This sweater has a long story. In preparation for a September 2000 walking trip in "the Highlands and Islands of Scotland", I researched traditional island sweaters and wool and imported four fleeces from "The Hebridean Woolhouse" in Uist, Outer Hebrides to make two sweaters, one each for me and my travelling companion. She worked with me to prepare the fiber (and very strange fiber it is--the Hebridean sheep are an "unimproved" breed descended from sheep left in the islands by the Norsemen). I spun the fiber and completed most of this sweater before leaving. The rest was completed on the Isle of Skye (to the applause of tourmates)--back in the Hebrides. The second sweater, a cardigan, was started on the plane on the way back to Pennsylvania with yarn left from this one and completed in February 2001. The tartan skirt pictured here is the lovely Isle of Skye tartan, a length of which I purchased in a shop in Portree, Isle of Skye, and made up into the skirt upon my return.