We feel very fortunate that we had a chance to collaborate with amazing Ardgay based organization called Highland Wool CIC, to be able to offer training to interested members of our community in Thurso and area, in the sphere of processing sheep wool.

This community interest company is run by only small but exceptionally hard-working, driven and talented team, and operates on the base of the Hirsel Farm.

The Mission of Highland Wool CIC is to support sustainable wool industry in Scotland, and therefore they were so kind to offer volunteering sessions at their fleece processing mill as part of our collaboration.

We had a chance to go through every phase of fleece prepping - cleaning, skirting, grading, washing, drying, fluffing and carding.

Every participant had a chance to spend some time at each station on the mill to familiarize themselves with the process.

Our participants had a comprehensive induction and health and safety talk before we got to head off to the mill, and this is exactly what we strongly urge to do everyone who is planning to process their own fleeces independently - go through all safety information before laying your hands on wool.

Wear gloves at all times and get training on the equipment that you are intending to use.

Highland Wool team also shared with us that they rescued vintage carding machine from landfill, and already sourced funding to provide required repairs and maintenance to it, and when it gets operational, it will take the capacity of their mill to all new level!

Another fascinating thing to find out was the innovative work that Highland Wool are carrying out to create the water filtering system, to enable them to reuse their water for washing fleeces.

Lovely discovery - no kill “live sheepskins“!

Did you know that you can make such a beautiful sheepskin rug without having to slaughter the sheep?

In fact, this is a great way to utilize fleeces that began felting on the sheep before shearing and would not be suitable for carding and turning into yarn.

Such live sheepskin rug is made by wet felting only one side of it (you can then also add more carded fibres for reinforcement) - et voila! Fantastic cruelty-free piece for your interior, or ideal pet bed, that can come straight from your neighbouring field.

Our collaborative event could only have limited number of participants, so that all of them could receive all attention and training during one day, required to equip them with the skills necessary to perform all processes for fleece prepping.

However, Highland Wool are welcoming volunteers who are willing to learn how to process their sheep fleeces. They recommend the maximum of 2 persons for two-days training.

If you are interested, get in touch with Highland Wool here:

And on behalf of all our participants, we say huge thanks to everyone at Highland Wool for sharing their great knowledge and skill and looking after us so well!