Lion Brand Outlet Trip: Carlstadt NJ

A Trip Report by Diane G.
Photos by Grace G.

Sunday March 25,2012


It was not a bright and sunny day, as one by one, Grace picked up her passengers for the excursion to the Lion Brand Outlet Store in New Jersey. Diana, Diane (me) and then Elaine took their seats ready for the event. The New York City Crochet Guild was going by bus, and other members of our group were driving from their home base.And all would converge on the LION BRAND OUTLET.

We arrived just moments before the NYC bus load, and when the doors opened and we all literally poured into the store – first passing the Statue of Liberty drapped in yarn embelishments – the expressions on the faces of the LB employees was – well shock- they had not expected to see “hundreds” of yarn junkies descending on the store on a Sunday morning. Once the initial shock was over, they did their best – but you could see in their faces that this big a crowd was not expected.

"Hundreds," they muttered under their breath;and valiantly scattered to assist the masses – answering questions, handing out bags (which came in handy- but could not contain the purchases in full), taking pictures, and on and on... “thousands,” they whispered.

A total of 5 Crochet Guilds ended up attending this field trip!
HHCC, NYCCG, CCGLI, HOTSCG, and the BFAG.

After checking out Lady Liberty, the skating lion (yes lion), the penguins, yarn bombed bicycle and the “jungle“ scene (with a giant snake), we proceeded to check out the yarn displays. We had expected a larger “store” to be honest. And we had thought we would see all the yarns that LB sold. So that was a bit of a disappointment. What was there was sufficient to fill at least one (or two) shopping bags –(and they were not small bags). There is a station to locate patterns and print them out, a room to relax and start your project with newly purchased yarn, and the yarn. Though in some cases it may have been discontinued colors, there were sufficient quantities in the color you selected to complete any project you had in mind whether it was a scarf/hat /mitten combo or a king size afghan.

I myself was sure there was nothing more I needed except for the bamboo I wanted – which of course was the last display in the store –making me walk by and check out all the other yarns. Oh my! Needless to say I stocked up on more yarn with no thought in my head except that I liked the color and I will surely find something to do with it….( I have used three skeins of the LB wool to complete a tunisian scarf which I worked on at the CT Sheep and Wool April 28. The rest is waiting for inspiration or just figuring out the pattern.)

The prices were great on the regular items - most were bagged as three skeins minimum at about 50% of the cost.  So a bag of LB wool – 3oz skeins (3 in the bag) had a price of $17.97 noted but your price was $9.00. Only the LB merino and bamboo were sold as separate skeins and not noted as discounted but… when you got onto that long long line to pay for your purchases, you found out that Jack had left instructions that we would get an additional 15%(or was it 20%) off everything; it doesn’t matter which since it was a further discount on everything.

We spent at least two hours making our selections, then returned to the car and stuffed – and I mean stuffed - our bags into the trunk of Grace’s car. I thought it would pop – but Grace assured us the trunk was really roomy even with the stuff we already had in there. She was right.

On our return trip we stopped to grab lunch just down the street at a Subway, ate in the car then returned home with our additions to our stashes.  With thoughts of what we would do with the new purchases, where to put it, and wondered what the NY group was going to do until 3PM when their bus returned for them - because LB outlet is in the warehouse district and there is nothing else there.

A fun day, as always, when there is yarn involved and people who are just like you in your aprreciation for the craft of crochet.

THANK YOU LION BRAND!! :)

Additional pictures of this "Gathering of the Guilds" can be seen on the LionBrand Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.318795614850279.81403.195786563817852&type=3