| February 2, 2025

🧶 Easy dopamine (and a sale 😉)

BY SHELLEY BRANDER

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You probably know dopamine as the happy chemical messenger in your brain that affects movement, motivation, mood and memory.

But did you know that anytime you check something off your to-do list, you get a natural dose of dopamine? Which instantly lifts your mood and motivates you to move forward to the next thing?

When I learned this a couple years ago, I immediately started a new practice. When I fill out my planner each Sunday night, I make a little box next to each to-do item. Then I just fill it in with a highlighter when it’s done. Boom, dopamine hit! 💥

And here’s another tip. You can apply this same hack to your making journey just by watching Knit Stars videos, absorbing some genius tips and techniques, then checking them off! ✅

To encourage this practice for you,  we’re having our annual sale on previous Knit Stars Seasons this week. Seasons 1-8 are just $197 (that’s more than half off!), and Season 9 is $297, here.

To help you choose which Seasons to add, I’ve gathered some highlights that you can check off your personal bucket list!

✅ Travel to Iceland
Knit Stars Season 8: Breaking the Ice is a like a trip to Iceland, without the airport headaches! Make Hélene Magnússon’s gorgeous (and quick!) Icelandic sweater. And while you’re at it, learn about Assigned Pooling with Dawn Barker, dyeing with Ross Taylor, and so many more inspirational learnings inside Season 8.

✅ Elevate your slipped stitch game
Season 7: Texture and Wonder gives you all the tools you need to up the cozy factor on all your pieces. Mieka John’s slipped-stitch class is a true game-changer. Or learn something completely innovative with Mary Martin (Fission Knitting), Lotta Lundin (pop-art mittens) or Summer Lee (socks!).

✅ Learn to interpret your favorite painting into yarn
Felicity “Felix” Ford has a completely unique way of approaching fiber art that will truly open up your world. Imagine re-imagining your favorite master’s painting into your own fiber creation? Knit Stars Season 6 is full of delightful surprises from start to finish.

✅ Make a matching dog sweater for your furbaby
Season 6 is our best-selling Season ever for a reason! In addition to Felix, who can resist Dana Williams-Johnson and Jellybean in their matching sweaters? Plus Nina Machlin Dayton teaches you 16 decorative techniques in a single cowl. Oh and did we mention Casapinka and Ambah are in this Season, too?

✅ Learn the life-changing Ziggurat method
Åsa Söderman’s seamless sweater class in Season 5 may be the single most game-changing Masterclass we’ve made. We’ve heard from so many of you who have overcome your sweater fears, thanks to this class! Plus this Season houses two of my personal faves – Yumi’s class on non-wool yarns (she lives in Arizona so she should know!) and Gayle Roehm’s Japanese stitch class.

✅ Slow down and enjoy your making
Knit Stars Season 4: Alpaca My Bags is home to our sweeping documentary from Pacomarca, the world’s largest alpaca preserve high atop the Andes Mountains. And often overlooked, but always beloved in Hannah Thiessen’s masterclass on slowing down and enjoying the journey. If this is one of your 2025 resolutions, Season 4 is calling to you.

✅ Protect your practice, ergonomically
The one Knit Stars masterclass everyone needs in their arsenal is tucked into Season 3. Carson Demers walks you through how to sit and how to knit in order to avoid injury and enjoy a lifetime of yarn love, pain-free. A perfect base for the kaleidoscope of colorwork that lives in Season 3: North Stars Rising!

✅ Get better at lace knitting
Lace knitting can feel mysterious to even the most seasoned knitter. There’s no one better to break it down and empower you than Laura Nelkin in Knit Stars Season 2! Plus this is the Season with Nancy Marchant (brioche/tuck stitches), Tin Can Knits (with a super-cool yoke sweater formula) and Andrew Mowry (master those fades!).

