News

A part of the Rio Grande weaving tradition that goes back to Spanish Colonial times is called jerga.  Historically, jerga was woven as a utilitarian fabric, used as a tarp, or carrier, or for wrapping things up.  It was strictly a wool textile.  Someone with wealth might demonstrate that by putting jerga down as a floor covering.  It was woven in long strips and cut and seamed to make a piece of fabric of the desired size.  And many of the jergas that survived to the present are very large. The Spanish Colonial jerga was woven on four-harness looms using...

The five thousand or so churro sheep that came to New Mexico with Coronado’s expedition in 1540 were too valued as food to these original settlers to survive and become established flocks in the new territories. New Mexico proved to be a hospitable place for churro, and the sheep thrived to become an important part of the Spanish colony’s economy. Wool in an unprocessed form would be too difficult to transport (other than on the backs of sheep) to be of value as a trade item. Blankets, however, were in great demand by surrounding trading partners, and by 1840, records...

    Irrigating the blossoming apple trees in the orchard. Spring weather in New Mexico is seriously iffy.  We get a lot of wind.  We get late frosts that kill stuff we have high hopes for, like apricot blossoms and lilacs.  Sometimes we even get some precipitation, rain or snow or sleet or hail…whatever it is we’re grateful for it.  And once in a while a Chimayo spring day feels magical.  Last Saturday morning was one of those days.  Or at least a for a couple of hours there was magic on Saturday morning.  After these pictures were taken the...

Okay.  Everything here is about this topic.  But, since we are talking about other processes we engage in to create our weavings, we need to let you know something about how we actually weave.  And I will have to assume that you, my reader, doesn’t already know all about weaving. Fortunately, the weaving that we do isn’t really all that difficult to explain.  In fact, what we do is called a plain weave.  It sounds simple because it is.  It uses only two harnesses to produce, with the weft yarn simply passing over one warp thread and under the next...

  Lisa spinning on her 80’s era Louet spinning wheel. There are probably web sites out there that could tell you a great deal about spinning wool. In case you are unfamiliar with the craft, and, in modern times this is largely the case, I will impart my limited experience here. Although I have spent countless hours at my wheel, I am not formally trained in spinning. I currently spin at a Shacht Ladybug spinning wheel, and never ply my handspun. I am able to spin different thicknesses of wool, although a very thick yarn is difficult for me at...

Marriage is supposed to be a big transition in life. Mine definitely was. I went from being a college student to being a; graduate, wife, entrepreneur, and weaver. All in roughly a week. I was 20 years old and there was enough family drama that the enormity of that transition didn’t really occur to me at the time.  But really, my life is easily divided by before and after.  And really, it’s because that week, I became a weaver. Since people ask where I grew up all the time, I usually tell them I came from Southern California.  I lived...