Making a replica of the Orkney Hood was a intriguing and to say the least a challenging piece of research (illus 8 ). The discovery of the new method of tying warp yarns to loom weights will be a method I will always apply when weaving with weights. In hindsight it seemed a logical way to spread the weight load on a loom, yet I have not seen this method applied at other textile research centres. The conclusion that there were four different spinners producing wool for the woven cloth and that it was a result of these varying thicknesses that the weaver adopted the erratic chevron stripes is fascinating. It took 35 hours to spin the yarn for the twill fabric and 30 hours to weave it, that is once one knows its particular idiosyncrasies. The deduction that the hood maker had re-cycled the woven cloth and the fringed broad tablet band to make a hood for a child I feel is a compelling hypothesis. Also that the hood maker did himself or herself make the narrow band to fit the cut hem is also a valid assumption as the spinning and weaving of this band took just 12 hours. When one compares the narrow band with its six tablets to make a 2 cm wide band, with the fringed tablet band needing 50 tablets to make just 6 cm it really does emphasize the enormous disparity of skills required. Due to the fine quality of the black yarn in the broad band it took 77 hours to spin the yarn for the band and the fringe and 68 hours to weave it. The care taken by the hood maker to utilize these old garments to make a new article of clothing disguising the fringe length short fall at the back where it would not be noticed is endearing. The fringed tablet woven band was undoubtedly from a very high status garment; the fineness of the black threads and the addition of the extra yarn to make the fringe heavier add weight to this theory.

I suggest that this is a wonderful example from the archaeology of Iron age Orkney of the recycling of resources in the desire to make a garment for a child from the remains of two old yet cherished pieces of textile.