NH noob with fancy tartan weaving ambition

[jsrnephdoc]

Hi all,

…

VERY noob regarding all things tartan and weaving, pardon the errors in terminology, etc.

At times, I might give the false impression that "I know everything already... "
That is not intended, just trying to do my homework, be prepared.
Please feel free to correct me if you feel I'm mistaken,
or if I could benefit from another idea or viewpoint.

I really want to learn!

Short:

I'm not sure what I need, because I don't know yet.
So far, I want to learn about weaving, tartan, adequate/acceptable kilt-wearing etiquette.
Very open to advice!

…

the crazy project:
Full:
dress in proper, full kilt attire at my wife's clan meet in Scotland, in August.

Um, just out of the box, you're WAY ahead of most of us, including probably some who've never left a home village in the Orkney Islands!!!!!!!!

HOWEVER, I'll still offer a few suggestions:
'
1. Make the acquantance of Barb Tewksbury. You'll mesh in more than one universe, since she's a planetary geologist (tag line, "brain for rocks.")
2. Attend that clan gathering, even if you're no closer to kilted perfection than not even out of the starting gate. My sister's been to two, and she enjoyed them immensely, even though she was then just a high schooler tagging along with her parents!
3. Since you're interested in weaving, make a point of a trip to Lochcarron Mills, who offer a REALLY interesting tour of their weaving facility in Selkirk, Scottish Borders. They're pretty good at weaving (about a month after we took that tour, a guy whose first name is bracketed by MANY initials at both ends (first name Charles) was photographed there talking to the same lovely matron who gave US a lesson in patience while she talked about exorcising a repeating single transverse error in a 30 meter bolt of tartan using a hand-held needle that removed the "oops" thread and replaced it with the proper one).
4. If you go to Edinburgh, visit the Royal Britannia yacht. Fascinating tour.

And, calling yourself a NOOBIE sounds like Robert Oppenheimer telling someone he was trying to learn a bit about physics!

[NHhighlander]

Um, just out of the box, you're WAY ahead of most of us, including probably some who've never left a home village in the Orkney Islands!!!!!!!!

HOWEVER, I'll still offer a few suggestions:
'
<snip>

And, calling yourself a NOOBIE sounds like Robert Oppenheimer telling someone he was trying to learn a bit about physics!

Powerful stuff, @jsrnephdoc!

I feel enormously honored.
Big time.

The best of it: feels like I am finding here people with brains and skills AND a sense of humor AND a desire to connect with others. I hope I'm able to give as good as I take. Thank you!

As to the specific advice, every point an actionable item, that I will follow through, as I catch up with life. I'm a farmer, and this is the busiest season of the year, right after the thaw, not really too clever of me to start this additional project on top of things that wait for nobody.

And I will be earning my real spurs along the way, especially as I learn to welcome others like you do it.

THANK YOU!

Yama

[Jock Scot]

Um, just out of the box, you're WAY ahead of most of us, including probably some who've never left a home village in the Orkney Islands!!!!!!!!

Steady on there! I think, you hugely mis-judge the Orkney Islands and their inhabitants and they will not thank you for your snide comment. Go there, its easy to do so, and you will certainly see ancient history at numerous sites, but you will see some of the best farmers, particularly stock farmers, in action on some of the best managed grassland that can be found anywhere in the world. You should go, its not all ruined crofts and tumble-down buildings apart from the abandoned military installations that are scattered about, far from it in fact and you will find that many Orcadians are well travelled and are very well informed.

[jsrnephdoc]

Steady on there! I think, you hugely mis-judge the Orkney Islands and their inhabitants and they will not thank you for your snide comment. Go there, its easy to do so, and you will certainly see ancient history at numerous sites, but you will see some of the best farmers, particularly stock farmers, in action on some of the best managed grassland that can be found anywhere in the world. You should go, its not all ruined crofts and tumble-down buildings apart from the abandoned military installations that are scattered about, far from it in fact and you will find that many Orcadians are well travelled and are very well informed.

I hope my apologies to you and your neighbors arrive in advance of your interpretation of my reply to NH noob..

My intent was to convey astonishment regarding the almost incredible intensity of our new member's bathing in Scottish attire history, to the extent of almost replicating in real time the efforts of people who'd been living it for centuries. The Orkneys are at the very top of my list of places to visit in Scotland, with the western extremes of Skye not far behind.

[NHhighlander]

(trying to be funny)

There is no better honor a homecoming warrior can get, than to have others doing loyal combat in his welcome.

(/ trying to be funny)

Seriously, y'all are the best!
Even on how you gallantly address issues.

BTW, I'm seriously intrigued about the Orkneys, and of contemporary craftsmen, (and the whole nine yards, as we say without meaning no harm... )

[OC Richard]

...the Orkney Islands and their inhabitants...it's not all ruined crofts and tumble-down buildings...far from it, and you will find that many Orcadians are well travelled and are very well informed.

This very much resonates with myself, being from a town of 900 people in isolated rural Appalachia, about which there are so many stereotypes. Yes there are centenarians who have never been more than 20 miles from where they were born, but there are also widely travelled people and highly educated people. My own family were known locally as teachers, generations of people who got university degrees and returned home to raise the local level of education.

In any case, to piggyback on Peter's photo, here's one I put together showing four current colour-schemes in wide production.

At a local Games I might see a couple dozen people wearing kilts in House of Edgar's "muted range". (Sorry I couldn't find a "muted" image of the same tartan.)