Writing Changes: a New Title coming, hopefully this fall.

An update for my many supporters and followers. The Bad news: I have used Blurb as my printer/publisher of choice for three of my fiction titles: Taken Beyond the Ohio—The Indian Captivity of Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger, Beetle—the Autobiography of a Virtual Girl, and Forbidden Games. All three titles have been well-received and reviewed. However, most of the sales have been through my own efforts and local contacts. Sales through Ingram have been disappointing. As a result, Blurb plans to remove these titles from the Ingram catalog sometime in June. I will be able to reinstate all three of these titles, but it does mean I have to do a better job of promoting. All are good reads, so if you have not read any of these, take a look and help by purchasing or recommending to others. You can find descriptions of all three titles below in earlier entries to this blog. The Good News: I have a new contemporary novel under contract with Headline Books. If you are wondering where my renewed interest in weaving came from, it is because part of my latest novel takes place on the Navajo Indian Reservation, or, as they prefer, the Dinéh or Diné Nation. It is a a murder mystery/thriller, but also, more important, a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl discovering a past she did not know about. I will share more information when we are closer to the publication date.

A third rug woven in the Navajo style

 In April I completed my third rug. It is the largest one I have attempted yet. The larger size and the need to put in the shuttle stick twice for each row of weft slowed me down. I also found the umbrella rib useful. This rug came out quite different. Still within the Navajo tradition, but unlike a
ny others I have seen. Still lots of mistakes, but the weaving is tighter and the lines sharper.

Running weft between the warps.

 

 

 

 

 

Rug complete and ready to come out of loom.

 

 

 

 

Memories. Linda and one-and-half year old Laura in Ruins Canyon in 1980.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A second Weaving in the Navajo tradition

 In April, 2024, I started my second weaving project. This time I went with a larger size 24 inches by 38 inches. Two feet wide is about as wide as the tools and the loom I have can manage.

I finished the new rug on July 15th. I had a hard time controlling the width (too wide in the middle) and the length is off as well. Color changes proved to be a problem in the early stages but the second half looks clean. Over all I am pleased with the way the design came out. May think about a new project when the weather gets cooler. Please understand that what I am doing is not "Navajo Weaving" since I am not Navajo or Diné. I just weave using the Navajo technique.

Working at the loom.

Mostly done, June.

Finished. Ready to come out of the loom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Small Weaving

Sadie Curtis working the big loom at Hubbell's Trading Post in Ganado, 1979

Between 1978 and 1980, my family and I lived in Ganado, Arizona—in the heart of the Navajo Indian Reservation (Diné Nation). I worked as a librarian at the College of Ganado. In the spring of 1980, my wife took a course at the college in Navajo weaving. 

Building a loom

 I built her a loom and she wove a small Ganado-style rug approximately three feet by two feet. We bought a lot of yarn, including hand-spun warp. Linda roamed the hills gathering local plants

Linda gathering juniper berries for dye

and she dyed white yarn to have a sampling of vegetable-dyed colors as well as greys, black, white and red.

Linda at the loom, 1980

All this got put on hold when we left Ganado and moved east for a new position in July 1980. 

 

Tapping in weft.

Fitting in the last rows of weft.

Linda's finished rug. Simple, but beautifully woven.

Still, we never threw any wool or tools away. This past winter, as I became active in the Navajo rugs Facebook discussion group, I recalled the loom we still had stored in a barn and the many yarns stored in a box and flour sack.

 

 

 

Weaving tools brought from Arizona and saved for 44 years.

Yarns saved, some with labels indicating the plants used for dyes.

 I hate to have anything go to waste. I decided to make a weaving of my own. We brought the loom up to our house and framed a small rug approximately 13 by 23 inches. I wanted to start small. I also decided that a small effort would allow the use of the vegetable-dyed yarns that we had small samples of. I began weaving in early January and confined my efforts to two hours each morning when the sun shone best on the loom and my eyesight was fresh. I had a rough design worked out in my mind and on graph paper, but nothing turned out as I thought. I found that weaving on a small scale is probably as hard or harder than working on a larger piece. 

 

Warping the loom

Warping in place.

Tying in the edges.

First few rows of weft in place.

I found that maintaining straight lines was harder than I thought.

The loom all ready for weft.

I knew it would not be easy, but every step proved harder than I thought it would be. I cannot remember how many times I had to backtrack, take out and redo lines of weft to correct mistakes.

Ready to come out of the loom

The finished rug. Raven and Turtle

I now marvel at how perfect Linda’s first effort turned out with smooth, flawless lines and how crude, rough and strange my own rug came out. But I learned a lot. The greatest wisdom might be knowing that weaving is just as hard or harder than I thought. My respect and admiration for the weavers who create beautiful tapestries of wool has grown even more. In a another few weeks when my back and shoulder have fully recovered, I might be ready to try again. This time it will be a wee bit larger, the design will be worked out in advance but I will still take my time. I am 78, but why not learn a new skill and practice a new hobby—at least until the yarn runs out?

my writer's personal website is on line.

Check out my personal website at Any comments welcome.

New novel coming next month.

 

Available September 2021

Wes' newest novel:

 

Forbidden Games

 

Sexual abuse and volleyball form the backdrop to a story about parental greed and lies as a teenage boy and a girl with a shared past fight for their own independence and truth.

 

YA contemporary romance that will appeal to both male and female readers.

 

260 pages, from Hemlock Lodge Press.

 

 

 

 

Order
via Ingram or Amazon.

Eugene Highlanders in competition 1982

 Back in 1977 while studying for my masters in librarianship, I discovered the local bagpipe band, the Eugene Highlanders. Here was a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. I had started studying the pipes back in 1963 as a freshman in college, but let the opportunity go. I would not give up on this second chance. I took lessons with the Pipe Major, Hector Smith, a Canadian-born lawyer who gave lessons for free if you joined the band. It was a wonderful experience and gave me a solid foundation that I used to build a musical career, first as a soloist, then Pipe Sergeant with the Cairngorm Pipe Band, then as Pipe Major for the Hawk Mountain Highlanders, a position I hold to this day.

    Hector was patient, careful and always ready to help. I kept in touch with him for many years. In 1982, while working as a naturalist at Olympic National Park, I had an opportunity to attend the Portland Games and watch and record the Eugene Highlanders in competition. I do not remember how they did, but they sounded and looked sharp.

Hector Smith, Pipe Major

Band warming up.

Hector listening to pipes while Pipe Sergeant tunes.

Playing in the competition circle.

March off after competing. The young woman in the center is Maggie Thorpe (maiden name). She was a student of Hector's at the same time I was, and we got to know each other pretty well. I doubt any pipe band uses that small a bass drum anymore.