Progress Report, and some upcoming events

It's been a mad, exciting time since our last update. We've continued to make progress in the mill with our equipment, made a few (a lot of) stops on our 2025 summer tour, and have some great workshops under our belt and coming up.

Ready to roll!

Carded Black Cheviot

First up is exciting news on Caroline our carding machine. She was tested on Rescue Shetland and Hirsel Hebridean, before we risked using her on some lovely Black Cheviot from Ken Mackay at Ardchronie farm.

Since then, we've put multiple breeds through, and feel reading to say: let her roll! We can now take carding orders for up to 25kg of wool. Check our Services page for more information, and let's get your wool carded and back in your hands in time for your Christmas projects.

Summer tour 2025

We've had a great time taking the show on the road this year! Starting with the Ardgay Jubilee in May, where we were part of The Hirsel's stall highlighting everything going on at the farm, then on to the National Sheep Association's event at Mid-Fearn farm, the Sutherland Show, Lairg Crofters Show, the Latheron Show...and then to the Scottish Yarn Festival, where we sold a lot of carded wool and told the story of the Highland Wool/The Hirsel, and how (and why!) this all got started. Visit the Hirsel's site here, if you're interested in reading that story.

This weekend, 13 September, 10am - noon, we'll be participating in Scottish Climate Festival, supported by a grant from the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival, with a woolly hands-on event at the Ardgay Community Market.

And finally, to wrap up our 2025 tour, we'll be at the Highland Wool Festival in Strathpeffer, 27 September.

We've had a great time, and loved meeting everyone who visited one of our stalls. Do you think we should get t-shirts for the road crew? ;-)

Workshops and gatherings

Meanwhile, our weekly Knit & Natter evenings are back, Wednesdays 6pm-9pm. All levels, all fibre crafts welcome, tea and good craic on offer. Knit & Natter is supported by a grant from the Ardgay & Distric Community Council through the Beinn Tharsuinn Windfarm Community Fund, and will continue into November before we break for the holidays.

On a few of those Wednesday evenings, we'll be teaching workshops at 6pm, with participants invited to stay on for Knit & Natter afterward. These workshops are in partnership with the Lairg & District Learning Centre. So far, Janet has taught Knitting Basics, and Anna has taught a Drop Spindle workshop. Janet will be back on 1 October with a Pattern Reading workshop, and Anna will return to help you learn to use your spinning wheel on 8 October. Visit LDLC's events page, to sign up for these workshops.

Have you ever wanted to learn to felt your own fleece rug? We're looking at hosting a woolly gathering to do just that in October; send an email to info@highlandwool.scot to indicate your interest, or for more information.

Watch this space, or visit our Facebook page for news of our next round of workshops and events.

On a final note... we're certainly not in this game for the glory, we're here to get more wool into your hands, and 100% Scottish wool into the shops. But I think it's important, now and again, to highlight the hard work of our staff and volunteers (including our volunteer board!), and it's a shot of encouragement when their hard work is acknowledged by the "High Heid Yins". So here's a picture of our Janet, board member and mill volunteer, receiving Highland Wool's award for RBST's 2025 Sustainable Product of the year. I couldn't be prouder of our team, and the work everyone's doing to support a sustainable wool industry in Scotland.

Minister for Agriculture Jim Fairlie, and Highland Wool Board Member Janet Charge at the 2025 Highland Show

11/09/2025, d.gillies