Greetings!

As a first time poster, long time lurker.

I'm getting married this fall and I'm still looking for a pair of diced hose to wear with my Double Davidson tartan, but as of yet haven't found anything that's both affordable (ie less than $100) AND that goes with the tartan.

Any advice for a relative neophyte in such fashion decisions?

Diced hose are mostly red and white or red and black. They aren't intended to match a tartan. Those are not so difficult to find. I'm guessing you mean tartan hose, which have a sort of argyle pattern that uses some of the colors from the tartan of the kilt. It can be pretty hard to find tartan hose to match any particular kilt because there are so many tartans and not that much demand for tartan hose. They're a specialty item and not easy to make. That's why they're so expensive. Having said that, here's a link to a well-respected vendor who can have them made for a pretty reasonable price: http://www.jhiggins.net/catalog/hose_argyle.html .

Another, easier and quicker option would be to wear solid colored hose in a color that compliments the kilt. Add flashes of a contrasting color and you'll have a good look.

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Originally Posted by Planopiper

Diced hose are mostly red and white or red and black. They aren't intended to match a tartan. Those are not so difficult to find. I'm guessing you mean tartan hose, which have a sort of argyle pattern that uses some of the colors from the tartan of the kilt. It can be pretty hard to find tartan hose to match any particular kilt because there are so many tartans and not that much demand for tartan hose. They're a specialty item and not easy to make. That's why they're so expensive. Having said that, here's a link to a well-respected vendor who can have them made for a pretty reasonable price: http://www.jhiggins.net/catalog/hose_argyle.html .

Another, easier and quicker option would be to wear solid colored hose in a color that compliments the kilt. Add flashes of a contrasting color and you'll have a good look.

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After my experience with J. Higgins's custom tartan hose, I would not recommend them to anyone -- several years ago I ordered a pair of their tartan hose ito match a Gunn (modern colours) kilt -- after about a year of wear to a Burns Supper, a Kirkin', my wedding and one other formal event, the hose started to fray (little red strings popping out all over the place), and a hole started to develop in the left big toe -- and I did follow their "care & feeding" instructions to the letter.

In my last couple of dealings with Higgins, I have noticed that their customer service and quality levels have dropped a bit since I first started doing business with them in the early 90's -- and others I know are reporting the same thing.

My tartan hose are from the Tartan Thistle in Washington state. They are wool, so yes, I did pay a pretty penny for them, but they are worth every penny I paid for the peace of mind of well-crafted hose:

http://www.tartanthistle.com/Argyll_...tan_socks.html

There is also Cullin Craft in California that does diced and tartan hose, but they are VERY, very expensive!

Cheers, (B)

Todd

I'm almost sure I've seen diced hose of a blue and green pattern somewhere, but can't seem to find them anymore. It's driving me crazy.

I don't think the red/white or red/black goes well with the tartan (see avatar). Hence my search.

Thanks for the link cajunscot. I've sent them an email regarding a possible purchase.

If I do end up going solid color hose, I'm curious to what everyone's reccommendations would be. Blue w/ red flashes, perhaps?

Maybe you don't ...but do you anyone who knits maybe they can help ?

Ps I'm trying to get my wife to knit me some plain hose....

Freelander,

That's the rub. One of my elderly neighbors was going to knit a pair of argyle hose for me, but she unfortunately passed just as she was going to start. I know a few people who knit, but none of them have the time to learn something new (knitting argyle socks!) by mid-October :(

Hence, I've got to go commercial.

granma was taken off the plane under the anti-terrorism laws for carrying knitting needles. They found out she was going to knit an Afghan.




bad joke, sorry.