Great recent vid here about the weaving of Harris Tweed; touching on island life as well and not too sentimental. We meet some workers in the mill, a darner and a few weavers including Mike Donald of The Harris Tweed Ride fame. With some supreme planning may be visiting these guys in the late summer...
For those just joining...
“Harris Tweed means a tweed which has been hand woven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides [of Scotland -ed.], finished in the islands of Harris, Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra and their several purtenances [The Outer Hebrides, Scotland] and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.” -via The Harris Tweed AuthorityHarris Tweed (or Clo Mhor in Gaelic meaning the big cloth) is the Champagne of tweeds, figuratively and in a legal-ese sense, in that the name can only be used for this specific product that meets the geographical standard as above. Around 95 per cent of Harris Tweed production is from the mills and weavers of Harris Tweed Hebrides (HTH) in Shawbost (on the Isle of Lewis).