Wednesday, June 25, 2025
A Third interview on Berks TV
A book talk in Fleetwood, Pennsyvania
Monday, May 19, 2025
Writing Changes: a New Title coming, hopefully this fall.
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.
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Memories. Linda and one-and-half year old Laura in Ruins Canyon in 1980. |
Sunday, July 21, 2024
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. |
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
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?