Knit Stars Scoop

I’m writing this week’s newsletter by candlelight, looking out onto the south Florida sea as Hurricane Ian huffs and puffs out my window. When I moved a few months ago, I thought I was trading a lifetime of Oklahoma tornadoes for a hurricane or two here and there. Silly me! Last night Ian served up three tornado warnings, with one blowing right over our little place by the sea - thankfully, not touching down. It’s times like these when I’m extra grateful for my knitting.When my nerves get jangly as I stare out the window, watching the confused sea birds swoop...

This past week, we debuted the new Hot Loops Project Wall that we curated with Aimée from La Bien Aimée hand-dyed yarns. Apparently, this is what happens when you get a hot indie dyer, a bunch of awesome designers and 1,500 yarn lovers on Zoom all at once: To say I’m grateful to our amazing team and our loyal customers worldwide…well that would be the understatement of the year!More about some of the new projects and yarns in a minute…But first.Quite a few of you reached out to me by private message, commenting on how different I look.Well, I haven’t really changed anything on...

It’s here! Last night, we revealed our 36th Hot Loops Wall.What started as my antidote to the frustration I experienced as a younger knitter - always struggling to find a cute pattern paired with the perfect yarn - has evolved into a sort of New York Fashion Week for yarn.On a live, global Zoom event, one by one, Aimée Gille and I revealed the projects and yarns we curated together. And we were joined by some very special guests - featured designers included Fatimah Hinds, Summer Lee, Ariel Gardner, Bernice Lim aka Yamagara, Nim Teasdale and Vincent Williams, Jr.! After each of...

Have you ever wondered how a custom color is born? I get this question a lot, actually. People wonder how we work with indie dyers to develop our custom yarn colors. And the truth is, every collaboration is a little bit different. So this week, I’m sharing a couple behind-the-scenes stories of two very different, recent color collabs.Since our big Hot Loops Wall Reveal Event is coming up next weekend, let’s start with how I worked with Aimée of La Bien Aimée to develop our brand-new custom color…“I had the pleasure of making a beautiful, beachy custom color for Knit Stars,” Aimée wrote. “It...

  Y’all I am soooooo excited!Ahem, I mean…Je suie ravie!!!I could not be more thrilled to announce that our featured Fall Hot Loops Wall dyer is none other than La Bien Aimée!I met Aimée for the first time back in 2017 when my daughter Mallory and I were in Europe filming Knit Stars Season 2. I had seen Aimée’s stunning hand dye work and heard rave reviews of her bright-yellow-painted yarn shop on a bustling streetcorner in Paris. But nothing could have prepared me for the charm of the shop…the breathtaking beauty of the yarns…and the creative tour de force that is...

Urth’s Uneek self-striping sock kit in colorway “oranGGe.” Pattern is “Magnolia Socks” by Helen Stewart. This week, I’m on the confession couch…I’ve only ever knitted one sock.Not one pair of socks, mind you. One. Single. Sock.I needed to know I could do it, and it was fun to make…but the whole time I kept thinking, no one’s ever gonna see this! It’ll hide in my shoes and I’ll never get that “Whoa, did you MAKE that?” moment.So when I finished that first sock, I fell victim to “second sock syndrome,” cast on a sweater and never looked back.But now, two things have changed....