Knit the Galaxy with this Star Wars Knitting Book

Attention all Star Wars fans: a new official Stars Wars knitting book is being unleashed on the galaxy, and I for one can’t wait to get stitching.

Star Wars is one of the fandoms everyone in our family agrees on, and I think there’s something to knit for everyone in Star Wars Knitting the Galaxy by Tanis Gray.

This collection of 28 knits includes toys, replicas of costume items, apparel inspired by the movies and home decor. If you’ve ever wanted to knit a porg, or a Death Star pillow, now’s your chance.

There’s so much great stuff in this book I can’t even name favorites, but I do think I need Princess Leia’s Hoth Snow Vest, designed by Stephanie Lotven, or Meghan Regan’s The Order of the Jedi Pullover, which elevates the holiday sweater with lightsabers, Yodas, stars and other symbols. My daughter would love Carissa Browning’s Ewok Hood (she had an Ewok-themed birthday party a few years ago), and the Chancellor Palpatine Scarf might be just the thing to actually get my husband to wear a scarf. The BB-8 blanket Tanis designed is adorable, as are the R2-D2 mittens from Therese Sharp (they say beep, boop, bleep and other droidy noises on the palm side!).

The patterns aren’t on Ravelry yet since the book isn’t released until Jan. 26, but you can see some of them on Amazon.

Patterns are rated by number of light sabers to show degree of difficulty from one to three. Five patterns are rated one, 14 are two and nine are three.

This book is the perfect thing for a knitter who loves Star Wars, or knitter who knows and wants to knit for people who love Star Wars. I will note because I’m sure someone will ask, that this book really just covers the movies so there is no Baby Yoda here, but there is a pocket Yoda pattern that could probably be altered to look a bit more like Grogu. That is definitely not a reason to skip this one, there is so much fun stuff in it!

About the book: 208 pages, hardcover, 28 patterns. Published by Insight Editions, suggested retail $29.99.

Next Pattern:

Now that all the Joann stores have closed, a mysterious message has appeared on the company’s website:

For generations, Joann has been honored to be part of your creativity: your quilts, costumes, school projects, and handmade moments of love. It has been our joy to serve markers and dreamers across the country.
We’re stitching up something new behind the scenes and we can’t wait to share what’s next.
Stay tuned for exciting news about the future of Joann.

To quickly recap, Joann filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time in less than a year. In February, in the hope of making the company more attractive to potential buyers, it petitioned the court for permission to close about 500 of its 800 stores. The company was put up for auction, with Gordon Brothers set to buy the company, sell its assets and close all the stores if no other buyer materialized.

In the end the winning bidder was GA Group, but the result was the same: all stores were to be closed by the end of May if not sooner.

Once store closure sales started the company quickly stopped selling on its website, and now all that remains is this jpeg image hinting at new ventures.

I’m sure there will be a tone of speculation in the coming days and weeks (or as long as it takes for them to announce the meaning of the message) as to what sorts of plans Joann could be cooking up.

My theory based on nothing but my gut is that they will transition to an online only storefront, probably with much reduced inventory, sort of like Herrschners (which had previously announced that it will be carrying Big Twist yarn, the beloved private label yarn brand sold at Joann). I also think they will use whatever retail sales they do to support CreativeBug, the digital learning platform that Joann purchased in 2017. That could mean producing kits for projects that already have classes, or developing classes based on products they want to sell, or both.

As of this writing the CreativeBug website seems to still be functional and there’s a full slate of new classes planned for June. I’ve got my eye on both the Joann website and the Joann restructuring website and will let you know as soon as I see changes.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your speculation as to what the next chapter might be for Joann.

Next Pattern:

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