http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mr0n9
I have been in the UK for the last two weeks so I got to see two of this series. I don't know what will be shown in the third episode but I was a bit surprised that they didn't show any of the weavers who were using non-approved yarns on traditional looms such as Breanish. I suppose they are not Harris Tweed and the series was specifically about Harris Tweed.
The choice of Donald Mackay as the spokesman of the weavers was interesting and probably due to his experience with the Surgical appliance order. The test run for that was 2,000m and I remember him wondering at the time if they knew he was just a shed on the beach! He had a lot of weavers working on that order...
The KM warehouse in the second episode is more spectacular in real life. I was considering getting a particular tweed made up and was told to go and have a look in the store and make sure it wasn't there. They also had jackets that had been made up for a German deal that had gone bad, there were a lot of people wandering around Lewis wearing those after that!
I had forgotten clean about the Carloway Mill, they had a somewhat dubious reputation at one point. Shawbost is probably the way forwards as I think the KM Mill is to big for the size of demand.
I noticed David from J.Press in the US scene.
Last edited by JohnL (2009-09-18 08:12:07)
I am looking forward to the final episode of the documentary. If you start doing Google searches on Harris Tweed, it would appear that many of those 75,000 or saw naff jackets are still available from the warehouse in North Yorkshire, but via several different tweed 'specialists.'
Arran whisky, one of those new whiskies that is superb. Since I've given up drinking whisky, I've lost a significant amount of weight, back down to size 34" waist. And it can only be the effects of whisky.
Why does it seem that the ol' Harry Tweed is being marketed as everything tisn't?
Well you can blame the Harris Tweed Authority, who leave us with the impression that its still an industry of crofters and that life on the islands is like something from Whisky Galore!
Nothing was ever able to be seen by outside countries. So annoying.