Harris Tweed
17 June 2014 | Isle of Lewis
Vicki
Tarbert is the center for the weaving of Harris Tweed. All the weaving must be done on mechanical, but not electrical, looms. There are around 400 weavers, the majority being men, and they have to do the weaving in their home, not in a commercial business. The Harris Tweed Association has rules that must be followed before any garment can wear a HTA label. We saw a woman demonstrating the use of the looms, the shuttle flies back and forth! We also visited one of the three mills that makes the thread for the weaving, Carloway Woolen Mills. The picture is the gentleman who runs the mill. He was demonstrating how they weave the patterns that they use as samples for marketing to businesses. Such lovely material, too bad I could not afford to buy some to ship home. We also made a stop at the Callanish Stone Circles, a place we visited last year.