The coolest person you know is spending their Saturdays knitting … or crocheting or cross-stitching or sewing or needle felting, or participating in one of the many varieties of fiber arts that have recently gained popularity among millennials and Gen Z.
While this phenomenon is undoubtedly global, New Hampshire has a storied relationship with craft and fiber arts. Before any Europeans arrived, the Abenaki and Penacook tribes were creating baskets, clothing, art and other household items out of textiles made from local plant materials.
Liz Blanchfield, a dyer and customer service manager, holds up one of Junction Fiber Mill’s variegated yarns. Photo/ Robert Gill
Londonderry became famous for its linen (rumored to have been worn by at least two founding fathers) in the mid-1700s. “The Great Sheep Boom” of the 1800s brought merino wool to the area. According to the 1840…
