McLeod of Lewis

Day 243: The weaving of my tartan shawl has finally begun. This is McLeod (MacLeod) of Lewis, aka "the loud McLeod," which I am entitled to wear only thanks to a bit of shady family history. There was a dalliance between my grandfather's mother and a passing McLeod, unearthed when Grandpa visited Scotland in search of his true lineage. He knew that his legal father was not his biological father, but as to how he discovered the link to the McLeods (as it is spelled in our line) is something I do not know. In any event, this is our tartan, and the shawl is something I have wanted to weave for a very long time. For that reason, I have been diligently working my way through a number of difficulties, notably having to change the sett from 36 to 30 in order to obtain a 50/50 weave. Even now, it's hard to get a clean shed because the wool is "grabby," and this is further complicated by the fact that my longest shuttles are only 24" and the piece is 30" wide. I keep reminding myself, "It's a shawl. It's six feet long. It's not like you're weaving eight yards of it. You can get through this if you're patient." That said, it's slow going, but I'm a McLeod, and am nothing if not determined. After all, that's our motto: "Hold fast."