As a follow on ...

[longshadows]

It all began with oatmeal. Well, that's as close as I came to anythng Scots growing up in East Texas, but I've always loved oatmeal. Anyway, then came the pipes. As I grew older, I enjoyed them and felt a certain something when I heard them, but I knew of no Scots ancestry. A few summers back, I attended the Maine Highland Games and when the pipe and drum bands began to play, I melted and tears came to my eyes. But, "I wasn't Scots", so I just ignored these feelings.

Then in January, on a drive up to Quebec, I listened to an interview on NPR with Steve Villegas, founder of Utilikilts. Interesting, but not something I could even consider, but a spark must have been kindled and a few weeks later, I was thinking about it and went to the UK web site. There were links there to other kilt-related web sites. I read and through about it. I bought a kilt (SWK Black Watch). I was hooked. Now I own eight and I haven't even had my legs in a pair of trousers in a month. (I can thank you guys for your support and advice which has been a big help to me over the past few weeks.)

Oh, by the way, I have since discovered that I have three family lines of Scots ancestors, who came to this country as early as the late Seventeenth Century. So maybe that's why I like oatmeal so much!

[Colin]

My late Grandfather used to take me to the Remembrance Day services in Winnipeg. Not sure what regiment, but the glengary he wore (I now have it) looks very similar to this tartan http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/medi...ge:Erskine.gif worn by the Scots Fusiliers of Canada.

For part of the day we would watch the pipebands, the canons, and aeverything else to take in. Both sides of my family have Scottish Roots, but my mom's side still practised alot of the customs. I knew about those roots long before ordering a kilt. For as long as I could remember I had thought of getting a kilt. When my wife and I ended up in Scotland and Ireland I decided to look into getting a kilt. Needles to say the ones I could find were either way out of a backpackers price range, or they were crap.

A few years later I saw an article about a local guy making cheap kilts (Bear) I ordered one up (Black Watch) and have been upgrading for years now. I now have a kilt in my Father's tartan, and I need a traditional Mackenzie to replce the casual one (I am thinking MacKenzie Weathered).

[Phil Wright]

I knew about my family history, but the really difficult bit was that I used to work in the theatre during my time in college and I used to go for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Whenever I got time off I used to walk down to the mile and look at the kilt price tags and work out how many more years of festivals I would have to work to get one. Once I started work and got money, other things got priority.
My Dad started doing the family tree in earnest, then we found out he had cancer and was not likely to last long, so a couple of years back I decided to get my kilt in time for Christmas, so he could see it and I could get best use out of it for the season.
Now?.... I've given up trying to find excuses and just get on and wear 'em!
Phil

[toadinakilt]

I always thought kilts were cool, but didn't know much about them...we weren;t real sure about our heritage, and nobody really took the time to research it.
I decided I needed one after coming here to Covenant College. Our college symbol is the Scot, mostly in honor of the Scottish Presbyterians, to which our school owes much.
So I bought a green-ish Sport Kilt, and wore it around every once in awhile...the impetus came from another freshman who owned a black UK, and wore it every week or so...then I discovered XMarks, and found out that Sport Kilts were not even close to being as awesome as a real kilt...so I bought the SWK. I can't afford to expand the collection yet...I want to make my own now, to save on bucks.

[Paco500]

I have no idea why I wanted to begin wearing a kilt. I imagine it was a combination of heritage (quite a bit of scottish blood) and the desire to be different is a theme that runs though much of my life. In high school, when my peers were getting their ear pierced and playing guitar, I got both pierced (it was a bit more unusual in the mid-80's) and took up the banjo. I have been a dedicated Mac user for almost 20 years. I love and have owned several saabs. The list goes on.

My first kilt, ~15 years ago, was a gift from a friend who knew I always wanted one (don't get excited, it's junk- he bought it for ~$20 at a thrift store and he may have overpaid). But I have worn it for years and have just started to add to the collection with a UK. I'm dreaming of a tank but will most likely add a Freedom kilt and USA kilt first. Just have to get the wife to loosen the purse strings a bit. I may have to get a part time job to keep the habit going.

[ckelly327]

Just new to kilt wearing this month. I belong to the Hibernians and transfered to a new division about 6 years ago. At the time there were about 5 or 6 members who wore kilts to meetings and events like parades and fundraisers or festivals. I liked the look but didn't think I could pull it off at 285 pounds. Last year at Christmas I had lost about 45 pounds of that and decided that there were other guys bigger than me that could do it so I was finally ready. My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her that I wanted a kilt. Her only stipulation was that I order a good one and we would split the costs of outfitting me. After a month of research I finally ordered an 8yd - 16oz Balmoral in the MacDonald tartan since some of my research showed that the Kelly tartan was either the same or based on the MacDonald. It just came this week and our division has about 30 kilt wearers now.
I also broke down and bought one from Stillwater Kilts prior to St. Patrick's Day so that I had something to wear for those events. I loved the comfort and regret not going there sooner. It also helped that the ladies love a man in a kilt (just don't tell my wife that I liked that part).
It's not part of my everyday dress yet but I know that it will be creeping in to more daily activities.

Thanks for this site - It's great.