A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Clinch River Yarn Company.  I keep lists on my phone of places to visit.  Here are some of the current lists:  Adventure Day Trips in Ohio.  See While at Cumberland Gap.  Medina County Historical Markers.  Australia Must-Sees.  Alaska Trip.  Caribbean National Park Sites.  Donut Shops in Columbus.  Oklahoma.  Each list represents things I want to see, might want to check out, or want to do more research on.  The Clinch River Yarn Company has been on my See While at Cumberland Gap list for a while.  I finally made it.

The Clinch River Yarn Company is the closest yarn shop to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.  (I do not count Hobby Lobby or Walmart.)  But, even though it is the closest, it is still over an hour away.  Most of the time, when I have needed yarn while at Cumberland Gap, I have ordered it online.  Ordering yarn online is never very satisfying.  For one thing, you don’t get to touch the yarn, which is the main reason most people knit in the first place.  Another problem is trying to match colors online.  Just about impossible.  So it is always good to find a local yarn shop.

Clinch River Yarn Company is in Clinton, Tennessee.  Clinton is close to Oak Ridge and about a half hour north of Knoxville.  Clinton is the county seat of Anderson County, Tennessee, with a population of 10,000.  The area close to I-75 is very developed with lots of chain restaurants, hotels, and gas stations.  Once you move away from the interstate, the city is quieter and more scenic.  The Clinch River makes a distinctive double horseshoe that borders Clinton.

Clinch River Yarn Company is in a residential section along TN 61, the main road into town.  Tom and I almost missed it, even though we were looking carefully, because it is a house at the top of a short, steep driveway.  The inside of the shop looks like a house as well – a house with an abundance of yarn.  Sandy and Robin Adams own the shop.  Sandy, the mom, has owned the shop for 17 years.  She recently brought her daughter, Robin, in as a partner.  Robin also dyes yarn and sells it under the label “Just A Girl and Her Dog.”

The shop recently participated in a yarn crawl and was low on stock.  I was looking for some Malabrigo Rios yarn and the website said they carried it.  They also carry Berroco and Encore Plymouth yarns, which are all yarns I use frequently.  Berroco for socks and Encore Plymouth for baby blankets.  Although the shop had a nice variety of yarn, a lot of it was picked over and hadn’t been restocked yet.  I enjoyed looking around and found a few colors of Malabrigo Rios that worked for me.

Because I was the only one in the shop beside Sandy, I talked to her for a bit while she wound my yarn selections into balls.  This is a service that a yarn shop often offers if it isn’t too busy.  Sandy had enjoyed attending yarn shows in Columbus sponsored by the Yarn Shop.  The Yarn Shop was my favorite yarn shop before it closed in 2021.  I still think it was the best yarn shop ever.  Every other yarn shop has fallen short of that ideal.

The best thing about the Clinch River Yarn Company is all the comfy looking seating around the shop.  It looks like the perfect place for knitters or crocheters to gather and chat as they work.  The yarn shop is open every day except Sunday.

I enjoyed my visit to the shop very much.  I was able to find some yarn I needed and enjoyed chatting with Sandy.  It is good to know that the shop is close by if I ever need yarn while I am in this part of the world.