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They’re both woollen spun, meaning that they go through the same processes of scouring and carding before being spun, skeined, and noddled. We send the fleece up to Yorkshire for scouring, which is then sent to New Lanark for carding. Here it is put onto a spinning mule which ensures that the yarn produced is completely even and repeatable.
Next, as a result of being the same weight, both yarns come as 350m per 50g skein. Both are single ply yarns, meaning that they are ideal for fine, laceweight projects. Make a lightweight shawl or summery scarf with just 3 to 5 skeins of laceweight luxury.
In regard to colours, Number 1 is a single breed, undyed yarn, meaning that each skein is made up of the wool of only one breed of sheep. For example, the colour Smoke is made up of 100% Shetland wool, whilst Cove is 100% Dorset Horn wool. We offer 11 exclusive, breed-specific shades to choose from. Number 1 was one of our first ranges, back in the day when we only sold undyed yarn, and it's been a firm favourite ever since. The yarn has only been touched by a gentle detergent since shearing so it really is as sheep-y as it comes.
On the other hand, Cairngorm is core dyed and comes in 16 beautiful colours - a dream for colourwork. We’ve developed Cairngorm from Romney lambswool. Produced from the first clip at around 6-8 months old, these short, silky fibres are a treat for woollen spinning. Each of the colours are exclusively dyed for us by our Organic dyehouse here in the UK. Cairngorm was always designed as a companion to Number 1 - the perfect pairing for colourwork. This also means that any patterns written for Number 1 will knit or crochet perfectly in Cairngorm too.