🦙 Vicuña Burgundy is here!

Ho ho hoooooooo…

Look what’s headed here on Santa’s sleigh! 🤩

Our good friends at Amano have created a new color of their legendary Vicuña fiber.

Behold...Vicuña Burgundy.

The vicuña is the highly-protected undomesticated relative of the alpaca. Fragile-looking, elegant and extremely agile, the vicuña walks silently and alert through the Andean highlands, almost as if waiting for something extraordinary to happen.

Vicuña is considered the most luxurious fiber in the world, due to its softness and high quality. Each animal produces only tiny amounts of extremely fine wool, because by law, it can only be brushed or gently shorn every three years. 

The high value of the Vicuña’s fiber dates back to ancient times, where it was considered a symbol of nobility and the fibers were only woven by the “Virgins of the Sun." In fact, for the Incas it was considered against the law for anyone but royalty to wear Vicuña garments.

At Knit Stars, we are grateful to be the only North American distributors of this fine fiber. We have 30 Vicuña Burgundy boxes now available for pre-order, scheduled for shipment in late January. 

Your Vicuña arrives in a natural wooden box, made by Peruvian artisans. Like fine art, each box is marked with an individual number, and accompanied by a Certificate of Originality, as well as a printed pattern. 

We also have a limited number of natural (medium brown) and black Vicuña boxes available for immediate delivery.

Priced at $499 each, this is a very special gift for you or a fiber friend you love. (This is actually a discounted price - these boxes are only available elsewhere in Peru, where they are priced at $800 US). 

Shop our limited Vicuña collection (and pre-order Burgundy) here.

Amber’s recently completed “Number 10” shawl by Lori Versaci in our own “Sweet 16” 16-micron superwash merino, is the project that most stops people in their tracks at our new Flagship Store.

Amber was so thrilled with her finished shawl, she had professional photos taken. What a great way to honor the work you’ve put in to a special project! ✨

Amber posted her photos on Instagram with these words: “You can either sulk or sparkle. I have met many really great people and found many hidden treasures in lots of different cities - I chose to sparkle.”

Vincent Williams of @visuvioscrafts adds his hometown pin to the magnetic map at the Knit Stars Flagship Store grand opening.

Is your hometown represented on the Knit Stars map yet? Plan your trip to our new Knit Stars Flagship Store in Tulsa and add your pin! 📌⁠
We’ve put together a handy, downloadable guide to making the most of your trip to Tulsa - with tips on where to stay, where to eat, and how to fill your weekend with plenty of fun and inspiration.

Click here to download your free travel guide.

It’s the time of year when we all crave some comfort food to go with our knitting. Beth, our Knit Stars Relationships + Products Manager, says this is a weekly go-to around her house. It’s a lightened-up version of shepherd’s pie that subs sweet potatoes for white potatoes and chicken for the usual beef. Bonus: Each serving has 19g of protein and only 237 calories. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
By Julie Elsdon-Height
Serves 6
Ingredients
For potato topping:

• 1-1/2 lbs sweet potatoes (I used 3 medium sized)
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup 1% milk
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp fat free sour cream

For the filling:

• 1 lb lean ground chicken
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup of spinach, chopped
• 1 parsnip, diced
• 1 cup of diced carrots
• 1 cups corn kernels
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 tbsp flour (leave out to make gluten-free)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp freshly chopped rosemary
• salt and pepper
• paprika

Instructions

• Begin preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Next, peel and chop the sweet potatoes and place them into a pot of boiling water with the cloves of garlic. Allow them to boil until the sweet potatoes become soft, then drain and return to the pot.
• Now mash with sour cream, chicken broth and milk, then set aside.
• Brown the chicken in a large saute pan with onions and garlic. Once cooked, drain any grease and add in broth, carrots and parsnip.
• Allow this mixture to simmer on medium heat for approximately 10 minutes or until carrots are cooked.
• Add in the rosemary, spinach, salt and pepper, corn, flour and blend well.
• Allow to simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes.
• Divide the mixture into 6 oven-safe dishes or all of it into a 9 x 13 pan.
• Top with the mashed sweet potatoes and run a fork across the top of the sweet potatoes to make a nice design and sprinkle paprika on top.
• Bake for 20 minutes and serve!