Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Most of you probably already know that I go to speak at local guilds and knitting & crochet groups in the area. A few weeks ago, I visited the Long Island Knitting Guild, and I had a great time. As with many knitting & crochet groups, one of the fun parts of getting together is show and tell, and this gathering was no different — during the meeting the ladies had a show and tell of all of their latest Lion Brand projects. I truly enjoyed seeing all of their creations and wanted to share their talents with you. Enjoy!
(If you’re looking at this blog post on the website, click on the slideshow to move to the next photo. If you’re viewing this blog post in your e-mail and you’re having trouble with the photos, please click the title to see it on the website.)
Do you want to show off your latest Lion Brand projects too? Click here to go to our Customer Gallery, where you can browse projects from all over the world AND submit your own!
Posted in Community, Lion Staff, On The Road | 5 Comments » Comments
Those of you who guess Coney Island on the Studio Window Sneak Peak blog were correct! Here is a picture of the Lion Brand Yarn Studio‘s Coney Island window:
This fabulous knitted, crocheted, and yarncrafted creation is a wonderful way to celebrate NYC in the summer. Click here to see some of the cool details (like a finger puppet bride and seagull eating french fries).
Related Links:
Posted in Lion Brand Yarn Studio | 3 Comments » Comments
A few months ago, the amazing indie star Kate Nash came by to spend the day with us at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio. Turns out she is a long time knitter and she really wanted her new interview for Nylon Magazine to be done in a yarn store…and lucky for us, she picked ours!
Click the video below to see her interview. (Reading this blog post in your e-mail? Click the title of the blog post to see it in your web browser and see the video.)
She planned on spending an hour with us and ended up staying all day. (Sound familiar? Who can only spend 1 hour in a yarn store?) She knit and talked, and played with our amigurumi.
Kate is an old fashioned girl she doesn’t much care for digital photography; what she does love is her handy Polaroid for instant gratification the old school way. Here’s her signed picture with me and Will.
As she was leaving, after filling two huge bags with yarn, she declared, “This is the best wool shop ever…ever!” Kate, we think you are the best indie singer/knitter ever…ever!
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Posted in Knitting, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 1 Comment » Comments
INSTRUCTABLES
We met the folks at Instructables a few years ago when we first exhibited at Maker Faire in California. The owners are a husband and wife team, Christy Canida and Eric Wilhelm, who created a site 4 years ago that aims to provide how-to instructions on…well just about everything. In addition to crafting ideas, there are recipes for homemade pizza or vegan desserts, instructions for building anything from a robot to an electric bike, and how-tos for doing magic tricks or building a side table with a lamp in it. You can really get lost exploring the Instructables website.
When I was in San Francisco for the Web 2.0 conference, I visited the Instructables office, where I found Christy at work on her computer while she got her daily exercise on a treadmill-desk she created. Christy took a break from her work and exercise to show me a helmet she was crocheting out of paracord. Yes, that’s parachute cord!
We have run several contests with Instructables, including one where people were invited to submit a slide show of out-of-this-world yarn creations. Here’s a link to the winners of that contest.
Related Links:
Posted in Crafting, Yarniverse | Leave a comment » Comments
We often hear from customers who live far away from us that they wish they could come to our special events at the Studio, see our window displays in person…or even come to one of the talks I give to local knitting and crochet guilds and groups. Luckily, nowadays we have a little thing called YouTube — which I happen to think is one of the greatest inventions of our time — that allows anyone to taste a little bit of the action.
I’m pleased to have some of my own videos on YouTube, and last week, I got to share one of them with the Bergen County Knitters Guild. They were so excited to find out that the video I showed was actually filmed during one of my first meetings with them! It was such a special treat for them to be able to see their own faces as part of the show. To see view the video please click below.
(If you’re viewing this blog post in your e-mail or blog reader, please click on the title of the blog post to go to the blog’s website and watch the video.)
So whenever you feel like you need a little knitting and crochet inspiration or you feel like you want to visit your friends at Lion Brand, click here to visit our YouTube channel and check out all kinds of videos, from inspirational ideas to skills like knitting socks to behind-the-scenes looks at artists, all at your fingertips and all available right from your computer! Enjoy!
