I didn't grow up watching much TV, but my husband Cody comes from a Star Trek-loving family. The Next Generation (or TNG) was basically always playing at his dad’s house while Cody and I were dating. After we’d been married for a while, he wanted me to actually watch the show—like, really commit—and I figured, okay, why not.

I got hooked.

Here’s the thing: they don’t really make shows like this anymore—shows that actually feel good to watch. It’s sci-fi on the surface, but what TNG really gets at is something deeper. Picard and the crew face impossible dilemmas and somehow always choose the right thing. Data learning to be human. The belief that we can be better. It reminds you that doing the right thing is possible.

So when I saw Lady Dye Yarns had a Star Trek: The Next Generation club and no designer, I texted her immediately. No hesitation. I knew exactly what I wanted to create—a shawl that captured the heart of the show, those Starfleet uniforms, that sense of mission and purpose.

Farpoint is that shawl. The name itself is a salute to the pilot episode, and the design channels the bold color blocking of Starfleet uniforms: red for Command, gold for Operations, blue for Sciences. Four bobbles represent captain’s pips, but you can customize them to match your own rank or make it entirely yours. Mosaic knitting creates a stunning, textured star field without the complexity of stranded colorwork.

This is a shawl for Trekkies who want to wear their values as much as their fandom.

Are you ready to boldly knit where no one has knit before?

I didn't grow up watching much TV, but my husband Cody comes from a Star Trek-loving family. The Next Generation (or TNG) was basically always playing at his dad’s house while Cody and I were dating. After we’d been married for a while, he wanted me to actually watch the show—like, really commit—and I figured, okay, why not.

I got hooked.

Here’s the thing: they don’t really make shows like this anymore—shows that actually feel good to watch. It’s sci-fi on the surface, but what TNG really gets at is something deeper. Picard and the crew face impossible dilemmas and somehow always choose the right thing. Data learning to be human. The belief that we can be better. It reminds you that doing the right thing is possible.

So when I saw Lady Dye Yarns had a Star Trek: The Next Generation club and no designer, I texted her immediately. No hesitation. I knew exactly what I wanted to create—a shawl that captured the heart of the show, those Starfleet uniforms, that sense of mission and purpose.

Farpoint is that shawl. The name itself is a salute to the pilot episode, and the design channels the bold color blocking of Starfleet uniforms: red for Command, gold for Operations, blue for Sciences. Four bobbles represent captain’s pips, but you can customize them to match your own rank or make it entirely yours. Mosaic knitting creates a stunning, textured star field without the complexity of stranded colorwork.

This is a shawl for Trekkies who want to wear their values as much as their fandom.

Are you ready to boldly knit where no one has knit before?

I put on the TV show Gilmore Girls one afternoon in the summer of 2020 to keep my dog distracted from the sounds of fireworks. I'd never watched it before, and I was just looking for background noise. Instead, I immediately fell in love—with the characters, with the rapid-fire dialogue and the way everyone knew each other. With Stars Hollow.

My husband’s cousin had been obsessed with this show for years, and she talked about it constantly. Now I understood why.

Fast forward to January 2021, shortly after I had finished binge watching all seven seasons, Lady Dye Yarns reached out to ask if I'd be interested in a Gilmore Girls-inspired collaboration. One skein. Something magic. My answer (yes!) came pretty much as fast as anything Lorelai or Rory would have said.

As I was coming up with ideas for the pattern, I kept thinking about the hats they wore. I looked through pictures of them online and found inspiration in one of Lorelai’s: a gray, ribbed beanie with a folded brim. I loved the simplicity of it, but I also wanted to add something more. I wanted to capture that magical "I smell snow . . ." feeling and the charm of Stars Hollow itself.

So I added strands between the ribbed columns. And then I added beads. They were the perfect finishing touch to elevate this knit. They catch the light and make it feel like winter magic, not just a winter hat. Like there's something more happening beneath the surface, the way there always is in Stars Hollow.

If you're the kind of person who gets a little thrill hearing the opening notes of that familiar theme song, who believes that coffee is a food group, and who secretly wishes they could move to a quirky Connecticut town, then this pattern was made for you. Maybe it's the project you'll work on the next time you tune into the Knitathon ("Knit, People, Knit!") or listen in on a town meeting. Wherever you knit or wear this hat, I hope it takes you back to when you first experienced the magic of this beloved on-screen town.

A yarn crawl. A dyer’s trunk show. A generous hand reaching back to pull out a second skein just for me.

That’s how Indira began.

I walked into the first yarn shop of my day looking for something I wasn't even sure existed yet—the perfect yarn for a cable and lace shawl pattern I’d been sketching and swatching in other yarns that weren’t quite right. I grabbed what I thought was the last skein of a striking, plum-colored fingering weight yarn and two coordinating skeins of mohair/silk lace, and I started talking to an indie dyer who was having a trunk show there. She looked at the yarns in my hands and said, “Those are perfect together.”

I told her I thought so too but, sadly, the shop only had one skein of the fingering weight.

She reached back behind her table, pulled out a second skein of the same yarn that she’d set aside for herself, and handed it to me. “You clearly love the color and have a project in mind. Take it.”

That moment made my entire day. I left that shop knowing I’d found the right combination, and I knew exactly what it was for. My dream shawl.

It became my travel project. I worked on it during lunch breaks at work, at my first trunk show as a designer, throughout that memorable trip to Victoria that sparked the Aslyn hat pattern, even by flashlight during a power outage that lasted a few days. It was the project I was making when I hit 1,000 Instagram followers. And it was the pattern I was working on publishing when a season of unexpected grief and loss met my family.

All those moments—the in-between times, the pockets of creativity, the milestones, the memories—they’re woven into this shawl.

Two years after designing the Novemberist set, I returned to colorwork. I’d spent the time knitting texture, cables, and lace—different ways to play with yarn and stitch patterns—but colorwork was calling, and I just wanted to create. I also wanted an easy project for on-the-go knitting.

I pulled out the second chevron chart I’d swatched before I made the Novemberist Hat, one of the two I hadn’t used. Then I borrowed the brim construction from Aslyn, a pattern I’d developed in those two years, and started playing with how they could work together. I found the yarns in my stash once again: a vibrant, speckled pink from Stitches West 2020 and a deep charcoal grey I’d also picked out at the local yarn shop where I held my first trunk show. They were unexpected together—nothing like the jewel tones I usually reach for. But knitting with that pink? Different colored speckles emerged with each strand, and every stitch had its own character. I couldn’t wait to get to the next one.

My favorite part though? That was designing the crown. As I was testing the shaping I’d charted, the stitch pattern surprisingly formed itself into a geometric star. It’s not obvious from the chart, or even while you’re knitting it. The fabric just condenses, each round gets faster, and then suddenly it’s there. Like a reward for your effort. That’s Kestra.