Kilt Blog

Yesterday I was in the local grocery store. It is a busy store in a fairly small town and it is not unusual to say hello to people you know. Even strangers are generally friendly and talkative. Every now and then someone, almost always a woman, does comment upon my kilt. But, this was different.

I was standing in the health-food aisle and a young woman exclaims loudly, “Oh my god! Is that a Utilikilt?!?”. “Yes it is,” I answered, and added that it was very comfortable and I really like them. “That’s great, I am so glad you are wearing it,” she said. So far, a little more animated than most, but nothing too loud, not yet making a scene. Then she says, very loudly so that people can hear aisles away, “There is nothing sexier than a man in a skirt!”

I thanked her, and I think perhaps even blushed a little bit. I didn’t berate her for calling it a skirt.  I was quite flattered, really. I am not usually someone unknown young women call sexy in front of dozens of strangers.

It has been too long since I have reviewed anything, so here is a sporran review. I bought this Buzz Kidder Celtic Knot Day Sporran with my Ramsey Casual from USA - Kilts last year. I have since worn it a couple dozen times. I previously blogged about the bloody chain that came with it damaging a cheap acrylic kilt.

Unlike that chain, however, this sporran is well made, works well, and is a good value. I paid $55, which is fair enough for a quality leather day sporran. It is ample in size, and closes with a strong magnetic clasp. I can easily fit more in this sporran than in a pair of trouser pockets, it will hold my phone, wallet, keys and even a few additional essentials that I occasionally need to carry.

The leather is heavy enough that it should last a lifetime, however it was a little stiff when new. The pewter celtic knot adds a stylish touch. The sporran hangs well, and is comfortable to wear. One minor disappointment, however, is that I must use two hands to close it, one to lift the front edge of the sporran and the other to move the flap down in to place. The magnet holds closed with a small post that actually carries a significant amount of the weight, this I presume, is the reason I need to lift and align the sporran part of the closure.

Overall: A-

Quality: A

Comfort: A-

Value:A-

Include Chain: Avoid using it

.

.

Utilikilts were recently featured on boingboing.net because of their unique and humorous “license agreement” for customer submitted photos and emails. We all know these “agreements” which go almost universally unread. Utilikilts made theirs funny enough to want to read. It says, in part:

I grant the Utilikilts Company LLC full rights to use the entire contents of this email for any purpose whatsoever, until the end of the universe. I understand that the Utilikilts Company LLC might use the text and images enclosed in this email on their web site, in printed or online marketing materials, or as a target on the dartboard in the executive bathroom, and I am fine with that.

Boing Boing is an extremely popular blog, and has twice won the Bloggies as ‘Weblog of the Year’. The author of the post, science fiction author Cory Doctorow, also revealed that he owns and sometimes wears a Utilikilt.

Why, a flaming hot wicker basket of course!

This 156 foot tall inflatable Scotsman balloon has a kilted volume of 120,000 cubic feet. With Mont Blanc in the background it flew over an estimated 20,000 Swiss gathered at the International Balloon Festival in the Swiss village of Chateau d’Oex.

The giant kilted balloon was the brain child of Muir Moffat, 69, who has been ballooning for 21 years. “And being 110 per cent Scottish, I thought it would be fun to have a balloon like this. It’s meant to look like me. What do you think?”, he said.

A while back I blogged a photo of a kilted motorcycle rider. I was a little surprised because most motorcyclists I know are really really anal about “all the gear all the time”, and indeed I have read a dozen newstories about motorcycle accident because a lot of bikers come to New Mexico in the summer. Still I was far more surprised when I was surfing kilt photos on flickr and found a slew of riders wearing the kilt.

• Parade-69 Kilted Biker (pictured)
• Kilted Biker with saltire flag cape
• Kilted Biker on Yellow BMW
• Kilted Biker in the Rain
• Kilted Rider on a Trike
• Kilted Bikers at a Euro Rally
• Kilted Rider on the Grass
• Kilted Motorcycle Ride
• Kilted Ride Rider
• Bodhi Kilted on BWM
• Kilted Riders in Glasgow

I found this funny poster the other day on X Marks The Scot.

