Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Lion Brand Notebook
News, Ideas and Information for Crafting with Yarn
Each month at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, we are lucky enough to have a special guest join us. We have had wonderful designers, fiber artists, authors, and teachers who come in for our free special event night. The store is closed and customers who RSVP’ed fill the audience for these great talks, presentations, and trunk shows. With all the yarn, stories, and yarncrafting, a great time is had by all.
Since not everyone can join us here in NY, we film an interview and put it up on YouTube so the whole world can join in on the fun. Here’s a playlist of interviews so far (click the left and right arrows to browse all the videos):
Planning a trip to the NYC area? Be sure to check out the Lion Brand Yarn Studio’s blog for upcoming free events! We hope you stop on by!
Posted in Community, Fiber Arts, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Yarniverse | 1 Comment » Comments
Alice of OMG! Heart has written a wonderful review of our retail store, the Lion Brand Yarn Studio [LBYS] in NYC. Not only do her kind words make us blush, but they also highlight some of our favorite aspects of the store.
Alice writes:
It’s the perfect combination of local yarn shop along with what I’m looking for in an NYC yarn shop! Personal yet professional attention. Unlikely on first glance since Lion Brand Yarns is actually a large nationwide company that you’d normally associate with a more mass market approach. But no. Their lovely bright studio, 2 floors, has all the character and style of a small boutique store but without the prices and all the comforts and perks a large store can afford!
You can read her full post by clicking here, which goes into our free help, classes, groups, and more. But don’t just take OMG! Heart’s word for it: next time you’re in the New York City area, come check out LBYS for yourself. We’re sure you’ll “heart” us, too!
The Lion Brand Yarn Studio is located at 34 West 15th Street, New York, NY 10011.
Related links:
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We were absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response we received to our Window Caption Contest! We’ve read through all of the entries, and we’ve selected a winner and 5 honorable mentions!
Winner:
“Yarnia: The Lion, the Stitch, and the Wardrobe” – Karen Frech
Honorable Mentions:
“Pair Ice Skates: $64.99. One Hour Skating Rockefeller Center: $8.00. Handmade Lion Brand Yarn Sweater: Priceless.” – Lori Decker
“Knitting in a winter wonderland.” – Nicole Cushing
“It’s the true ‘March’ of the penguins! In like a Lion, wooly like a lamb!” – Janice MacDonald
“In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion skates tonight.” – Rosie Ankers
“Lions and penguins and yarn…Oh my!” – Melanie Blakeney
We want to thank everyone who entered. You all made this contest a huge success, and we loved reading all of your imaginative captions. Congratulations to Karen for winning; we hope you enjoy your prize!
Related links:
Posted in Community, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Yarniverse | 20 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
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
On October 1st we announced we would be knitting and crocheting in the window of the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, to make scarves for charity. In addition, we announced we would be collecting donations of hats and scarves from our area customers to be donated to our local charity, Partnership for the Homeless. Many New York area yarncrafters participated, in addition, the blog sparked the interest of yarncrafters around the country to reach out to their own local charities through our Charity Connection.
8 weeks and nearly 170,000 of yards later, we collected from our customers:
170 Scarves
251 Hats
Click here to read about the Lion Brand Yarn Studio staff’s contribution.
It was amazing seeing all the great hats & scarves that were created, and experiencing the kindness and generosity of so many of our customers.
When we were packing up the scarves I recognized a few of my favorite Lion Brand yarns and Lion Brand patterns.
Here’s the Thermal Scarf, done in Fisherman’s Wool.
Here’s the Meandering Rib Scarf done in Wool-Ease
Posted in Community, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 23 Comments » Comments
It’s our final scarf! Today, Claire shows off the simple-looking, but elegant rice stitch!
Over the last two weeks, we’ve shared with you some of the scarves we’ve been making for our Hat & Scarf Charity Drive at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio. Today, we finish our 8 days of scarves. Whether you’re making them as gifts or for charity, we hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration & patterns for easy scarves from the Studio’s staff.
Claire’s Rice Stitch (shown in Vanna’s Choice Beige)
CO 25.
Row 1: P1 *K1tbl, P1, repeat from *.
Row 2: Knit.
Repeat these 2 rows.
Bind off and weave in ends.
*As with all of our scarf patterns shown, we only used one ball for our scarves, but you can use two and make them as long or short as you wish. Vanna’s Choice’s recommended hook size is J-10; its recommended needle size is US9.
Thanks for checking out our scarves. We hope that this handful of our scarves has inspired you this season. Come back after the holiday to see just how many scarves we made AND collected for the Partnership for the Homeless!
Posted in Community, Knitting, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff, Tips & How To | 7 Comments » Comments
At the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, we’ve been making scarves for the Partnership for the Homeless, an organization here in NYC, as well as collecting scarf & hat donations from local yarncrafters. We’re having so much fun knitting and crocheting for charity in our window, we thought we’d share some of our patterns. Each one of us gets to make whatever we want. Sometimes we use the StitchFinder, and sometimes we make it up. In the next few weeks we’ll share some of the staff’s scarves.
As we said in our first post, each one of our window scarves is one ball of Vanna’s Choice, but you can make a longer scarf by using two balls. The recommended needle size for this yarn is US9 and the hook size is J-10, but as always, adjust up or down depending on the feel if your own fabric and your tension. With all of the scarves, you would bind off when you have yarn about 4 times the width of the scarf left. Then just weave in the ends, and you have a great scarf!
Patty’s Seed Stitch Scarf (shown in Magenta)
CO 24 stitches.
Row 1: *K1, P1*, repeat from *.
Row 2: *P1, K1*, repeat from *.
Repeat row 1 & 2 (purling the knits and knitting the purls).
Patty’s Garter Rib Scarf (shown in Wood’s Print)
CO 24 stitches.
Row 1: K2 *P2, K2*, repeat from *.
Repeat row 1.
Tracey’s Back Loop Crochet (show in Fern)
Ch 20.
Row 1 & 2: Dc across row.
Row 3: Dc through back loop.
Repeat rows 1 – 3.
Tracey’s Drop Stitch Scarf (show in Seaspray Mist)
CO 24 stitches.
Row 1 – 3: Knit.
Row 4: *K1, YO* repeat from * until last stitch, end K1.
Row 5: *K1, drop YO*, repeat from * until last stitch, end K1.
Repeat rows 1 – 5.
Come back starting next Monday for a new scarf pattern from the windows every day!
Related links:
Posted in Community, Crocheting, Knitting, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 3 Comments » Comments
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!
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Posted in Crocheting, Knitting, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Lion Staff | 3 Comments » 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 | 6 Comments » Comments
