Trip to Scotland 1983: Four and half months in the Highlands and Islands

[DCampbell16B]

40p phone
35p bus
£1.10 lunch
£26.00 sweater

Phone A MacLeod from Leurbost

Brown - crotal
Lt Brown - Rockport
Blue - indigo - chemical
Green - indigo - chemical
Finished tweed rewarded

Layer lichen bottom of pot
Fleece
Lichen
Sandwiches
boil madly 4 hrs open top(?)

Rewarped loom. She is only one while does the whole thing from spinning to washing. She works[?] self, so only makes 10yd pieces, as anything larger cannot he handled. Want to see nephew Alistair Campbell who has shop in Plockrapool (Tha mi a'dol a Phlockrapool). Aran knit sweater £26. Navy blue only. Sound try Mrs. MacKen(unclear) Main St Stornoway. Ate lunch. Caught van (grocery) and got Caribon(unclear) and Abernethy biscuits [for Americans, and maybe others, they are slightly smaller than what we refer to as English muffins. But otherwise exactly the same.]
Went back as she was wishing tweed. Wellies stomping in a wooden tub. Then she took it into a small hut and waulked for 1½ hours. Had tea, heard stories. Ols ladies uses to slap younger girls (interspersed) if they didn't get hands high enough [I think I meant the girls were interspersed between to the older ladies]. Used to do 60-70 yards w/ 6-8 women so took same amount of time [1½ hours]. Did half the tweed at a time and marked ½ with a string. Girls would move the string to make the time last longer. Sometimes in winter if the tw÷s wasn't shrinking (cold) the men would think nothing of helping. Didn't take a picture, would have ruined things. 1½ hours thumping. Could imagine old days. But other boys would stand around outside the window and call to hurry up w/ tweed. Walked from Plockrapool to Stockinish. Ate and played football with local boys. She can weave 10 yards in same day if loom warped and shuttles filled before she starts in the morning.

[When I got to her house, the door was open, so I poked my head in. It turned out the door was open because only her brother was there and he was extremely deaf and could not hear a knock. He was in a recliner across the room and when he saw me he let out a stentorian roar "A' Mairaid!!" It was the fist and only time I have heard a yell so loud. I think it is the first time I've used that phrase in a sentence. Anyway, Marion came in from the back and invited me around to the shed. I do not need a picture to remember standing in the door and watching her beat that tweed on the walking board.

The notes above on dying colors were from what she talked about.

While I was there the grocery van came around and she had to stop to get groceries. They were going on in Gaelic and I could catch just enough to hear her talking about winning g the tweed competition the day before.

I finally bought a sweater from a roadside shed. The lady came out from the house to show me what she had. I bought brown Aran knit of local yarn. £26. I still have it. She also had kilt hose dyed yellow with local plants, £4, which I did not get.]