Is Novelty Back?

Clara says novelty is back.

#11 Trim Jacket by Robin Melanson, Early Fall 2012 Vogue Knitting

Since returning from TNNA, I have heard many of my friends gloomily quote Clara's assessment of this summer's show. At TNNA, there had indeed been a lot of sparkly things. "Shiny" was afoot; there was glitz and glam enough to make the heart of StevenBe sing (I kinda love this guy). Yarn companies like Berocco and Trendsetter are introducing more trim-style yarns to knit into projects to make frilly edges, and adding sparkle to their standard wool yarns to sexy them up.

Remember that novelty was what made many new knitters about ten years ago when eyelash was the yarn that launched a thousand first scarves. The industry is trying to recapture a little of that magic, and some companies are willing to try anything.

It's true: novelty is back.

But I love wool. When the noise is loud and the lights get flashy, I try to find a quiet corner and look for the clover growing up through the cracks. At TNNA, I did not have to look all that hard to find my own kind of excitement. So never fear! There was lots of good wool.

Imperial Stock Ranch makes 100% Columbia yarn in many weights and pretty colors, and had a beautiful booth full of gorgeous pattern support thanks to creative input from Leigh Radford. I was also really interested in Buffalo Skies, a 50/50 merino/ bison Aran weight yarn in muted colors from The Buffalo Wool Company. Green Mountain Spinnery has a bulky version of their workhorse Mountain Mohair called Capricorn. Swans Island was also set up at the show. I think this was their first TNNA, and I am excited to see them make their yarns available on a national scale.

And way in the back of the show room floor was a dear to me Canadian company called Briggs and Little, hailing from my childhood province of New Brunswick.

Briggs and Little did not have a great show. They had a booth full of good wool, but no one seemed very interested. No designers were buzzing for their color cards or asking for sample skeins because B&L hasn't been on anyone's radar since their yarn was featured in a great sweater coat called Sylvi several years ago (and they did not have that coat with them, for some reason. I know they had one knit up at the time). Much of the problem is they don't have many retail outlets in the United States (Halcyon carries Atlantic), which means that few people seek them out.

Here is a story with about the strength of marketing and image. Briggs & LIttle don't have much in that area to offer, but what they do have is good yarn in a classic package that they've been making for 155 years. There isn't anther yarn anywhere like Atlantic. It's sturdy, light, and a beautiful pure wool. There isn't another 6 ply like Country Roving on the market. Look past the Hunter Orange and see what a lovely muted palatte Heritage comes in.

photo by Sadie Dayton, courtesy of Twist Collective

Briggs & Little yarns to me are the equivalent of heirloom tomatoes or an endangered species. If no one knits with it, the yarn will go away. And once Briggs & Little stops making that yarn, it will be gone. Now understand that I don't know what the state of their books is, they may be doing well enough in spite of a bleak TNNA show result. I do know that when Mari Muinonen's Sylvi was published in 2008 and knitters wanted red Atlantic, they had never had a financial year like they did when they sold that much yarn. I wish things could always be that good for these guys. They deserve as much.

I don't know what I can do for them, besides this. I don't have much more to offer, except to knit a sweater or two. But hopefully, the next time you want a good wool yarn to make a sweater that will honor for years to come the amount of work you put into it, you'll remember there's a little Canadian yarn company that ships to both the States and abroad, and that has exactly what you need.

So in spite of the disco beat, TNNA was not a total wash for folkies like me. I reconnected with what I really love -- wool -- and resolved to do what I can to spread the love.

 

Comments

[BeckyinVT]

I stopped by their booth with Ruth. We both LOVE their yarns and I'm pretty sure I did get a color card from them.

They're on my short list for my next project! But between them, GMS, Harrisville, Knitted Wit/Sincere Sheep, and the local farms I love... Well, I try to spread my woolly love around to all the great yarns!

[Ashley]

I don't think wool will ever die, but I kind of despise eyelash yarn and novelty yarns. I think it will die out eventually. I hope I can go to TNNA one day! I live on the wrong coast.

[Kathleen]

I am so looking forward to getting up to Maine later this month (walk to Halcyon from my cottage!), and I will be taking a good, long look at Atlantic while I'm there for some future designs. And the almost-finished design of the moment is in Bartlett Yarns's Fisherman 2-ply - another woolly workhorse. I didn't come in to knitting on novelty yarns, though I started around that time, but it is only recently that I've really come to appreciate the woolly wools, not just the merinos. I love all the choices we have these days!

