Last year the journey started on March 18th. Our shearer came to shear the sheep and we opened the farm to the public so they could see what we do.
Then in February some of the wool went to a fiber mill in Vermont. Junction Fiber Mill in White River Junction, Vermont is a woman owned mill. I dropped off 15 pounds of raw fleece from our sheep and in the course of a month(Which is a crazy fast turn around time) these ladies turned 15 lbs of fiber into roughly 10 lbs of gorgeous soft 3 ply yarn. Each skein of yarn was 297 yards and bouncy, soft and naturally a creamy white color.
I was so excited to get it back and posted on our Facebook page immediately with a picture of Genevieve holding the yarn in the parking lot of the fiber mill. Shortly after, a woman that had come to shearing day reached out to me asking to purchase some skeins – my first yarn customer.
Maryly is an artist when it comes to knitting. Her specialty is Latvian Styled Mittens and her very own Winnipesaukee Hats that she developed the pattern for. Maryly Hand dyes the wool she gets so she can get specific colors for the pattern she has in mind and then those needles get to clacking and she whips up the most stunning mittens and hats. Maryly bought two skeins and went home to dye them for a very special project. She was invited by a group on Ravelry to participate in in an exhibit of traditional Latvian mittens. Any knitter from around the world could participate and the mittens will be subject to judging based on knitting technique, composition, technical solutions of the mittens and more.
What started in our small town of New Hampton, grown on the back of our woolly friends, is now travelling across the world to Latvia.
Maryly sells some of her hats and mittens and is also eager to give free lessons to anyone interested in learning to knit Latvian mittens.
Genevieve when we went to pick our yarn up
The Mittens that will be traveling to Latvia that was knit using wool from our Horned Dorset sheep.
Other examples of Marylys Latvian Mittens that she has knit(not with our wool)
Examples of just a few of the Winnipesaukee Hats(not made from our wool)
Below is a short blurb about the history and importance of Latvian mittens and the symbols and patterns that are commonly used in the patterns.
https://latvians.com/index.php?en/CFBH/Zimes/zimes-30-mitthist.ssi#:~:text=Mittens%20are%20a%20very%20important,important%20part%20of%20the%20chest.
Below is a link to the fiber mill I sent my wool off to last year.
https://www.junctionfibermill.com/