I was browsing through kilt photos on flickr and ran across this excellent photo from Kilted Eric of the Podcast - This Kilted Life.

I have received several requests, including one from the bride, to include another picture from the wedding I recently officiated. This is me posing with the groom. Here, we can easily see the inherent superiority of celtic dress, compared to saxon attire

I will say, however, that the saxon clothes are certainly more stylish than a groom’s typical wedding outfit.

Also, I have been asked to perform another wedding in late Spring! It now sounds like I have an excuse to buy a nice wool clergy tartan 8-yard kilt. That’s what I’ve told my wife at least.

I saw this recipe for a mixed drink called a “Velvet Kilt”. I sounds far nicer than an actual kilt made from velvet, which is what I first thought the link was.

On Winter Solstice I officiated my Neo-Pagan Church’s first wedding. I know the bride and groom quite well, and they asked me to wear a kilt. I had planned to get a cheap acrylic Clergy tartan, but they didn’t want me to buy anything just for the ceremony, so I instead wore a Stillwater Kilts Heavyweight Wool in Blackwatch. This was an excellent choice, it has been a cold and heavy winter in Northern New Mexico, and the ceremony was down several miles of unplowed, snow covered roads where I got briefly stuck in a Land Rover. Still the wedding was great fun, and all the more so for being kilted.

My lovely wife, who just make me the “knucks” fingerless gloves in these pictures, let me splurge on a slightly used Utilikilts Workman’s kilt for the holidays. It arrived yesterday. I should note that the temperature outside was in the single digits (fahrenheit) with a bitter wind, so I am wearing long-johns and heavy wool hunting socks. Subjectively the kilt is warmer than cargo-pants, given the same other clothing.

The kilt was advertised was having been worn for a week-long festival, and was obviously used but in good condition. It saved me enough money to make it worth buying used, though the used utilikilt market on eBay offers surprisingly strong resale prices.

The first thing I noticed when putting it on was that it curls the pleats, just as my UK Demin does. The second was that the fit, for the same size, was exactly the same. The third, was that the pockets were somehow smaller. I love my other UK’s huge pockets, which are squared off at the bottom, but here they were cut diagonally, which pushes all my pocket stuff together, but gives a more pleasing aesthetic. Living well outside of normal police patrols, I often carry a S&W J-frame in my UK’s pockets. It fits comfortably in the UK Workman’s pockets, so I suppose I am happy enough.

I was surprised by the construction of the hammer loop. It is a strip of leather which attaches with snaps, for adjustment, to the inside of the inner apron. I wonder about the practicality of that, basically one must reach up under his kilt to adjust it… at least I live out in the boonies where this wouldn’t offend anyone who might one day be close enough to see.

Of course, the outside of the pockets have handy miniature pockets, as with many toolbelts. These snap down for flexibility and are nicely sized for the various screwdrivers, etc, which I might need to carry while working in my kilt. It also features “modesty snaps” for the shy to bifurcate on ladders and roofs. I suppose, if one must, they could be useful, however they do make the kilt look and feel like a bizarre pleated diaper (pictures intentionally not included).

Overall I like this kilt better than my UK Denim or Original, but I do start to wonder about the value. The retail price of the UK workman is current $225, making it seem an expensive garment to wear doing construction. The savings from buying on it eBay make that a bit easier, and oddly so does the fact that its already used. The material is the same as is used in carharts, and should wear well, even with heavy use. I’m not sure that I could work sans tool-belt all of the time in this kilt, but surely I could most of the time. Its also certainly more fashionable that the Denim or Original, and for some that I a primary concern.

Overall: B+

Service: N/A

Quality: A-

Comfort: A-

Value:B+, would be lower if I’d paid full price

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Today I was shopping for groceries at my local health-food store while wearing my UK Original. Even though we got nearly a foot of snow during a recent storm I am still wearing my kilts.

A middle-aged woman swoops out of the vitamin aisle, and quite loudly says, “Oh I love your Man Skirt! I think they are so hot…”. Clearly she meant it as a compliment, so I just said thanks.