Because you wanted to know about hose.

[The Wizard of BC]

Here are some pics of our Heritage style kilt hose.

The first picture shows the length of the hose compared to others commercially available.
(all hose are the same shoe size) (and I lined up the toes for a fair comparison. If I line up the heels the differance is even greater.)

The top sock is our Heritage. Woven from a 80% wool, 20% nylon blend.
The center sock is Gaelic Themes "Piper's hose" in a 70% wool, 30% nylon blend.
The bottom sock is Gaelic Themes "Wool rich" hose also in a 70/30 blend.

As you can see, our hose are significantly longer. You can also see how thick these are. They are better than twice as thick in the turnover than the pipers hose.





This picture shows the colors we currently have.
Far left is Gaelic themes Aran (cream)
followed by (L to R) the Heritage Cream, Smokey Brown, Smokey Gray, and Bottle Green. The sock on the far right is Gaelic Themes "Pipers hose" in Lovet Green.



We are trying to add Lovet Green, Lovet Blue, Cocoa Brown, and Dark Grey. We'll see if the yarn mill will do custom colors and what it will cost.

Right now we are still working out the prices. They will not be cheap though.
The lady who cranks the machine is a sub-contractor and charges me a set price. I'm adding only a packaging and shipping fee.

Price will be in the neighborhood of $50.00 cdn.

[pdcorlis]

Wow - looks like its time to amend my birthday wish list!

[Iolaus]

Ouch!! I was all ready to start begging 'til I saw the price!

Beautiful though.

[Southern Breeze]

Those look good. I've seen socks that were made on those machines and had no idea you could make the "bobbles" on the pipers hose with them.

[646guy]

$50 Canadian is like...hmmm quick math....$40 US...or something like that...hmmm....I only have white socks so I woudl need to invest in some colors soon...

[clancelt]

Actually that price is very fair for those hose. I wish I had seen them before I ordered another set made on the same type of machine. Those circular sock machines are no longer made and used ones are selling for around $1500 - $2000, so they are an investment. It also takes about an hour and a half to turn out one pair of socks, if you can use the machine ;)

So, take the cost of the wool and add in an hour and a half of labour... not a bad price at all.

[Robin]

Very, very, very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Southern Breeze]

Have you considerd making them also in cotton/nylon? The wool sounds like it would be rather warm in the summer.

[Iolaus]

Actually that price is very fair for those hose. I wish I had seen them before I ordered another set made on the same type of machine. Those circular sock machines are no longer made and used ones are selling for around $1500 - $2000, so they are an investment. It also takes about an hour and a half to turn out one pair of socks, if you can use the machine ;)

So, take the cost of the wool and add in an hour and a half of labour... not a bad price at all.

This is one of those times that I'm glad I'm not a "traditionalist." You guys really pay that much for socks all the time?

I mean, I admit they're awesome, a lot nicer than what I usually wear, but ...

[davedove]

Very nice indeed! I will be placing these on my list.