So; a question for everyone: I've been desiring of a kilt for some time, the abstract jones for which has only been intensified by joining up here and having seen one in person just yesterday. Romantic notions of saving up for a tank as I'm losing the weight to fit into it for a projected acquisition date about a year from now seem harder and harder to keep to. Besides, never having had a kilt before, perhaps it wouldn't be a proper use of my appropriation for such things to go in for one in the first. Bearing in mind that I'm a bit of an ould traditionalist (I've worn a jacket, waistcoat and tie every day since I was fifteen — I'm twenty now), what would everyone recommend for a first kilt; hopefully one that won't break the bank and yet be a good experience for my very first one?

A few of my thoughts: I saw a picture of pdcorlis in a House of Edgar County Cavan, and wondered if that might be a good one to start with (I've got some Gaffney relatives in Cavan, and it's one of my favorite tartans). My concern would be this: might the 12/13 oz. wool be too light and not swishy enough? But I do want it to be wool.

Alternatively, I could go with a Newsome box-pleat or something similar in that price range, but I am losing weight, and I'd rather not get a really nice one that I won't be able to wear in a few months. (Or do they adjust downwards well?) Plus, there's the question of box-pleated vs. knife-pleated, and four-yard vs. eight-yard for a first one. My initial thoughts are like most; eight-yard and knife-pleated, but thoes thoughts are naïve. (One day, I do not doubt, I'll have a closet full of them; kingussies in Brittany Walking, an eight-yard Ulster Red pleated to the sett, a tweed box-pleat, but one has to start somewhere, aye?)

I look forward soon to counting myself proudly in the number of all kilted rabble.

Y'a bon,

Jake