall hues??? Right now for me, the latter is winning out – especially after I took a peek at the…
Read More

🧶Do you wanna go faster? 🎢

The year was circa 1978. It was my first time visiting Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was nervous to ride Zingo, the big wooden roller coaster. So I decided to work up my courage on an easier ride first. “The Himalaya” was one of those rides where the cars fly around in a…
Read More

🧶A different kind of love story

I’ve been a dog lover for as long as I can remember. Our first pup as a young family was Lucy the Lhasa Apso. Longtime readers will remember my beloved Purl, who survived a horrific attack and went on to grace our home with so much love, wiggles and furry hugs, that before we knew…
Read More

🧶What a surprise!

Striking my best Olympic pose after finishing my new crochet top! Hey there, If you’re like me, now that the Olympics is over, you’re looking for your next escape. I’ve been thinking, and it’s occurred to me that every Knit Stars Masterclass is like three of my favorite escapes, all rolled into one. There’s the…
Read More

🧶Turn stash into kindness

Dear reader, this week I’d like to introduce you to a real life Soap Star. 🤩 Stacy Wiener is the founder of S.A.C.K. – Supporting A Community with Kindness. She was nominated by TWO of our Yarniverse members to be a Rising Star – and in the exact same month that I found out about…
Read More

🧶 Get to know Emma

I first saw Emma Fassio’s name many years ago, on a pattern my friend Gina Hills was working on. Many of you might remember Gina, a manager at our Loops stores for more than a decade. Gina was (still is) a style inspiration of mine, a big fan of iconic Italian fashion houses like Missoni.…
Read More

🧶Catching the Doodle bug

Jamie Lomax took up knitting in 2020 as a COVID hobby. She was working as a senior project manager for a large retail and food service company in Seattle at the time. “We all got sent home, and I was on Teams calls all day every day. I have ADHD so I was struggling to…
Read More

🧶Something new is blooming…

Happy Sunday, beautiful reader! Do you ever have those moments like I do, when you’re scrolling social media, and an image makes you stop and audibly gasp – causing anyone else in your household to run in and see if you’re ok? This past week I had one of those moments, and (after assuring said…
Read More

🧶Sprinkle that stuff on everything…

TW: This week’s newsletter includes sensitive mental health topics. Sending all of our love our beautiful readers, family and friends ❤️.  “I had two options. I could either let it wreck me and disrupt my life, or I could inspire myself and others, share my story, and use it to help raise awareness.” These are the wise words of…
Read More

🧶Back in the saddle

Hello dear reader, How’s it going in your creative world? These past few weeks have been even more whirlwind-y than usual for me, as Knit Stars Season 9 filming has kicked into high gear. I made a commitment to go to all the filmings this year, which means I’m up in the air, upside down,…
Read More

🧶 Gratitude – in any language

Toto, we’re not at the beach house anymore. We’re near the ‘beech house” in Cork, Ireland! I snapped a pic of this charming home with a spectacular garden, just up the road from Knit Stars Season 9 Star Carol Feller’s house in Cork, Ireland. Every Knit Stars Season is a wonderful adventure, and this year…
Read More

🧶Now he’s dancing with his fingers

We talk a lot around here about how yarn can change lives. We’ve seen it in action a million times over, in small ways and bigger ways. But this week’s story…well, this one hits differently. Yarn didn’t just change Thomas Gregory’s life. It saved it. Thomas Gregory (@gregorystitch) came to my awareness last year by…
Read More

🧶Behold, the future of patterns

Are you a sticky notes knitter? A highlighter hooker? Or maybe you’re a washi-tape wonder? 🤩 At various points in my 4 decades as a Yarnie, I’ve been all of the above. As I’ve progressed (and my eyesight has regressed) I find myself using all kinds of tricks to keep my place and track the…
Read More

🧶What’s your big Y?

This week I invite you to ponder a simple question: What’s your Big Y? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I know that yarn, creativity, and connection are important to me. Some days, it feels more important than food or even air. But WHY? And how does that intersect with other people’s big…
Read More

🧶The most important one

This feels like the most important newsletter I’ve written all year. I really want to get it right…for you to feel what’s in my heart and for it to touch your own heart, deeply. So here goes… (deep breath)… This past week I met with some dear friends from around the world. We are a…
Read More

🧶The no that launched thousands of yeses

Pull up a chair and get comfy, because this week I have a little longer yarn that I’ve never shared publicly before. When was the last time you had to build up your courage for weeks to ask something of someone you really admired, and they told you no? Or even worse, just ignored you?…
Read More

🧶Revive your whole wardrobe

Happy Sunday! Is there one compliment you love getting more than any other kind? Over the past 9 years of producing Knit Stars Masterclasses, there’s one customer comment that’s my absolute favorite to read… “This workshop alone was worth the price of admission for the whole Season!” And of course I feel that way about…
Read More

🧶Is this a “crazy” idea?