✅ Go big
When you find your mojo flagging, a quick chunky project can be the perfect pick-me-up. In the first Knit Stars Season, Knit Collage’s Amy Small overdelivers with more than 10 gorgeous patterns! And watching Stephen West and his party tricks and tips, you can’t help but smile and feel empowered.

To shop all 9 Seasons on sale, click here.

xoxo,

P.S. Thanks to Knit Star fan Deb who suggested we make a checklist of all our masterclasses, “so we can keep track of what we’ve watched (and what we may want to watch again!)” Great idea, Deb! Here you go 😘

🌅Introducing Golden Hours 🌅

Have you ever wished you could wave a magic wand and own all of the Knit Stars Seasons (including the upcoming Season X?)

Well today is your golden moment.

Each first Sunday in 2025, for 24 hours, we’ll offer our Golden Ticket at a savings of 33% off. A Golden Ticket lets you instantly complete your Knit Stars collection, no matter how many you already own, at special savings.

As a bonus, when you get a Golden Ticket you also gain instant access to all the benefits of being a Knit Stars All Star! 🌟 Including the All Star Topic Index, Pattern Index, a treasure trove of bonus content, and the 10th Anniversary All-Star enamel pin we’ll be shipping out this spring.

To jump on this month’s Golden Hour deal, click here before midnight, Monday, February 3rd.

These “Loose Ends Mittens” by Sylke Fedhusen (unrelated to the Loose Ends Project) are made from yarn leftovers! The pattern is free on Ravelry and Sylke just asks you to give the pattern a “heart” when you download.

Have you heard of the Loose Ends Project yet?

Loose Ends’ mission is to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer textile handwork finishers with projects people have left undone due to death or disability.

Since launching in 2022, nearly 29,000 textile artists (“finishers”) from 70 countries have signed up to volunteer their skills to complete projects for strangers. The Loose Ends staff makes personalized connections based on location, craft, skill level, and preferences. Regardless of what divides the project owner and the volunteer, they are united by craft and a desire to offer comfort to someone experiencing loss. 🤍

More than 3000 projects have been completed or are in process. These completed handmade projects bring closure to those left behind, producing an heirloom, a tangible connection to their lost loved one.

You can see all the ways to help when you visit LooseEnds.org, but one is especially timely…

Starting tomorrow, February 3rd, when you shop at any JOANN store, you can donate to Loose Ends at the register. As you may have heard, JOANN stores will be closing soon. And because this is Loose Ends’ biggest annual fundraiser, donations are especially appreciated this year. Thank you!

Photo and Recipe credit: Half-Baked Harvest

Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup

This past Sunday was a sleepy day around our place. We didn’t have the gumption to go out. So Luke scrounged around in the fridge for what we had on hand. And lo and behold, we had everything we needed to make this delicious, warming soup (including leftovers from the previous night’s roast chicken). Well, we had almost everything…we used dried sage in a jar instead of fresh, and substituted red salsa for the green salsa. It came together really fast and tasted like it had simmered all day. Highly recommend!

Ingredients:

  • 4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped (optional)
  • 8 fresh sage leaves
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
  • salt and black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
  • 4-6 cups broth
  • 3/4 cup salsa verde
  • 4-6 cups shredded kale or chopped spinach
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream or whole milk
  • 1 pound fresh potato gnocchi
  • 1-2 cups shredded rotisserie style chicken
  • 1/2 cup shredded spicy cheddar

Instructions:

  1. Cook the bacon in a large dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. During the last minute of cooking, add the sage and let it get crispy Remove the bacon. If there’s excess bacon grease, drain off all but 2 tablespoons. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, until fragrant.
  2. Stir in the butter and flour and cook for 1 minute. Add 4 cups broth. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes until the carrots are tender.
  3. Stir in the kale, cream/milk, salsa verde, and gnocchi. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and cheddar cheese. If the soup is too thick, add additional broth.
  4. Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with bacon and sage. Enjoy, preferably with a crusty piece of bread.

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