Join us on Sunday 25th March between 11am-4pm for a look around the newly restored Mill. Here's a map to help you find us.
We're busy getting the new Mill shop ready for your visit - here's a sneak preview. But if you're unable to visit, don't forget you can shop online.
It's been a busy summer down at the Woolmill and on Sunday 28th August 2011 between 10.30am and 5.00pm we'll be giving organised tours of the work to date as part of our latest Open Day.
All tours will leave Margach Hall in Knockando at half-hourly intervals and booking is essential. To book a place on the tour please call Brenda Harvey on 01343 563476 or e-mail brenda.harvey@moray.gov.uk
We'd also love to see you at Margach Hall in Knockando if you have a story to tell us.
There was a tradition of giving Woolmill blankets as wedding presents and also farmers bringing their wool to the mill to have it processed into blankets. We would love to hear from anyone who still has a Woolmill blanket.
Elidh, our Learning and Outreach Manager, will be collecting and recording people’s stories and memories of the Woolmill. There will be an opportunity to view and purchase some new products developed at the Woolmill - and a chance to create your own unique bookmark from Woolmill fabric and yarn.
The Teasel Gig in transit to it's temporary home in the Conservation Training Workshop.
This is the first machine to be removed from the old mill buildings in a process that is expected to take six weeks.
Hugh proudly shows off the last warp to be beamed before the machinery is dismantled.
The beamed warp will be woven with at least a dozen wefts to create a sample range for clothing designers.
Never fear - that's not smoke!
What you are actually seeing is the vapour mist from the high pressure water jet that was used to clear the underground pipe that forms the Tailrace.
It was normal practice to plant trees so that they cast a shadow over the wheel and helped to stop the wood that formed the buckets from drying out. Unfortunately the horse chestnut, to the right of the picture, has overgrown and been dropping its leaves and nuts into the pit ever since the wheel stopped turning.
A remote-controlled buggy with a camera attached will be sent up the pipe to ascertain the condition before restoration work on the pit begins.
Last week a swarm of native black bees descended on the Woolmill to re-inhabit an old hive that had been built and maintained in the wall of the shop for decades.
After consulting with the Moray BeeKeepers Association, Gerry Thompson from Tamdhu arrived to attempt to coax the queen and swarm into a bait hive to remove them.
Here, Jana Hutt looks on as Gerry checks the bait hive to see if the swarm are settling in ready for transporting.
Fingers crossed this works as the other option is to destroy the colony which would be a real shame.
The Woolmill featured on last Friday's edition of BBC TV's Landward, Scotland's farming and countryside programme focusing on the issues affecting the community.
The Woolmill section starts at about 10 minutes and can be viewed online for the next few days.
As part of some cloth development we are doing at the moment, we thought it about time we made our own tartan. I've made very little tartan over the years, just special orders from time to time - luckily we have have a few thriving tartan weaving mills in Scotland, so no point trying to compete!
This one, however, is ours, and as ever it's always exciting to see a new pattern weaving for the first time. Here it is in the loom - hope you like it...
