Virgin wool blanket houndstooth

The blanket uses a blend of fine Bluefaced Leicester wool and hard-wearing Masham to create a supple and, for British wool, unusually soft fabric. The muted colors of this in-house tartan design, reminiscent of a houndstooth pattern when viewed from a distance, are harmoniously coordinated. It's only on closer inspection that you realize that the stripes are themselves diagonally striped, as it were, resulting in the houndstooth-like pattern. Lochcarron normally uses the soft virgin wool blend and this tartan exclusively for fine scarves. Especially for us Lochcarron weaves a blanket from it, we offer it in two colorways.

Tartans belong to Scotland like single malt, bagpipes and kilts. The famous checked patterns originate in the Highlands in the north of Scotland. Patterns and colours initially varied regionally, presumably because the wool was dyed with plants, mosses and berries from the respective region. These differences later led to the assignment of specific tartans to particular clans. The Scots know of thousands of these patterns and have them registered in the Scottish Register of Tartans, founded in 2009. Lochcarron of Scotland has specialised in tartans since 1892. The repertoire of the weaving mill in Selkirk in Scotland’s south comprises over 600 different patterns. The weaving is done in the traditional way. Consider this a very time-consuming process because the individual stripes – the “setts” – of each tartan pattern are made from yarns dyed in the required colours. Besides, the weavers have to set up the loom for each tartan separately and ditto for each particular size of the woven piece. Setting up the looms is still done by hand. Warping, or setting up the warp beam, is particularly time-consuming: In this process, the weavers fasten the yarns running from many bobbins at both sides of the loom to form a warp of parallel warp threads of the same length. Lochcarron of Scotland weaves in addition to historical tartans such as Blackwatch or Royal Stewart a variety of new patterns and tweed fabrics. The weavers use new wool and soft lambswool, partly from British sheep breeds, and fine cashmere. The company has all the production steps carried out at the headquarters in Selkirk: from twisting and weaving on old traditional or modern looms to finishing and making up. Only spinning and dyeing takes place in Yorkshire, England.