I’m based in Scotland and run Highland Magic Fibre Arts, a small fibre business focused on British wool, natural yarn production and weaving. My connection to the wool I work with begins at the farm rather than at the mill or yarn supplier. I work directly with farmers and small flocks, particularly in the Scottish Highlands, building relationships with the people who raise the sheep and sourcing fleece from them directly. I visit farms where possible, collect fleece myself, and take responsibility for sorting, skirting and selecting the fibre before it enters my own yarn-making process. This gives me a much closer relationship with both the material and its provenance than is possible when working with anonymous mill-prepared fibre. My current work includes wool from Highland flocks such as Ryeland, Shetland and other British breeds, which I use either individually or in carefully considered blends. For example, I have developed an Aran-weight yarn combining Ryeland and Shetland fleeces from Glen Urquhart flocks and first-quality alpaca from a smallholding near Beauly, another in Alloa, and mohair from Fife. The aim is not simply to produce a commercially uniform yarn, but to preserve and make use of the particular qualities of these fibres and the places they come from. Alongside yarn production, I’m developing a weaving and fibre-art practice using these materials, as well as teaching and creating opportunities for other people to engage directly with wool as a locally produced material. My relationships with farmers are therefore central to the business. I’m interested in creating a shorter, more transparent supply chain in which the farmer, the fibre and the maker remain connected, and in finding valuable uses for wool that might otherwise struggle to find a place in larger-scale processing systems.