Lion Brand Notebook ®
Last week, Jack and I drove up to Manchester, New Hampshire, for the Knit & Crochet Show and the Crochet Guild of America’s Chain Link Conference. We arrived on Tuesday evening and took in a baseball game–the local minor league team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats were playing the Trenton Thunder.
On Wednesday, the CGOA hosted Professional Development Day for crocheters who are or want to work in the field. Lion Brand was proud to sponsor this event, and I had a great time meeting crocheters from all over the country, and fans of the YarnCraft podcast, including one all the way from San Juan, Puerto Rico! Speaking of YarnCraft, while there, I interviewed Drew Emborsky (also known as the Crochet Dude), a designer and all around great guy who you’ll hear in our latest episode. I also interviewed quite a few other writers and designers–including Lily Chin, Margaret Hubert, Jean Leinhauser, and more. Interviews to follow in upcoming episodes.
Jack and I also went up to the mill that makes Homespun yarn, as it was pretty close to the convention center. In fact, the whole area used to have yarn and textile mills all over! The restaurant off of the convention center, JD’s Restaurant, actually had spinning wheels and old spools from the old mills. There’s even a mill museum in Manchester.
The Homespun mill is housed in a building that was built in 1864! (That’s it on the left.) It’s really amazing to see the various raw fibers and colors being spun into our various shades of Homespun. We’re really proud of the fact that Homespun is made in America in a place steeped with such a strong yarn history.
Back at the Knit & Crochet show, we walked the Market Preview, and I even appeared as a guest on writer and yarncrafter Mary Beth Temple’s podcast, Getting Loopy!
All in all, a great time. Want to check out the next Knit & Crochet Show, taking place in Portland, OR, in September? Maybe we’ll see you there!
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Margaret Hubert
The conference in NH was great fun and it was wonderful seeing you again Zontee. Many thanks to Lion Brand for sponsoring Professional Development Day and for your jam packed goodie bags. The day was the best ever!
Margaret Hubert
Rochelle Senker
I would like to know when the Lion Brand Store and Studio is planning on opening in New York City? I was told that you had this in the works. I would appreciate any info. Many thanks !!!
Rochelle Senker
Zontee says: Hi Rochelle, the store will be opening sometime in the fall. Keep checking back for more information here on the blog over the next few weeks or check out our first post about the studio.
Kathy Quinn
My family worked as weavers here in the late 1800’s and I was able to visit there for the first time last year. There is a lot of history in this & surrounding buildings.
Turning Industrial Yarn Spools Into Light Fixtures | Lion Brand Notebook
[…] Yarn Adventures in New Hampshire […]
11 Yarns Made in America | Lion Brand Notebook
[…] But did you know that some of our most popular yarns like Homespun and Hometown USA are made in the USA? In fact, the mill that makes Homespun and Holiday Homespun is a wonderful, historic facility in New Hampshire that was built in 1864 and running on hydroelectric power since 1915. I’ve visited the mill a few times myself, and you can read about one of my visits by clicking here. […]
Mimi Colson Leaning
I am very interested in learning about the mills that make the Lion Brand Yarn, do you know what this mill in New Hampshire is called?
Lindsay Levesque
I grew up in Manchester, NH. My dad worked in the mills when he was a kid in a shoe shop, everyone did at some point! When I was a kid the mills were run down and abandoned, but now they have done a beautiful revitalization of the mill district. Homespun yarn really is homespun for me!
itchy hives
Has anyone had an allergic reaction to Lion Brand’s “Hometown USA” Cincinnati Red Yarn?