[Jules]

I've been wanting to try B&L for ages but am trying to stay local in support of the meagre Australian wool and yarn industry- we have very similar issues here. Perhaps it is time to put in that order. Thanks for making me feel better about it ; )

[Annie]

Wool will always win - its where everything else steamed from.

[aliceq]

A few years back, on one of my Maritime driving vacations, I made two separate detours to get to the Briggs & Litttle outlet store in New Brunswick. It took two detours, because, as it turns out, Aug 1 is a holiday in New Brunswick. So I tried again (on washboard back roads), and was rewarded the second time. One of my favorite sweaters (the best one I've ever designed for myself) came out of that trip. I'm so glad I persevered.

[Katinka]

I've been planning to order some Atlantic ever since Twist Collective published Tenley, so thanks for the nudge -- I'm going to do it this week. :)

[Josette]

Wool never fades out of style. Wool meets novelty when spinners make their own glamorous yarns with their own unique flair, non? When it's handmade, you truly can have it all.

[naomi]

You know, I should really knit up that sweater lot of Heritage. It was so very nice to swatch...maybe seven years ago. Oh, darn, I'll have to swatch again. (How sad.)

[Kim]

Briggs and Little is the "good solid standard" for many knitters up here. And in a world where I go to Fibre events where booths representing stores selling a wide range of yarns (hand dyed to malabrigo to Briggs and Little) have to tolerate sitting across from booths with huge signs claiming they are the "affordable yarn" store (read: mounds and mounds of ruffled frilly novelty yarns, with no natural fibres in sight), more people need to know about Briggs and Little.

I do believe that part of the problem also has to do with getting their name out to the people they are trying to reach. I am a small yarn business, and what has helped us grow is really basic marketing. It's a huge part of why we've grown the way we have. Not only the work we ourselves have done, but the word of mouth and working with designers that we have approached and paid to help promote our yarns.

A couple of years ago, when I was moderating a group for hand dyers on Ravelry, an unidentified mill approached me about posting and offer of samples of their yarns to US-based hand dyers only, for the purpose of trying to reach that market. It was an international hand dyer's group, and for that reason I wouldn't allow offers that left out the rest of us in the group. When the "mill" identified themselves as Briggs and Little, and stated they only wanted to build their US market for this purpose, i said i'd be interested to try working with their wools. No response. As a Canadian dyer who has been struggling to find Canadian sources of Canadian wool, it was one more door slammed in my face. Incredibly discouraging as I know this industry works better when we work collaboratively.

[juliafc]

Kim, given my limited understanding of how B&L work, I wonder if the non-response was more a matter of them dropping the ball rather than an intended affront. Remember Hanlon's Razor: never attribute to malice what can be explained by um, well, in this case I'd substitute short-sightedness. They do have some Fleece Artist dyed colors available, but they had a poor representation of the possibilities at the show. I would relish the chance to let you loose on their bases. That would be delicious. You should try them again, this time, with you in the driver's seat.

[garret]

Three Cheers for Sheep!!! Let's start lobbing for the harlot to make something out of B&L, that would sure fix thier problems.

The next time I order yarn, (which will be a while considering the size of the stash and bank account) I'll go there.

[Lynn in Tucson]

Sing it, sister.

I was cursed with a child who finds the mere mention of wool itchy. I am currently trying to knit her a sweater out of something from the chain store and lamenting every stitch.

[Gabrielle]

I visited Briggs & Little's site to get more info since seeing your post. I could not find a "Where to Buy our Yarns" tab and the newest news for the site was from 2009. Yes, I contacted them directly to see about resolving/updating this. If I did not read here that they were still up and running, with news 3 years old, I'd have thought they'd gone out of business.

[Mary K. in Rockport]

I've used B&L's Tuffy many times for heavy socks and love it. Also for hand bags that will see rough use for daughters and their friends. There are not many colors, but they are attractive. My favorite FO was a pair of Red Sox socks - sadly, never worn, but used as a decoration.

[Earin]

After reading your email I sent B&L an email asking if they had color cards for sale. I found their website a bit old fashioned (sad to say we are all trained now to respond to the fancier sites), not that easy to navigate, and I couldn't find where to buy yarns.

After not hearing from them via email after a few days and figuring if they did reply it probably went into my spam and right out of my life I received within the week a large envelope *stuffed* with the most gorgeous yarn and roving and they asked for nary a penny for it all.

Goodness. They make lovely yarn and really, really should be getting more press and business. I'll be giving them some business down the line after I get though some of my current stash busting projects.

[Clare]

I am from New Zealand. I went to the website of B & L, they obviously do not wish to sell to me. I can find no on-line representation. How do I acquire their product?