Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
My mother is the type of person who wants to have all of her Christmas presents purchased before October. She has recently gotten back into crocheting after a 20+ year break from it, so she’s excited to learn everything I can tell her about stitches, fibers, and all things yarn-related. While talking to her on the phone, I mentioned our newest yarn, Hometown USA. Her thoughts immediately went to her almost finished Christmas list.
“Do you have Pittsburgh Steelers colors? I want to make my sister a striped scarf.” I recommended that she try Pittsburgh Yellow with Oakland Black. “How about Cleveland Browns colors? You could make your cousin Bryan a hat.” I quickly suggested Cleveland Brown and Syracuse Orange. Now I have to send her the yarn so that she can finish all of her Christmas crafting.
Posted in Crocheting, Knitting, Lion Staff | 4 Comments »
Liz & I love writing/recording/producing the YarnCraft podcast — it’s a fun activity on top of our regular jobs here at Lion Brand, and it’s always great connecting with you, our customers and listeners.
If YarnCraft is a podcast that you love, help us show the world what knitters & crocheters are all about! You still have 5 days to nominate us for a People’s Choice Podcast Award! Nominations are open until Oct. 18, and if we make the cut, we’ll let you know when official voting begins!
Nominate at: http://www.podcastawards.com/
How this works: You can write us in for EITHER People’s Choice OR Best Produced, PLUS one other category (Cultural/Arts probably makes the most sense). Simply type in our podcast name: YarnCraft and our URL: http://yarncraft.lionbrand.com in those fields — then fill in your info at the bottom, and click “submit.” It’s just that easy!
And as always, share your thoughts, questions, suggestions, and more — we always love getting your feedback!
And of course, join us next Tuesday (and every other Tuesday) for a new episode of YarnCraft!
Posted in Community, Lion Staff, YarnCraft Podcast | Leave a comment »
We’ve been knitting and crocheting in the Lion Brand Yarn Studio’s window for a week now, and we love all of your reactions. People of all ages have been stopping by to see if our knitters and crocheters are real! Because our building is next to a daycare center, we’ve had lots of excited children stop by the window every day. Keep stopping by to see how many scarves we’ve made, and don’t forget to say hello to the person in the window!
Related links:
Posted in Crocheting, Knitting, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 3 Comments »
This November, the Lion Brand Yarn Studio 
celebrates its first birthday. It’s been a fantastic year, so we want to celebrate by giving back to the New York City community. From October 1 to November 22, we’ll be knitting and crocheting scarves in the front window of the Studio. Each scarf will be donated to the Partnership for the Homeless, a 501(c)(3) organization, to keep New York’s homeless individuals and their families warm this winter.
You’re invited to help New York families, too! Simply drop off your handmade scarf or hat at the Studio by December 1, and we’ll ship them to the Partnership for the Homeless. You can also receive some great discounts for your kindness. Click here for more information.
So swing by the Studio to say hello to Andrea (pictured), me, and all the other crafters as we give to a worthy cause!
Posted in Community, Crocheting, Knitting, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 5 Comments »
Last week was the third annual Stitch N’ Pitch event, which was held at the New York Mets’ new Citi Field. For those of you who haven’t yet visited the field, it is very impressive. It was a beautiful night for baseball, yarn, and a good time. There were over 500 knitters and crocheters who came out for a night of fun and excitement. We were represented on the field before the game, on the jumbo-tron, and even spoken about on the Mets broadcast. It was nice to see how many people, especially men, in the stands knitting and crocheting. Even though the Mets didn’t win, a great time was had by all. I am very proud to be a part of this committee that unites yarn lovers from all over the tri-state area. On behalf of the entire Stitch N’ Pitch committee, I would like to thank everyone who came out and supported us!
Related link:
Posted in Community, Lion Staff, On The Road | Leave a comment »
A guest post From Marlene, sales associate at Lion Brand:
This Labor Day weekend, we spent a few days at my parents’ house. We barbecued, told stories, and had lots of good laughs. During the evening, while some folks played dominoes, we girls pulled out our yarn and hooks and crocheted a while. We even taught my sister how to crochet and we were delighted to see how quickly she grasped the concept and how well she was doing.
