Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Our friends over at Craft are hosting Cozy Up to Yarn Month on their website, featuring great knit, crochet, and yarn craft projects throughout the month of September. They are also featuring an adorable fuzzy panda amigurumi crochet-along. Click here to check out the first crochet-along post!
Click here to check out a preview of all that this month has in store, and be sure to bookmark Craftzine.com so you can check back often during the month of September, where yarn lovers will find lots of inspiration.
To spot all the yarny goodness, look for this banner:
Related links:
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Like most offices, Lion Brand’s New York offices are filled with beautifully decorated desks. From personal pictures to swatches of new yarns, each person finds a way to decorate his or her desk in a beautiful and charming way. I decided that my desk needed to have an underwater theme, so I have been crafting sea creatures during my lunch breaks and when the internet has been slow. Meet my friendly desk creatures, Anglie the Anglerfish and Archibald the Octopus.
The pattern for my anglerfish came from Hansi Singh’s Amigurumi Knits. I used four different shades of Vanna’s Choice to add a personal touch. Everyone who visits my desk loves to ask questions about her.
Little Archibald was made from Vanna’s Choice Baby in Aqua using our popular Amigurumi Octopus pattern. He makes a friendly and adorable addition to my desk.
I’m always looking for more sea creatures to add to my desk, so feel free to suggest a knit or crochet pattern to me!
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One real (wearing the cutest little sweater . . . knit out of Wool-Ease!):
One not so real, but just as adorable:
Related links:
Posted in Lion Brand Yarn Studio | 8 Comments »
This is a guest post from our intern Lindsey, whose last post was on the perfect gift idea for a yarncrafter.
While checking out various knit and crochet projects, I saw that our adorable amigurumi penguins have company — a realistic, fuzzy baby penguin from Kendralc on Instructables!
This baby penguin has Fun Fur to keep it warm for its first winter. Make one of these and some Amigurumi Holiday Penguins for a whole family of these sweet penguins. (And if you’re looking to keep the realistic look, just leave out the hat and scarf of the Amigurumi Holiday Penguins.) They make great winter companions — enjoy!
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Joshua, benegesseritrm on Ravelry, shared with us his adorable amigurumi version of Wall-E, which he calls “Amigurum-E”. Inspired by Vanna’s Choice in Mustard, Joshua added the Silver Grey limbs and perfect little red and white E on his chest. He got every detail right, including the marble eyes and even a sound chip that makes him say his name when hugged! We just wish we could hear him from across the internet!
Want to show us YOUR creative projects with our yarns? Whether you designed it yourself or used a pattern, we want to see your creations! Visit our our Customer Gallery!
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Posted in Community, Crocheting, Yarniverse | Leave a comment »
BK4K (By Kids, For Kids) is our monthly kids’ newsletter that’s perfect for kids and the adults that craft with them, from parents and grandparents to teachers and scout leaders.
In the December issue of BK4K, we encourage you to share your creativity by making your very own own amigurumi. What is an amigurumi? The name comes from the Japanese words for “yarn” and “stuffed toy.” They are cute creatures like our lion (left).
AND with just a few basic skills, you can make your own fun creatures, from animals to people (like in this earlier blog post)!
In this issue, we share some basic shapes that can be used in your own designs. Rectangles, triangles, and circles are easy geometric shapes that can be combined to make an endless amount of creations. Decorate with i-cords (click here for i-cord directions) and French knots (click here for French knot directions). You can also add buttons, ribbons, pom-poms, and anything else you can think of!
If you’d like some inspiration, simply search LionBrand.com for amigurumi. We have dozens of free animal and food amigurumi patterns.
For more great kid-friendly ideas each month, subscribe to BK4K. If you already have a Lion Brand account, you can simply add it by clicking on “My LBY“, and selecting it under “My Subscriptions.”
Related links:
Posted in Crocheting, Knitting, Tips & How To | 1 Comment »
In the most recent episode of our audio-podcast, YarnCraft, my co-host Liz and I chat about great toys for kids of every age, as well as toys for our furry friends. We also share an interview with Nicky Epstein, who tells us all about her love of knitting and crocheting for Barbie! Click here to listen [MP3].
Here’s a sneak peak at 5 fast patterns we discuss in the episode:
And join us next Tuesday for our next episode, when we talk about great gift ideas for the holiday season!
Posted in Crocheting, Knitting, YarnCraft Podcast | 2 Comments »
One of the most fun parts of working here at Lion Brand is the opportunity to learn new knitting and crochet skills. Shira, who interned here in the marketing department this summer, had knit and crocheted scarves before, but wanted to expand her skills. For her first summer project, she knit her first baby blanket using the Glamour Baby’s First Blanket pattern. Next, she wanted to work on her crochet skills. I recommended the Pirate Pal pattern (a favorite of mine, as podcast listeners know) as a basis for her first amigurumi project, but with a little bit of creativity, Shira really made it all her own.
Meet Gloria the Goddess!
Gloria is a a great example of how you can take really basic shapes (such as rectangles and circles) and make incredible things. Her body and bikini are made of Wool-Ease and her hair is made of two colors of Vanna’s Choice. Before starting her amigurumi person, Shira had asked me to teach her to crochet circles. She took her practice crochet circles and turned them into a bikini, sewing them to Gloria’s body and adding “straps” using strands of yarn. She made rectangles for the front and back of Gloria’s string bikini and attached them in the same way. Shira then attached yarn to Gloria’s head for hair, much like you would add fringe, and unraveled each strand so that Gloria would have kinked hair. We embroidered on the eyes and mouth with a little bit of leftover yarn, and Shira found the little sunglasses that finish off Gloria’s look sometime later. With just these few basic skills, Shira created an amigurumi that’s totally original!
Shira’s heading back to college, but we want to thank her for sharing this AMAZING project with us.
Posted in Crocheting, Tips & How To | 2 Comments »
In YarnCraft episode #16, we shared interviews from the Maker Faire, an INCREDIBLE event featuring all sorts of handmade things and the amazing people behind them. It was even featured in the New York Times.
Our episode features interviews with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the popular knitter/author/blogger also known as the Yarn Harlot), Becky and Natalie of the always interesting Craft Magazine, Corey Feldman (a performance artist who knits and drums at the same time!), Kathy Murillo-the Crafty Chica, and more. It was a lot of fun being at the event, and I’m glad that my co-host Liz and I could bring the event to you.
Not only did we teach over 200 people to knit and crochet over the course of the two-day event, we also showcased a selection of our adorable amigurumi animals.
Everyone who walked by our booth stopped to see them, touch them, and pick them up. The animals were SO popular that someone actually took our poor octopus home with them! Maybe we should make a “Missing Octopus” sign to distribute among knitters and crocheters…
You can find all of our amigurumi patterns on the Pattern Finder, but here are my top five picks (a tough feat, considering that they’re all so cute):
For this and more YarnCraft episodes, visit the YarnCraft blog. New podcasts come out every other Tuesday and you can find how to subscribe on our blog.
Posted in Crocheting, YarnCraft Podcast | 2 Comments »
