Eriskay - A Poem of Remote Lives (clip 2)

A film made by Dr Kissling during a sailing holiday and summer spent on the island. A woman shears a fleece by hand, then washes the fleece. There are shots over the crofts. The fleece is the laid out on rocks to dry. The crofters then scrape lichen, or 'crottle,' from the rocks for dye. The lichen is then boiled and the fleece added to the pot to colour it. We see the dyed wool removed from the pot, intercut with shots of fishing boats and their crew. We see the spinning wheels and the wool being carded and spun, and a woman winding a ball of yarn from a swaure frame before laying it round a series of pegs in the ground. A group of women then sit together to 'waulk' the tweed.