Weavers Cottage Kilbarchan

WEAVER'S COTTAGE KILBARCHAN

	Our latest society meeting was held at the Weaver's Cottage in Kilbarchan instead of our usual venue at Elderslie Village Hall due to a special invite by Society member Chris. Chris has been weaving a blanket for the Burns Cottage in Alloway and she thought it would be a great idea for the Society to add a few threads to this particular piece of history but alas it was not to be as the blanket had been finished earlier on in the day, bugger! To make up for any disappointment we did however all contribute to some "rag rugs" that are also being made for the Burns Cottage in this year of "Homecoming" but more on that later. Chris and David welcomed us all to the cottage and were the perfect hosts, all society business was put on hold as it was decided that we should just enjoy our wee field trip to the max. Chris gave us a wee chat about the cottage itself and how it came to be in the National Trust's hands and the general history of the building itself. We then went downstairs to see the loom where Robert Burn's
blanket had been painstakingly made in the original style from ancient times, no modern dyes etc, everything done the way it was done by our forefathers, when you held the blanket you really felt the work that went into it, well at least I did, hard to explain but it sort of meant something to me, but I am a bit of a dreamer!! We then went upstairs and had some tea and coffee and quizzed Chris on the blanket and the time consuming process of making such a great item. After coffee we were put to work on the "rag rugs" and the men as well as the women all pitched in, thanks to some very clear instructions from David we were soon on our way to adding the society's contribution to the rugs. I was surprised at how easy it was although I only did about fifteen pieces myself I didn't under estimate the time and patience it would take to make a rug from start to finish, makes you realise just how lucky we are in this day and age although I think society could learn an awful lot from our forefathers. Time seemed to fly by and it was soon time to go, everyone seemed to have had a very enjoyable and informative evening and I for one was surprised at just how much I enjoyed it, on behalf of the society I would just like to thank Chris and David for a great wee night, thanks guys.

Chris our host for this evening lets us know what she's got planned for us all

*Chris explains how the blanket is made and what the design all means, fascinating*

*A close up of the blanket, the photo doesn't really do it justice*