Slainte!

[MacMullen]

Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm both new to the board and new to kilts. I've lurked here on this site for a couple of weeks, and appreciate all of the advice that I've received in my searches of your posts.

By way of explanation, I'm mostly German in my heritage, my last name is Fleischer. But my username was selected in honor of the one Scot in my family tree back in 1840, my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother.

As a result of my Scottish "heritage" I've been invited to a Burns Dinner this month, which led to my search for a kilt so as to be properly attired. Well, $25/yard for the MacMillan tartan is a little hard to swallow on short notice, so I found some Black Watch tartan at a local fabric store and my wife is currently hard at work sewing my first kilt. I have to brag on her a bit, as she's made eight suits for me from scratch, so she didn't want me to go out and buy a kilt if she could make it.

Besides, at 6'10" tall, I'm a little hard to fit off the rack, hence the custom fit suits.

My avatar is, obviously, the MacMillan crest. The avatar itself is from the label that I made for my homebrewed Scottish Ale, which, btw, I'm enjoying as I type this. Otherwise, biographically, my call is as a Lutheran Pastor and I'm in the Kayak business on the side.

I can't wait for my first kilt to be finished, can't wait to go to the Burns Dinner (although the idea of Haggis makes me a little queasy), and I'm especially looking forward to having my wife make me some more kilts in my traditional clan tartans, and, maybe picking up a Stillwater Shadow kilt and another kilt in a clergy tartan.

Anyway, like I said, I just wanted to introduce myself and say that I'm looking forward to getting to know you all here. I'll post pics from our Burn's Dinner, which is coming up on November 18th.

[Iolaus]

Welcome.

6'10"? Yeah, that might be hard to find. I'm not sure you'd be happy with a Stillwater, but they do have a good return policy if it's too short.

Haggis? it's just a type of sausage, ...and you don't really want to know what's in other sausages either! ;)

[MacMullen]

Sausage in a BIG natural casing I guess. That helps! Thanks!

As a result of my German heritage I'm very familiar with (but not a fan of) head cheese and blood sausage (Thanks Grandma!), so I'm sure I can handle haggis.

Are the SW kilts hemmed? My wife is also very familiar with alterations.

[Iolaus]

http://pro.channeladvisor.com/storef...9&aid=15162781

"• Bottom edge is traditional selvedge, not hemmed"

[MacMullen]

Yeah, now that you post that, I remember reading that. :sad:

Well, for the price, if it doesn't fit, I could always pass it on to one of my friends to introduce one of them to the kilt.

[Iolaus]

From MacMullen's webpage:

...To remedy the situation my wise and understanding wife suggested that we put $2,000 of the insurance settlement down on a new car (a `93 Intrepid), and use the remaining $2,500 to pay for the Jeepster rebuild. : )

THERE'S a keeper!! A wise woman indeed! ;)

Here's my toy, but delete the running boards; I took them off long ago.

[jfellrath]

Hi Joel,

Welcome aboard the good ship X Marks.

I don't know this for sure, but you may be the first Yooper on the board! There are a number of us Lowpers/Trolls around, including some who have since moved out of the state.

You might want to check out this thread on kilting in the cold - you'll have need for it soon, unless the U.P. has changed since I was there last.

Jamie

(For all those unaware - Michigan is separated into two peninsulas: the Upper and Lower. "Yoopers" are from the U.P., and "Lowpers" are from the lower peninusla. And the "troll" comment comes from the idea that Lowpers live "under the bridge", the bridge in this case being the Mackinac Bridge that connects the two peninsulae.)

[MacMullen]

Nope, it's a Burns dinner. I thought it was kind of early for that too, but it's a deer camp thing. The guy who invited me has a cabin that is not accessible after the snow starts falling. His neighbor who owns the cabin down the road is a Chicago cop who wears the kilt and plays the pipes, and, since they're all in the same neighborhood for deer season in November, they declared a Burn's night, complete with haggis and poetry and single malted toasts and bagpipes.

I figured there might not be a lot of Yoopers on here. I think most people up here consider themselves more Northern Wisconsin residents than Northern Michigan, but I think that's because they're mostly Green Bay Packer fans up here (not me). Of course, there is that whole State of Superior movement.

Yes, my wife is definitely a keeper. She puts up with all of my odd hobbies and interests and even finds herself drawn into them at some level, even if it's only approving the funds. ;-)

Lamar is a small town on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, an hour from Kansas and an hour and a half from Oklahoma. Very hot in the summer, very nice in the winter.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

MacMullen, welcome to a verra fine board! Since your from the UP, whenever I get cold here in Chicago, I will comfort myself by thinking how much colder you must be! :grin:

And by the way, get your chicago cop friend to join here! We need to get some more kilted Chicagoans so that we can put on a kilt night. I would do one by myself, but that is no different than going out drinking by myself, which is kind of a sad sight! :-D

[Kiltedmusiclover]

Greetings Joel,

Good to have you on the forum.
A hearty welcome to you from the unseasonably warm south.
(Yeah its going to be a chilly 75F here today)