The raw material! This little fellow is hand-reared and responds to a call.
The work in progress - all 1400 plus warp threads are tied individually by hand.
A close-up of the twill on the loom. It is checked throughout the weaving process for any thread breakages.
And the man himself: Mr. John MacLean of Garynahine Harris Tweed who very kindly welcomed us into his weaving shed and took the time to explain the whole tweed-making process to us, even letting us have a go on the loom (so a tiny area of that cloth was made by me!). These are his lambs, by the way, as he is a crofter as well as a weaver.
Mr. MacLean sells to Savile Row, but his tweed is also available through a local co-operative, where a bouquet of tweed flowers [see the end of that article] was recently made for Her Majesty the Queen.
(More of the finished product later).
