Douglas Repro Ramble

[mookien]

... I take it you were able to choose the colors that I see here yourself? If so, I like your taste. I'm also a Douglas (with 2 s's), and have seen this tartan done quite a few different ways, but yours is a standout for sure.

Dalgliesh is a custom tartan weaver, so within certain well-defined constraints, one can choose the colors for their tartan. For details see ...

http://www.dcdalgliesh.co.uk/commissions.html

Just enter a tartan name in the "Find by Name" field, eg "Douglas". Then click on any of the (usually) three variants to see a larger (computer generated) swatch of the cloth.

Below you will see the statement, "You may also select alternative yarns from our stock yarn range ...". Presumably, you can select any color shown in the "stock yarn range". Just click on that highlighted phrase to view the range of yarn colors available for substitution.

I have no taste. I merely asked Matt for the Douglas Reproduction colors in hard tartan. He did the rest. The best I can tell, Matt chose the default Douglas Blue reproduction colors. Dalgliesh shows a "Douglas Black" on the same page, but it appears to be a mistake on the web page.

Again, good luck on your quest for tartan.

[Guinness>water]

Looking good, Mookien!

How do you like that hard tartan? Is it much different than washed/finished tartan?

[mookien]

Thank you. I very much like the hard tartan finish, or more descriptively "flaw corrected, but not finished" tartan. For one thing, it looks a bit more rugged and gives the kilt more of an "outdoors" look. I believe the slightly rougher finish scatters light more, so it doesn't appear quite as smooth (reflective) as finished cloth. You can see that in the pictures.

Beyond that there is a distinct difference in feel, but not as much as one might expect from the word "hard". If I run my hand over the surface of the cloth it is noticeably rougher than, for example, my MacKellar Weathered (from Lochcarron), but not by much. It certainly doesn't feel "scratchy" at all, for example on my legs.

By the way, I was out your way in June on the way to Florida with my family. We had a great dinner (one of the best I've had in years) at the Hoffbrau Steakhouse. Everything we ate, and we ate a lot, was wonderful. I wish I could frequent the place, but it took us 4 1/2 hours to get there.

[Guinness>water]

Thanks for the description. I think I would like hard tartan in a kilt.
The Teasel raised tartan would make an awesome blanket, sleeping pants or wrap on cold days.

I wish I would have known you were coming through here, we could have met and eat with you. Houffbrau is a great place to eat! Did you have the Calf fries? They may call them Rocky Mountain Oysters, I caint remember. Anyway, those are very good there.

Next time you come through here, please, give me a haller.

[mookien]

I wish we could have shared a meal, too. I suspect the logistics would have been a bit difficult though. We left late on a Thursday afternoon, which put us into Amarillo quite late. In fact we were the last customers in the Haufbrau House that night. They closed up right behind us.

I don't recall seeing the calf fries on the menu, though I probably would not have ordered them anyway. I had a great steak recommended by the waitress - a sirloin, I recall, and we had some of the roasted vegetables which were fantastic, and all washed down with tankards of Haufbrau. We finished off with a wonderful dessert - a fruit cobbler. It was superb!

We got up early the next morning and drove to Shreveport via Wichita Falls. Maybe next time we can leave a little earlier and make arrangements to get together.

[Liam]

Great looking tartan and kilt, I like what you refer to as "matchy matchy". The sporran looks great if somewhat formal for the rest of the casualness of your outfit. Hope the craft beer was good!

Slainte ...Bill

[English Bloke]

Super looking tartan, great looking kilt. Nice one!!

[mookien]

Great looking tartan and kilt, I like what you refer to as "matchy matchy". The sporran looks great if somewhat formal for the rest of the casualness of your outfit. Hope the craft beer was good!

Slainte ...Bill

Bill: Thank you. You are correct about the sporran being too formal for the rest of the outfit. But, I wore it anyway, because I recently bought it from Rocky at a great price and wanted to show it off. And, the coyotes didn't seem to mind.

The craft beer and music (there was a live band) were very good, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. I got lots of looks, compliments, and questions about my kilted attire. Several folks assumed I was from Scotland. I told those who were more serious in their questioning about the XMTS forum.

John

[LitTrog]

Forget the shirt--I Lovat kilt! Can't help returning to your pics...don't know if it's your prettiness or the promise of yummy beers.


That coyote sporran--I'm not one to make a habit of questioning the wisdom of people demonstrably smardur than me, but it seems an odd niche to try to fill. But, hey, you human traffickers have to keep getting more and more creative, I suppose. Doesn't look nearly big enough, though.

[grizzbass]

great looking kilt. Beautiful area.