One of the things I love best about weaving (whether it’s on a makeshift cardboard loom or a rigid heddle loom) is that you can get wonderful color effects and patterning simply by arranging the warp1 and weft2 colors and textures in different ways. Vary the texture, the thickness, and of course the colors, to…
Itching to get some yarn back on your hook or needles, but stumped for what to make next? LionBrand.com is home to over 4,000 free patterns, but browsing them doesn’t have to take all day. The Pattern Finder® is an excellent way to search for your next project based on stitch technique, skill level, stash…
Yarncrafters have long used abbreviations as shorthand for different stitches and techniques. Now, crafters on the internet are using abbreviations for unique crocheting and knitting terms. Here’s a quick guide to some of the most popular terms. CAL: Crochet-along CIP: Crocheting in public DPN: Double-pointed needles FO: Finished object (in other words, a completed knit…
Sock-Ease is one of my favorite yarns for sock knitting because of its durability, but did you know that it’s great for other projects, too? Whether you’re trying this yarn for the first time or are using up your scraps, here are 4 great ways to use Sock-Ease for non-sock projects! Color blending. Try stranding…
There is so much we offer for free on our site to help you with your yarn crafting but I have the feeling you may not know about all of these goodies. Here are 5 kinds of freebies you can get. Please check them out and let me know what you think. 1. Charity Finder…
Last week, we asked our Facebook fans to finish the following sentence: “I wish Lion Brand would…” We received an amazing amount of feedback. While we cannot give everyone a free lifetime supply of yarn, we wanted to address some of your requests. Q: Why can’t I find your yarn in my local store? A:…
Unlike the mood rings of our childhoods, color changing yarns don’t actually change color according to a change in their environment. These are yarns that have multiple colors spun together in unique ways for different effects. “Self-striping” and “painterly” colors gradually change color as you knit or crochet to create stripes of color. The color…
Superwash wool is a wool yarn that is machine washable and, therefore, will not felt. Each hair of wool is made up of scales. Felting occurs when these scales bind together. The superwash process prevents the scales from binding in one of two ways. Some superwash wools are given an acid bath that removes its…
You probably already know that you need a LionBrand.com account to access our thousands of free patterns. But did you know that your account also helps you to keep track of patterns you’ve downloaded as PDFs, in case you misplace them? What’s more, it allows you to edit (or delete) any of the pattern ratings,…
Looking at yarn requirements for a pattern can be confusing and, especially if you need to substitute yarns, trying to decide how much yarn you will need can be overwhelming. Often a pattern will call for a number of balls of a particular yarn and may or may not include additional information about those balls,…
It’s easy to get so caught up in following pattern instructions that you lose sight of what’s really important: gauge. You’ve probably already purchased the yarn for your project (or decided which of your stash yarns you’d like to use) by the time you sit down to work your gauge swatch, and you’ve probably just…
We get a lot of questions from curious travelers about whether they can craft on airplanes. According to the TSA, knitting and crocheting is allowed on domestic US flights. Keep in mind that blunt scissors under 4 inches are permitted, but circular thread cutters are not allowed. As an alternative to scissors, you can bring…