This week, let’s talk a bit about “crazy” ideas. Knit Stars Season 5 was the high Season of COVID. I had planned the ultimate travel bucket list year, with plans to film in Australia, Japan, Mallorca, Copenhagen and points all across North America. It all fell away in a heartbeat as all the countries closed.…
Read More

🧶Join the inner circle

You know how last week I talked about dissolving the “nots” in our knitting? Well this week, it’s confession time. Because there was an insidious “not” that ensnared my first couple decades as a maker. I was NOT going to touch circular knitting! I made dozens of adult and baby sweaters, all seamed. I was…
Read More

🧶Goodbye, nots!

Lately I’ve been doing some deep thinking – about knots. You’re a Yarnie, so you know the feeling. You’re flowing along in the zone on your project, and all of a sudden you hit a dreaded knot. You have to stop, decide whether it can be undone or cut, leaving two more ends to weave…
Read More

🧶Your next capsule wardrobe

It’s that time of year when my WIPs begin that eternal battle with one another… Crank out one more crochet crop for those last dog days of summer…Or cast on a new knit sweater in fall hues??? Right now for me, the latter is winning out – especially after I took a peek at the…
Read More

🧶Do you wanna go faster? 🎢

The year was circa 1978. It was my first time visiting Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was nervous to ride Zingo, the big wooden roller coaster. So I decided to work up my courage on an easier ride first. “The Himalaya” was one of those rides where the cars fly around in a…
Read More

🧶A different kind of love story

I’ve been a dog lover for as long as I can remember. Our first pup as a young family was Lucy the Lhasa Apso. Longtime readers will remember my beloved Purl, who survived a horrific attack and went on to grace our home with so much love, wiggles and furry hugs, that before we knew…
Read More

🧶What a surprise!

Striking my best Olympic pose after finishing my new crochet top! Hey there, If you’re like me, now that the Olympics is over, you’re looking for your next escape. I’ve been thinking, and it’s occurred to me that every Knit Stars Masterclass is like three of my favorite escapes, all rolled into one. There’s the…
Read More

🧶Turn stash into kindness

Dear reader, this week I’d like to introduce you to a real life Soap Star. 🤩 Stacy Wiener is the founder of S.A.C.K. – Supporting A Community with Kindness. She was nominated by TWO of our Yarniverse members to be a Rising Star – and in the exact same month that I found out about…
Read More

🧶 Get to know Emma

I first saw Emma Fassio’s name many years ago, on a pattern my friend Gina Hills was working on. Many of you might remember Gina, a manager at our Loops stores for more than a decade. Gina was (still is) a style inspiration of mine, a big fan of iconic Italian fashion houses like Missoni.…
Read More

🧶Catching the Doodle bug

Jamie Lomax took up knitting in 2020 as a COVID hobby. She was working as a senior project manager for a large retail and food service company in Seattle at the time. “We all got sent home, and I was on Teams calls all day every day. I have ADHD so I was struggling to…
Read More

🧶Something new is blooming…

Happy Sunday, beautiful reader! Do you ever have those moments like I do, when you’re scrolling social media, and an image makes you stop and audibly gasp – causing anyone else in your household to run in and see if you’re ok? This past week I had one of those moments, and (after assuring said…
Read More

🧶Sprinkle that stuff on everything…

TW: This week’s newsletter includes sensitive mental health topics. Sending all of our love our beautiful readers, family and friends ❤️.  “I had two options. I could either let it wreck me and disrupt my life, or I could inspire myself and others, share my story, and use it to help raise awareness.” These are the wise words of…
Read More

🧶Back in the saddle

Hello dear reader, How’s it going in your creative world? These past few weeks have been even more whirlwind-y than usual for me, as Knit Stars Season 9 filming has kicked into high gear. I made a commitment to go to all the filmings this year, which means I’m up in the air, upside down,…
Read More

🧶 Gratitude – in any language

Toto, we’re not at the beach house anymore. We’re near the ‘beech house” in Cork, Ireland! I snapped a pic of this charming home with a spectacular garden, just up the road from Knit Stars Season 9 Star Carol Feller’s house in Cork, Ireland. Every Knit Stars Season is a wonderful adventure, and this year…
Read More

🧶Now he’s dancing with his fingers

We talk a lot around here about how yarn can change lives. We’ve seen it in action a million times over, in small ways and bigger ways. But this week’s story…well, this one hits differently. Yarn didn’t just change Thomas Gregory’s life. It saved it. Thomas Gregory (@gregorystitch) came to my awareness last year by…
Read More

🧶Behold, the future of patterns

Are you a sticky notes knitter? A highlighter hooker? Or maybe you’re a washi-tape wonder? 🤩 At various points in my 4 decades as a Yarnie, I’ve been all of the above. As I’ve progressed (and my eyesight has regressed) I find myself using all kinds of tricks to keep my place and track the…
Read More

🧶What’s your big Y?

This week I invite you to ponder a simple question: What’s your Big Y? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I know that yarn, creativity, and connection are important to me. Some days, it feels more important than food or even air. But WHY? And how does that intersect with other people’s big…
Read More

Posts

🧶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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🌟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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