Lion Brand Yarn Celebrates the Next Generation

Most knitters and crocheters have heard of Lion Brand Yarn, but I’ll best most don’t know much about the company’s history. It is the oldest American hand-knitting yarn brand, and the company was founded in 1878. But what’s really cool is that it’s been owned by the same family all this time, and that family is now into its sixth generation of littles involved in the company.

To celebrate the next generation the company has released 23 new knit and crochet patterns called, appropriately enough, Next Generation, all of which are modeled by the literal Lion Brand family.

My favorite may be the Next Generation Crewneck Dress, shown here. It’s a super easy striped dress that fits kids from extra small to extra large (23 to 34 inch chest measurement).

The patterns all call for Lion Brand Heartland, an acrylic yarn made in America with colors named and inspired by iconic places and things in America.

See anything that catches your eye? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Lion Brand Yarn.]

Sometimes when I’m scrolling through Ravelry a pattern will catch my eye as much because of the name as the look of the design (which is a little hard to see in those little thumbnails sometimes, anyway).

So it was with the Stellify shawl by Paola Albergamo. Stellify means to turn into a star, and the name and the story behind the shawl come from the story of Ariadne. The better known part of her story is that she helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur, but he then abandoned her. What comes after in many stories is that Dionysus found her, fell in love with her and later married her.

When he threw her jeweled crown into the sky, the Corona Borealis constellation was formed.

What does all this have to do with shawl knitting?

The shawl itself looks like it has a scattering of stars on it, as if it, too, has been stellified. The shawl begins with an I-cord tap and is shaped into a triangular shawl with both lateral and central increases. I-cord edging is incorporated into the sides, and the colorwork is done with mosaic knitting, which means this shawl is easier than it looks.

Mosaic knitting has you working with just one color per row, slipping stitches that appear in the other color to make the colorwork visible. Even better for people new to this kind of colorwork, the pattern includes written and charted instructions throughout so it should be easy to follow along.

The pattern comes in two sizes (the larger one is shown here) and calls for two colors of fingering weight yarn. It looks great in black and yellow, but don’t miss the other projects on Ravelry to see other fun and beautiful color options.

You can find the pattern in English and Italian on Ravelry.

[Photo: Paola Albergamo]

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