Merino & Herdwick Mittens - Part 1

Over the weekend I have been busy, on Saturday the postman delivered my bi-monthly magazine, called YarnMaker, http://www.yarnmaker.co.uk/ by Dorothy Lumb. This is the first UK Spinning magazine and is about all things sheep. Every magazine has a project to make using handspun yarn, and this time it is mittens.

As the winter is fast approaching up here I decided to make these, as it will be the first time I have spun yarn to make a specific project (I have always decided on a project after making the yarn). I have chosen to use 2 very different fleeces to make these, the softest 100% organic white Merino, and a very corse dark grey Herdwick fleece. Herdwick are native to the Lake District, England and do not have much value as the fleece is not regarded as very useful. I am about to disprove this.....

The pictures below show you the first part of the project, I have spun the Merino and plyed it to create a yarn, and I am about to spin the Herdwick, which I am going to card to give it a fluffy feel when spun. keep an eye out for the finished mittens over the next few weeks..