Father Sons and Friends Fan Appreciation Concert

I finally got around to downloading this picture from the camera.  I attended the Father Sons and Friends fan appreciation concert the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The show was in Tipp City, Ohio. This was their eight appreciation concert and unfortunately the last one. They may do another in a few years but for now this is it. I guess the only way to see them now is at Celtic fests and such. They put on a good show and it is a lot of fun.

This year I wore my dark green Stillwater Heavyweight kilt. At least it was warmer than last year. I don't think they heat that building. Last year I wore a light weight PV kilt and man was it cold. I think it was in the 20's (F) that night. There were a few others in kilts that night.

Growing Popularity of Kilts

I found this link about the growing popularity of kilts. While this article is from the UK it also follows on this side of the pond. I have noticed an increase in kilts in the US. Maybe not so much everyday but they have grown at Celtic fests, renaissance fairs and such. There is also a growing membership on kilt related web discussion sites. The kilts are out there and we just need to get men to realize they can wear them anywhere and not just at the Celtic fests.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/54b54ab2-e515-11de-9a25-00144feab49a.html

State Tartans

I was snooping around the Scottish Tartan Authority web site last night. There are a growing number of USA state tartans. I am not sure how easy it is to get them but they are registered. Here is the current list:


Arizona, Arkansas, States of Carolina, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaiian, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa (has two), Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota (has two), Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont (has two), Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

So you guys living or from those states get your kilts and get out in the world.

Making a Kilt Hanger

There are a number of ways to hang a kilt. I first tried to use the same hangers I use to hang p@nt$. Did not work too well as the grips did not have enough surface area or strength to hold a heavy kilt. I tried double hangers which worked but a little awkward. I had wooden hangers with a wide grip that could hold but it felt I was forcing the clamp on the thickness of the kilt. I liked the 4 grip hangers that were like my 2-grip hangers. Rather than buy them that way I found I could make them. I will now show you the process.


Go to Walmart and get their two pack suit hangers. They sell two types. One is the wide hanger (top to bottom) as shown in Figure 1. They also have a narrow hanger but I found it harder to work with and broke a few of them. Follow the steps below to complete the 4-grip kilt hanger.



Figure 1 – Walmart 2-pack Suit Hanger



Figure 2. Grasp the hanger and pull the rod out of the slot. Be careful not to bend and break the plastic or bend the rod too much. You will have to bend it a little. One side may be easier than the other. Once you get one end free don’t pull the rod out of the other side for the first hanger. Now do the same with the second hanger.



Figure 3. Pull both clamps off of the rod of the second hanger. These are spring loaded and when you pull them off they can come apart. Try to keep both sides of the clamp aligned to make it easier to put on the other rod. Thread the clamp on the rod of the first hanger but first look at Figure 4.



Figure 4. I apparently did not set the focus correctly as these macro shots are out of focus but you can see what is going on. When you thread the clamp back on make sure the rod goes through the clamp spring as shown.



Figure 5. With the four clamps in position carefully put the free end of the rod back into the plastic hanger. Be careful not to bend the rod too much or break the plastic. The second hanger is now surplus but don’t toss it out. Put the rod back into the slot and save it. I broke one of mine. The plastic is not that strong. The failure on mine was where the hook connects to the plastic. My hook pulled out. I have about ten of these now and one failure is not too bad.

Kilt Night

A small group of us get together in Columbus, OH every month or two for what we call kilt night. We meet somewhere for dinner then hang out for a few hours. There is an earlier post from a kilt night at The Pub Polaris. We tend to stay with the Irish or British establishments. Last night we started at an Irish pub for dinner then ended up at a non-Celtic bar as we wanted some live music. Well as you can imagine walking into a non-Celtic pub in kilts caught some attention. On the way in one of our members passed two young ladies maybe 25 years old. One of them made some wise crack about the "hot" kilt. It was obviously not a compliment. He ignored the comment and joined me at the front door.


We go inside and see the party had been going on for some time. The Ohio State - Michigan game was that day and some patrons had been there all afternoon. One rather intoxicated lady saw the kilts. She became quite curious about them. One member of our group answered her question with "Good girls don't ask, bad girls find out for themselves". Well that was an invitation if there was one so she proceeded to kilt check the four of us. Now she did ask permission first but normally when I have gotten kilt checked they are done from the side or back. Nope, not this time; up the front. She was not disappointed with what she found. She bought us all a beer.

So this was the ice breaker for some of the other ladies sitting to the left and right of us. One lady was surprised she did this. She had never heard of a kilt check and she was not aware of what is traditionally worn under the kilt. She asked why we would wear the kilt in the first place. She liked my answer: "If we were in jeans this conversation would not be occurring so kilts are a great conversation starter". She then compared us to some of the ladies that come into a bar in provocative dress and discover the attention they get is from men that are undesirable to them. She noted this was an interesting reversal implying that we were "provocatively dressed" in this case. She noted that while we were getting attention it was not from women that would have been our first choice. Interesting observation.

I would have like to have stayed longer that night but it is a 90 minute drive home for me when I go to Columbus. I pulled out around 11:30pm to head for home. Another very successful kilt night in Columbus.

I would like to find a core group in Dayton for kilt nights but have not been able to find the interest or ideal location.

Kilt on!

The Question

No, not "that" question. I have been asked several times if there is a convention in town. Someone sees a kilt and assumes there is an Irish or Celtic festival in town. Today the lady that asked me that question did so for a different reason. I was the second person she saw in a kilt within the hour. I was in a craft store at the time. She had just come from a cell phone store down the street. Someone was wearing a kilt. That is about the third time someone has commented about seeing others in a kilt around this town. The lady liked my kilt. She made the comment that it looked to be very "freeing". Now we all know what she meant by that!
In a previous post I made a comment about hearing giggles in response to my kilt. I was in a contemporary kilt at the time. Today I was in my Irish National from Stillwater Kilts. As I walked into an isle of the craft store a lady turned around and with a surprised look on her face when she saw the kilt. I left the isle and came up the other side. Two other ladies joined the first. They were making some wise crack about the kilt. They apparently did not know I was on the other side of the isle. I was tempted to swing back around into their isle just to see what new expression I could catch on their face.

Speaking of that prior post, I did not go back to the movie theater as planned. I decided to wait until the next round of movies were released yesterday. I plan on going back on Tuesday as they have a discount that night.

Kilt on!

Anohter Kilt Blog

I found another kilt blog named "Henry's blog about kilts". 

http://blankets-and-kilts.blogspot.com/