Following the sad news about Mr Fess Parker, I seem to be on a grade-school nostalgia trip today, but now I'm reminded of a story we practiced reading aloud on in those years: it was about a crofter family weaving Harris Tweed for the Prince of Wales- at the end of the process they all sat in a circle and tossed the fabric back and forth (or something, hey I was about 8), spending some several hours to soften it. That was one of the two British-based stories they exposed us to in elementary (grammar) school that was set anywhere north of London and perhaps for that reason it instilled in me a life-long respect for Harris Tweed. Whatever, I'll wager that degree of hand crafting is no longer practiced but it's a wonderful product. And it's been VERY hard to find since recent developments in Scotland.