Two Each Way

An authentic Harris Tweed pattern called Two Each Way. It is made by placing two threads of one colour next to two of another in both the base, i.e. the warp, and in the weft, the yarn that one weaves into the warp, just as the name indicates 'two each way'.

The woollen yarn I use is from an independent mill in Shawbost, one of the last independent old yarn mills in Harris, where the people make wool into yarn of all colours. They also make up ready to use 80 metre long rolls of warp, to set directly into the semi-automated Hattersley looms on which the crofters of the Outer Hebrides weave.

I made the warp for this weave on a big old wooden frame. You walk back and forth leading the yarn around some pegs, making as many metres as you need. Then the warp has to be wound onto a beam at the back of the loom. After that I am almost at the point where I can sit at the loom and weave some cloth. I love the various processes involved. But first one has to have an idea of the design and the pattern to be used and what the cloth is for.

Sitting at the loom weaving is the high point of the process, shooting one thread in after another. People ask me how long it takes, and I haven’t got an answer. What I think is that if you are able to sit and watch the tide going in and out, it's a lot like weaving, throwing that which holds the yarn across the loom to the other side and back again, and a cloth grows faster than one would think. The photo below is of a coat I made for myself. As I am rather sensitive to wool I use cotton velvet for the inner of the collar.

Suitable for coats, jackets, upholstery and more.

Of this tweed I have 37 1/4 inches x 15 yards (0.87 x 15 metres)