TNNA Recap

The Berroco design team and I are still catching up on our sleep, but we are just back from The National Needlearts Association trade show in Columbis, Ohio. The weekend-long tradeshow is a gathering of yarnies, designers, notions makers, and publishers, coming together to showcase their new stuff and meet with shop owners from all corners.

This year was an extra special year for Berroco; in addition to our new yarns for Fall 2017 (stay tuned!), we were excited to introduce two brands to the Berroco family.

James C Brett started selling yarn in the 1960s, and today the company is lead by his son Jamie Brett. We were thrilled to have both James and Jamie make the journey all the way from Yorkshire to greet shop owners in the booth with us. James C. Brett makes a range of easy-care yarns including the wildly popular Marble Chunky yarn, and these adorable critters crocheted in Flutterby. These delightfully soft and squishy toys are available only from a LYS, so ask your shop if they carry the line (they can be special ordered).

Lopi yarns, produced by the Ístex company, celebrated its 25th year in 2016, but the story of Lopi goes back much farther—the Icelandic sheep story goes back 1,100 years to the arrival of the Vikings in 847. The population of Iceland today is 330,000 people… and 500,000 sheep. Hulda Hákonardóttir the designer, marketing manager, pattern writer/ translator, and master of all things Lopi came from Iceland to help us introduce the current line up of Alafoss Lopi, Lettlopi (featuring 6 new shades), Bulky Lopi and now Plötulopi, the original unspun roving yarn used to make sweaters that are light weight and warm—like a down jacket. Read more about Lopi yarns here!

 Amano yarns is getting ready to launch its third season this fall with exquisite new yarns from Peru. Amano (means “by hand” in Spanish) is a love letter to the Andes mountains of South America, and the yarn is the medium through which that love is expressed. Alpaca and alpaca-blend yarns are dyed in shades inspired by the flora and fauna of Peru, with beautiful patterns (mostly accessories) that add just a bit of luxury to your wardrobe. 

And last but never least, we were so excited to be joined by Jakob Lang, the 6th generation of the Lang family to operate LANGYARNS. Lang is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year, and we got to help with the party! Not only that, but we were able to display many of the new yarns from Lang that will be showing up in LYS very soon.