Knit Stars | June 21, 2026
🧶Lessons from a life of Bliss
BY SHELLEY BRANDER
I’m writing you from the train as Brad and I make our way from Vichy, France to Paris, winding up the European leg of filming for Knit Stars Season 11.
While I spend a lot of my life on planes and boats don’t bother me, trainsickness can really get me. There’s something about the landscape whizzing by in my peripheral vision that can make everything tilt a little out of balance.
But that’s perfect, because today I’m going to share a bit about filming with the legendary Debbie Bliss in London last week. And the word she chose to represent her masterclass is “balance.”
I asked Debbie to hold some books on her head for this shot, and she showed off by releasing her hands and waltzing across her courtyard without spilling a one.
I asked Debbie to hold some books on her head for this shot, and she showed off by releasing her hands and waltzing across her courtyard without spilling a one.
I think it’s fair to say that Debbie Bliss has built one of the most impressive careers in modern hand-knitting history. She has published more than 35 books. The yarn brand bearing her name became THE yarn for shops around the world to stock, and still is today. After the successful sale of that brand in 2018 to LoveCrafts, she now designs alongside her new business partner, Chloé Elizabeth Birch, under the label Birch + Bliss.
Through it all, while raising two children with her husband, Barry, a filmmaker and artist, Debbie says she always struggled with work-life balance.
Now she finally feels like she may be just starting to get it right.
When I first reached out to Debbie about possibly being in Knit Stars, she had recently learned that her first grandchild would be born with a rare condition that would render him unable to swallow, and would likely require multiple surgeries and an extended stay in NICU.
When sweet Marlowe was born, his condition turned out to be even more serious than first thought, and as of this writing (at age 7 months) he remains in the hospital, but doctors are optimistic he will be able to come home soon.
(TOFS, the charity that helps support children with Marlowe’s condition is Debbie’s chosen charity for Knit Stars Season 11.🤍)
While Debbie’s family has always been the center of her life, this episode has brought everyone even closer, and has helped Debbie find a deeper balance that she hopes to pass on to you through her upcoming Knit Stars Masterclass: Creative Cables for Balance, Harmony and Texture.
Debbie has had a lifetime love connection with cables – she loves building a cable motif and balancing it with other textures like bobbles and edgings. Like Coco Chanel, she believes in building the design then “taking away just one element,” she says.
For her masterclass, she’s designed a masterpiece of a sweater in both an adult, shaped slightly cropped version and a more squared-off child’s design.
Now, can I be real and tell you just how surreal it is to have knit someone’s designs for 30+ years and looked up to them all your life, and suddenly you’re standing in their living room, cuddling their dogs and drinking their tea?
(Meet Bear and Dave.🐾💕)
And what about having THE Debbie Bliss prepare a scrumptious spread of English delights for you, for a mid-filming lunch break?
I will never quite get used to these moments!
After we finished filming her interview and class, Debbie led us to one of her favorite neighborhood spots where crafters gather regularly, and have recently completed the most amazing quilt to welcome others to the area.
After we finished filming her interview and class, Debbie led us to one of her favorite neighborhood spots where crafters gather regularly, and have recently completed the most amazing quilt to welcome others to the area.
