Highland Magic Fibre Arts

19/10/2026

Some woolly progress for Wool Month! I was hoping to have this done for the NatureFriendlyFarmingNetwork meeting tomorrow at balmerinosheep but as it goes with handspinning as I’m crocheting, not a chance of that 🤣🍂

This cardigan is growing into one of my favourite combinations: earthy browns, soft pinks and golden ochre. It will have glorious pink Shetland curl floof too but I haven’t gotten quite that far yet!

But this is the point of it all, isn’t it? Getting wool into our hands and making things we genuinely want to wear.

Sometimes we need to talk about infrastructure, but most of the other times we just need to make a cardigan. 🧶

18/10/2026

Is there a missing middle in Scottish wool processing? For this Wool Month, this is the big question I’ve been building up to.

This is one of the questions I keep coming back to- at a tiny scale, I can process fleece myself. We also have small processors and mini-mills doing really valuable work with small batches, particularly where provenance is essential.

At the other end, industrial wool processing works because it handles enormous volumes efficiently.

However, what happens between those scales? Does there actually need to be something between them?

I don’t think the answer is automatically to just build a medium sized version of the industrial scours we already have in the UK.

It depends on how much wool is available, what kind of wool it is, what processing costs, what products it could become, who actually wants to buy those products, and whether enough material can move through a system to make it viable.

This isn’t just about yarn, though. Different Scottish wools could have uses across textiles, felt and nonwovens, insulation, interiors, horticulture and other products.

So the question I’m increasingly interested in isn’t how do we make more Scottish yarn, but “how would processing infrastructure allow Scottish wool to reach the markets it’s actually suited to?”.

I don’t have the answer yet, but I think with enough people working on it together, we could find well rounded economic viability for the wonder that is wool in Scotland.

If you work anywhere in this chain, particularly processing, farming, manufacturing or wool product development, I’d really like to hear what you think the missing piece is (if you think there is one!).

FibreArts HighlandMagicFibreArts

18/10/2026

Is there a missing middle in Scottish wool processing? For this Wool Month, this is the big question I’ve been building up to.

This is one of the questions I keep coming back to- at a tiny scale, I can process fleece myself. We also have small processors and mini-mills doing really valuable work with small batches, particularly where provenance is essential.

At the other end, industrial wool processing works because it handles enormous volumes efficiently.

However, what happens between those scales? Does there actually need to be something between them?

I don’t think the answer is automatically to just build a medium sized version of the industrial scours we already have in the UK.

It depends on how much wool is available, what kind of wool it is, what processing costs, what products it could become, who actually wants to buy those products, and whether enough material can move through a system to make it viable.

This isn’t just about yarn, though. Different Scottish wools could have uses across textiles, felt and nonwovens, insulation, interiors, horticulture and other products.

So the question I’m increasingly interested in isn’t how do we make more Scottish yarn, but “processing infrastructure would allow Scottish wool to reach the markets it’s actually suited to?”.

I don’t have the answer yet, but I think with enough people working on it together, we could find well rounded economic viability for the wonder that is wool in Scotland.

If you work anywhere in this chain, particularly processing, farming, manufacturing or wool product development, I’d really like to hear what you think the missing piece is (if you think there is one!).

FibreArts HighlandMagicFibreArts

18/10/2026

Is there a missing middle in Scottish wool processing? 🐑

This is one of the questions I keep coming back to- at a tiny scale, I can process fleece myself. We also have small processors and mini-mills doing really valuable work with small batches, particularly where provenance matters.

At the other end, industrial wool processing works because it handles enormous volumes efficiently.

However, what happens between those scales?

Maybe more more importantly: does there actually need to be something between them?

I don’t think the answer is automatically “build a medium-sized wool scour.”

It depends on how much wool is available, what kind of wool it is, what processing costs, what products it could become, who actually wants to buy those products, and whether enough material can move through a system to make it viable.

