News

Woven Textile Designer Award - Winning Design in Production!

Launched in 2017, our Woven Textile Designer Award sought to uncover the best of new textile design talent by inviting current students and recent graduates to submit innovative and contemporary de...

Herringbone Lambswool Scarves in Production

Here's a sneak peek of our new Ultra Marine Herringbone scarves in production. We have been busy working with a new designer to create this new contemporary range!  1. Winding  Yarn cones are prepa...

Weaving an Estate Tweed

We are currently weaving tweed fabric for an Aberdeenshire Estate which is well known for its first class driven game shooting and the beautiful setting of its mansion house and gardens. Generally...

Weaving for Pluscarden Abbey

We are currently producing cloth for Pluscarden Abbey.  "Situated six miles south-west of Elgin in Moray, the monastery enjoys the peace and stillness of a secluded glen, but is easily reached by r...

Work in Progress: North Country Cheviot Wool Yarn

We are proud to introduce our upcoming range of North Country Cheviot Wool Yarn. The wool for this range was sourced from Dalrachie Farm, located just 12 miles from the Woolmill.  Sourcing the wo...

The Woolmill Spinning Mule

The Woolmill's mule is an 1870 Platt Brothers mule, made in Oldham. It is an early model of a ‘self-acting’ mule, which features 120 spindles.  Prior to this, mule spinning in its infancy was powe...

Production at the Woolmill - Weaving

Weaving is the introduction of the weft yarn, known as picks which run horizontally across the fabric. At Knockando Woolmill weaving is carried out on our Dornier Rapier looms and Victorian Dobcros...

Production at the Woolmill - Warping

Warping is the preparation of the warp threads (known as ends) which run vertically from the top to bottom of a piece of fabric. The threads are set out in a pre-determined colour pattern - the num...

Production at the Woolmill - Plying and Hanking

After spinning, multiples of the single yarn can be plied together to form a two, three, four-fold yarn. The amount of twist can vary according to the end use of the yarn. For example, our Knitti...

Production at the Woolmill - Spinning

The rovings from the carding set need to be twisted to produce yarn. At the Woolmill this is done on a spinning Mule. Rovings are fed through delivery rollers on to the 120 spindles on the mule ca...