Knit Stars | June 14, 2026
🧶The 55-year stash ball.
BY SHELLEY BRANDER
Happy Sunday!
This week, I’m thrilled to report that legendary designer, author, lecturer, and trend forecaster Erika Knight is just like us.
No, really!
She loves her grandson.
She loves her, pup, Slippers.
She stores her notions in egg cartons.
She goes rummaging on the beach and fills her pockets with special rocks and found objects (which she then uses, more often than not, to inspire her next designs).
“It’s never just a walk,” she says.
When she wants to get in her creative genius zone, she spreads everything out on the floor.
(Back when she was designing for a major British retailer, she was once told she had to get up from the floor and sit at the desk like a proper worker. 😮)
And she has stash, just like us! In fact, in preparing to film her Knit Stars masterclass with us this week in St. Leonard by the Sea, Erika discovered what she believes to be the oldest ball of yarn in her stash – clocking in at more than 55 years old.
I’ve just spent a glorious two days with Erika, diving deep into her fascinating creative process that’s deeply rooted in experimentation, disruption and the beauty of imperfection.
Erika embodies the mantra of one of her earliest mentors, who often said “Every fault, a fashion.” The idea is that so-called mistakes can often lead to innovation – and even one’s own signature style.
The square Erika has designed for “group project” is a clever use of squares and ladders, aka dropped stitches. She then developed the motif into a striking shawlette (shown below) made from a single skein of Uncommon Thread’s “Heavenly” fingering weight.
And while I was with Erika, I discovered she initially made a mini version…it’s so cute that I’ve convinced her to include this pattern in her masterclass, too!
On a personal note, it’s been decades since I spent any real time in the London area, and it’s been such fun to see this part of the world from a local’s perspective, re-discovering the joy of things like English tea with milk, real pub food and jellied eels.
Just kidding. I didn’t touch the jellied eels!
But I did have a bit of a fright when I checked into my charming hotel room…