Pictured from left to right: My sister, Acela; my sister-in-law, Mily who also works at Lion Brand; me, and my niece Bianca who interned this summer at Lion Brand.
Posted in Crocheting, Lion Staff | Leave a comment »
If you love to see what the staff here at Lion Brand is working on — from Lindsey’s great scarf to our group-made Lion — then you’ll definitely want to stop by the Lion Brand Yarn Studio’s blog (for our retail store here in NYC), and see what the staff there has on their hooks and needles. I know I’m certainly impressed with all of the projects they are making for personal pleasure (in addition to the great things they are always making for the displays)!
Click here to see their great projects!
Posted in Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 1 Comment »
We had our annual company Barbecue on August 18th. It was one of the hottest days of the year but they set up tents and giant fans. Anyway, we were having so much fun we hardly noticed. Our chief administrator of fun, Mike D. oversaw the entertainment, which consisted of Karaoke and competitive games, from a free throw contest to a trivia challenge. The barbecue was a feast of steaks, chicken and hot dogs on the grill along with salads, pasta and vegetarian choices.
Here is the winning team in the trivia contest. Holding their trophies left to right top row: Carolyn head of Customer Service, John of IT, India of Design, and left to right on bottom row: Danielle of Sales and Debbie from Customer Service.
Our CEO, David, was a real sport and let us share this video clip from his Karaoke performance. Enjoy!
Posted in Lion Staff | 2 Comments »
While most people are looking forward to the holidays and holiday gift making, I am looking back on last year’s gifts. And I don’t have to look back too far. It’s August and I just finished my last Christmas 2008 gift. Let me explain. Every year my friends and I have a holiday party where we play White Elephant: everyone brings one gift; each person picks a number out of a hat and goes in order picking a gift, but they can pick a wrapped gift or “steal” from someone who has already opened a gift.
My gift was a ball of yarn with a note that the recipient could pick anything (within reason) for me to custom knit for her. After being “stolen” the maximum number of times, my friend who received it looked at patterns with me and decided on the Brooke’s Column of Leaves Scarf on Ravelry.
She picked her yarn (Vanna’s Choice in Mustard) and I told her I could have it within a couple weeks. But as it turns out she was leaving for Europe before I could finish the scarf. So the scarf was hibernating while I worked on other holiday projects, and spring and summer projects, until a couple weeks ago. Finally, the scarf is finished, just in time for her return to New York.
If you’re looking to get ahead on your holiday crafting, check out these recommendations from YarnCraft or click to listen to that YarnCraft episode [MP3].
Posted in Knitting, Lion Staff | 5 Comments »
Click to start the slideshow; keep your cursor on the box to read captions.
Last week, we were at the Knit & Crochet Show in Buffalo, checking out the workshops, classes, fashion shows, and more. On Tuesday, India and I attended the CGOA’s Professional Development Day (PDD), where we gave the luncheon speech on the behind-the-scenes activities of Lion Brand. We also attended workshops with designers, writers, and editors including Lily Chin, Edie Eckman, Kj Hay, Myra Woods, and Drew Emborsky. Lion Brand also provided the yarn for the charity project, and it was amazing to see how quickly people whipped out hats for children and women in need.
From Wednesday to Sunday, Michelle and I manned the booth at the Knit & Crochet Show’s marketplace. We were lucky enough to be located next to Annie Adams Adornments, where Annie Adams herself showed off her beautiful accessories and shawl pins (we carry Annie’s shawl pins at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, so stop by and see them if you’re in NYC).
At the booth, we met tons of Lion Brand fans and YarnCraft podcast listeners. We also had time to hang out with our designer friends including Mary Beth Temple (of the Getting Loopy podcast), Rita Weiss & Jean Leinhauser, Margaret Hubert, and so many more people. LBY fans showed off their amazing projects and lots of them entered our raffle — we had over 50 winners!
It’s always fun to meet you, the users of our products in person, and we hope to see you at a future show!
For even more of the Knit & Crochet Show, listen to the next episode of YarnCraft on Aug. 25th for interviews.
Posted in Community, Lion Staff, On The Road | 3 Comments »
