As you know, some companies come and go .... thus is the case of Bishop's Mills, Inc. They appeared for a short time in the 1951/1952 time frame, and then seemed to fade to extinction. I've collected several of their magazine advertisements, and thus, decided to take a few minutes to check them out.
And, what did I find? Well, not much. No copyright entries, no publications and not a single skein of yarn for sale (past or current), on EBAY.
Bishop's Mills advertised in Modern Knitting and Smart Knitting Magazines.
Here we learn they are a supplier of 'kitten soft' yarns and have a pattern book - Bishop's Young Fashions, Size 2 to 12. Oh ... and what a cute kitten.
Here, in this 1952 magazine advertisement, Bishop's Mills has a Color Styler where you can preview their patterns overlayed with their yarn colors. A bit of an advanced idea for this time period.
This (also 1952) advertisement gives a visual display of the yarn color chart and indicates they have a second pattern book available.
This is a picture of the actual building (230 Fifth Ave, NY) used by Bishop's Mills, which would have been a business suite, and definitely not woolen mills! Perhaps the Dept. No on the pattern books would have been the suite address.
There are several patterns in the shop that call for Bishop's Yarn. These patterns were in the same magazines as the advertisements originated. They call for typical yarns -- 3-ply Fingering, Sports Yarn, Nylon, Boucle and should not be difficult to substitute. There's just one that's a mystery -- Bishop's Fansay Yarn.
If I were to render a guess, I'd say that Bishop's Mills was a reseller who contracted with actual mills for their supply and simple added their Bishop's Mills label But, then again, I might be wrong. I have quite a few more magazines to make my through and should I learn more, I'll add it here.
If you know anything about this company and would like to share, please comment.
Thanks for dropping by,
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