We have a place like that up in central Maine, and outfit called Bartlettyarns (one word; they're on the internet). They get locally-grown wool, process and dye (plant dyes, IIRC) and spin it on machines that have been running in that factory since about 1820 or so, giving a really nice product the likes of which can't be gotten from modern machines (which use a different process). Last Christmas I sent some to various ladies (the knitters) on my gift-giving list and they were all gaga-happy about it.
Some of their biggest/most regular customers, they told me, are people who repair and run old sock-knitting machines to make wool socks. As a hobby. (You want to see a contraption? Look at a sock knitter sometime.) Go figure.
Old skills and methods are deserving of preservation - if everything goes to crap, operating Windows and Excel won't be worth a darn, but being able to take raw metal (or wood or fiber) and turn it into something useful through the application of fire, water, tools, muscle and brains will be very useful.
