I resisted wool for the longest time! I said to myself, said I, that "surely" we had come up with better options than to slavishly emulate the way they had done things in the past. I said to myself, "surely" we have come up with better materials for kilting than "ye olde school" worsted wool.

Gents, I don't apologize for thinking that way . . . but I'm starting to conclude that I was wrong.

I like PV. When I say "PV" I really mean "PV by Marton Mills" because that's what I've got experience with---and good stuff it be, too! I've got three USAK kilts in PV, and a philabeg from the Celtic Croft. Each of them gets good solid use, particularly in our nasty muggy Houston summers.

I may have thought that "surely" we can do better than worsted wool----but my beloved USAK casual Farquharson lost a fight with a cigarette at a pub one night. It's got a burn hole in the over apron that is, fortunately, covered by a sporran hanging only a bit low.

But I remember the cigarette falling (not from my hands) and hitting the apron . . . and how quickly I knocked it loose. And I look at the hole---probably 7mm. And I think about wool, and how wool just don't want to burn.

And I think about the high-tech gear my buddy Jared was wearing, over in Iraq, deployed with his teufulbuddies. And I think about how they're awaiting issue of new FROG gear . . . (Flame Resistant Outer Garb or Garments or maybe even Gear.) With IEDs, there was a danger that the manmade fabrics would melt and stick to skin.

IEDs aren't a major issue in my life. But the older I get, the more I look around and think, "hmm, worsted wool hangs well, is flame resistant, is pretty, breathes well . . . maybe them fools knew what they were doing after all."