Tartans

Way back in the mists of time, way before I had so much "junk in the trunk" I was an avid kilt wearer. In fact, I was fairly ga-ga over anything remotely to do with Scotland. I've said before how I am an Anglophile, and a Scandinaviaphile, but what I really am is a Scotlandaholic.

I first became wooed by Scotland when as a mere lass I read The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes, a Nancy Drew Mystery. After reading that I was hooked on anything to do with a country, that for me at that young age, was full of heather, Scottie dogs, bagpipes and tartans.

My standard outfit was a plaid skirt or kilt, a black or dark sweater, knee socks and penny loafers(with the pennies). Unfortunately a life time of financial constraints has not permitted me to visit Scotland, but hopefully I will get there in the future.

My head still turns whenever I see someone with what looks like a tartan on their person. I was noticing that tartans, and plaids in general, were featured in a quite a few of the holiday issues of some of the home magazines. I saw quite a few photographs of black and red tartans being used as tree skirts.

There are oodles of sites dedicated to tartans. Here, here is a link for the Scottish Tartans Museum, the House of Tartan, and an Index of Military Tartans, just to name a few.

Tartan is also known as plaid in North America, but in Scotland this word means a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder or a blanket. (quote from Wikipedia)I find it so interesting that clans, professions and different schools have their own tartans. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has always had the nickname of the Tartans and has a Scottie Dog as its mascot, all in homage to the school's founder Scot Andrew Carnegie.

My favorite tartan changes all of the time, but of late I have fallen for this tartan called Apache North Sea. It's a commemorative tartan.

"The Tartan describes the distinctive checkered pattern generally worked out in a woven material such as woolen cloth. Each particular pattern is known as a "sett". Such tartan material is a characteristically Scottish product. ..." Scottish Glossary