Wow, what a world we are living in. What we knew to be true changes almost daily, and…

If you’re like me, your yarn has been a lifeline through it all.
I believe knitting is truly a superpower. It’s creating. It’s healing. And best of all, it connects us.

This is why I’m so pleased to announce that the world’s biggest online knitting festival, Knit Stars 5.0, will go on as scheduled in the fall of 2020!

This time every year, we announce our new teacher lineup. And to celebrate, we offer a special Earlybird price…

This year, we’re not only offering Season 5 at our lowest-ever Earlybird price…We’ve opened up Seasons 1-4 at the lowest price we’ve ever offered, too.

To find out who your new Season 5 teachers will be, and what they’ll be teaching, just click here.

Okay, the knitting world has gone wild for Casapinka’s new shawl pattern – and WE FOUND THE EXACT YARN! 💃

It’s Super Silky by Emma’s Yarn in two awesome colors: “80’s Rewind” and “Ice Ice Baby.” The pattern is super-easy, so even if you are a novice knitter, you can make it! It’s just slip-stitch (“not even proper mosaic” because we all need something easy right now, according to Casapinka 💜)

We can take pre-orders for up to 200 kits, and yours will ship to you in 3-4 weeks.

The design is called “Breathe and Hope” and Casapinka designed it for LYS Day, which was originally scheduled for April 25, but postponed due to COVID. She wanted to support Local Yarn Stores anyway, so when you pre-order from LoopsLove.com, we’ll include the Ravelry coupon code so you can get the pattern FREE.

Thank you Casapinka for supporting Local Yarn Stores! And thank you to Emma’s Yarn (the yarn currently featured on our Hot Loops Wall) for working with us to offer it to our awesome customers 🥰

Important: We will email discount codes starting Friday as they will only work Friday through Sunday, April 24-26.Breathe and Hope.

Click this link to pre-order the Emma’s yarn kit.

Andrea Mowry has done it again with the Rose Cardigan. This open cardigan is a true adventure in knitting! Combining unique sideways construction, cables, fading, and exposed seams creates a flattering oversized dolman style sweater that looks great on all figure types.

We’re pairing it with Emma’s yarn Simply Spectacular DK — a gorgeous 4-ply blend of 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon. It is *so* soft to the touch and has just the right bit of give, making it perfect for your Rose Cardigan! We love how gorgeous the colors look on this base and how luxurious it feels while you work with it. Each skein is hand-dyed with love and care by Emma and Aspen.

Rose Cardigan has a beautiful curved underarm that creates a lot of drape for an oversized look, with long, slim cuffs that give you different styling options. You can either wear them long, to accentuate the slender portion of your arm, or cuff them for a shorter sleeve! This adventurous pattern includes fading, short rows, cables, and ribbing.

Recommended needles: US 2 and US 4, and you can find Andrea Mowry’s Rose Cardigan on Ravelry.

Shop yarn for the Rose Cardigan here.

Have you been hand-winding a lot of yarn at home lately?

We have a couple of tips to make it easier on you!

Check out Andrea Mowry’s simple how-to video from Knit Stars on hand-winding here.

Or even easier…invest in the same winder and swift that we use at Loops! You’ll find them here on our Tools page.

Treat yourself if you can – you’ll never regret having your own swift and winder at home!

Loops Trooper Rachel is super lucky that her husband *loves* to cook. It really helps her get a few more stitches in!

Here’s an easy recipe he made with great results – Teriyaki Chicken from thespruceeats.com. There is a great photo tutorial on the website that helps your chicken look as good as it tastes.

Ingredients
3/4 pound boneless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons sake
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons mirin (sweet sake)
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of grated ginger (add more to taste)
1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil for cooking chicken (may be substituted with canola or other oil)

No worries if you don’t have sake. Rachel’s husband substituted 2 tbs brown sugar and 1/2 tsp ground ginger since they didn’t have fresh. He also added 1/2 tsp garlic powder and some red pepper flakes! It smelled SO GOOD. And chicken breast or tenderloin would work well with this recipe, too! Use what you have and enjoy!

Let’s keep knitting the world together 🌎💙
– Shelley and the Loops Troops