This isn’t just about yarn. Different Scottish wools could have uses across textiles, felt and nonwovens, insulation, interiors, horticulture and other products.

So the question I’m increasingly interested in isn’t how do we make more Scottish yarn?

But-

What processing infrastructure would allow Scottish wool to reach the markets it’s actually suited to?

I don’t have the answer yet, but I think with enough people working on it together, we could find well rounded economic viability for the wonder that is wool in Scotland.

If you work anywhere in this chain, particularly processing, farming, manufacturing or wool product development, I’d really like to hear what you think the missing piece is. Or whether you think I’m looking for a gap that isn’t there.

FibreArts HighlandMagicFibreArts

16/10/2026

What happens when a Rolls-Royce engineer decides to make spinning wheels? 😁 THIS

It sure feels like an appropriate Wool Month arrival!This is my new-to-me Harry Pouncey spinning wheel, made in Moniaive, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Harry Pouncey was a Rolls-Royce engineer who went on to make spinning wheels in a whole range of styles. This one is his Black Forest wheel, and it came to me with its original paperwork from its first owner, Dora, who bought it directly from him.

I’ve spent a lot of this month talking about the future of Scottish wool processing, so having a piece of Scottish spinning history turn up in the middle of it feels pretty fitting.

It’s also been interesting going through Harry’s old catalogue and seeing just how many different wheels and bits of spinning equipment he was making. I’ll share more of that separately because there’s a lot to dig into.

For now, I need to get to know this one and see how it spins (other than wicked fast, but that’s as far as we’ve gotten right now!). You might have to follow your eye up to the top of the image to see the entire assembly: the lazy Kate arm can be swapped out with a flax distaff!

Also: “Harry” is clearly not going to be its actual name. 🤣 Suggestions welcome.

ScottishTextiles FibreArts HighlandMagicFibreArts

15/10/2026

I’ve been working on something new behind the scenes, and today a very exciting parcel arrived.

Four custom British breed blends, Shetland, Hebridean, Gotland, Bluefaced Leicester, Romney, Masham, Dorset Horn, Southdown, Teeswater, Cheviot, Manx Loaghtan and Lincoln. They’re designed around the different qualities each breed brings to the mix: colour, texture, lustre, softness and character.

Meet Greywether, Wayside, Fallow and Bracken.

I’m really pleased with how different they are in person and how balanced the blends are. I’ve pulled a little of each aside for some very important research (playing with wool).

First I want to spin them as they are and get to know them properly.

After that, the dye pots are calling! I have plans 😆

15/10/2026

New journal post up just now, come read a bit more about my side quest where I’m learning about how the Scottish wool industry connects together, and how we can improve it for everyone.

When I write about Scottish wool, I often begin with a fleece: its texture, its colour, the possibilities it holds for spinning or weaving. But before that fleece reaches my hands, it belongs to a much larger story.It begins with the people keeping the sheep.Through Highland Magic, I’ve written ab...

13/10/2026

Digging back through old photos and found these from one of my favourite shoots with Wayward Spirit

I wove this wrap from wool and linen, with a palette only using natural dyes, and I still really love how it sits against the Highland landscape.

I’ve been very deep in the bigger questions around Scottish wool lately: talking to farmers, thinking about processing, where our wool actually goes and what we could be doing with more of it here. There are some really interesting conversations happening behind the scenes just now, which I’m hoping I’ll be able to share more about soon.

In the meantime, I sometimes need reminding that I got into all of this because I just really, really like making things out of wool (like, maybe more than is normal 😁).

13/10/2026

One of our collegues in the wool sector, Samantha Farmer at Highland Magic Fibre Arts, is a researcher as well as an excellent fibre artist, and is conducting a survey of farmers about their wool harvest. If you have sheep in Scotland, it would help her research and the work we're hoping to do together, if you could take a moment to participate. Just scan the image below, to go to the survey page. Or visit this link: https://forms.gle/twX1K9Z6cRj1HELk6
Thanks!