Posted in Community, Tips & How To | 1 Comment » Comments
Want to keep your kids entertained and crafty this summer? Check out the children’s aisle of your local craft and hobby store. There you’ll find a wealth of kid-friendly craft kits. They usually come with everything you’ll need for the project, so you don’t have to worry about gathering supplies. Best of all, you can stock up on lots of different kits so that you’ll be ready for any rainy days, surprise visits, or anything else that comes up! Be sure to check out our Amigurumi Friends Kits for great stuffed toy, purse, and pillow craft projects — no knitting or crocheting required.
Looking for more kid-friendly craft ideas? I’ll be posting more projects in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the blog!
Related links:
Posted in Crafting, Products | 3 Comments » Comments
Every season the Lion Brand Yarn Studio changes it’s window display. This is a quick preview of this summer’s window display:
Can you guess what it will be? Check back next week to find out and see pictures of the finished window display!
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Posted in Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Yarniverse | 6 Comments » Comments
In this blog post on January 8th, we asked you to write about how knitting or crocheting make you better. Your comments were incredibly thoughtful and moving. We decided to take a selection of these comments, set them to music, and create a video, which we put on YouTube. In just a few days, over 7,000 people have viewed it.
Here it is. Enjoy. And thank you for sharing.
(If you’re looking at this blog post in your e-mail, please click the title of it to view it on our website and see the video.)
Posted in Crocheting, Knitting | 3 Comments » Comments
We love to reach out to yarncrafters (and those who want to learn a yarncraft) here at Lion Brand, which is why we go to a bunch of different craft and yarn fairs throughout the year. So far in 2010, we’ve been to Stitches West and Stitches South, and we just got back from Maker Faire Bay Area — a unique event for all things DIY (do-it-yourself) from building rockets to growing vegetables to sewing clothes to, of course, knitting, crocheting, and working with yarn!
Here are just some of my photos from this inspiring and educational (and just plain fun) event! (You can click on any of the photos to see them enlarged on Flickr.):
| This is our booth, with our team inside. On the left, you can see our amigurumi and yarn tables; on the right, you can see our argyle giraffe sculpture and our kids’ craft table: |
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| The argyle giraffe is over 8 feet tall and took our design team several months to build (he’s got a steel skeleton!) and knit. Each one of the blades of grass on his base was hand-attached by myself and three other LBYers before the start of the show. No pattern here, ladies and gentlemen — this piece is all about extreme-crafting and inspiration! | |
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| We taught knitting & crochet to people of all ages: | |
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| We also had visitors, like a woman from the baseball booth, who brought by an unraveled baseball (shown left; did you know that baseballs are made with yarn?) and one of the knitters in our booth immediately started working with the baseball yarn (shown right)! Maybe you can get your baseball-loving friends to take up knitting with this information! | |
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| We even had a celebrity stop by… | |
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| Our friend, Natalie, senior editor of Craft Magazine (a publication of the O’Reilly Media family, the company that puts on Maker Faire) also stopped by to visit. That’s Liz, Natalie, and me. | |
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| We also had a TON of kids stop by and make animals, inspired by our knit & crochet amigurumi animals and the giant argyle giraffe, with us at our craft table. Here are just a few of their creations: | |
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Want to see the rest of my photos? Click here to see them on Flickr!
Want to make your own crafted animals? Here are a couple of patterns to
get you started:
Maker Faire will be in Detroit and then coming to Lion Brand’s hometown
of New York, so check out their website to learn more about this cool event! Visit Lion Brand at upcoming events like the Knit & Crochet Show, Stitches
Midwest, and World Maker Faire in New York.
Want to know even more about our Maker Faire trip? Check out next week’s episode of YarnCraft, our radio-style podcast for interviews with fiber-enthusiasts, artists, and more, from our trip to the Bay Area!
Related links:
Posted in Community, Crafting, Crocheting, Knitting, Lion Staff, On The Road | 11 Comments » Comments
