One of those 'I remember when' blogs...

The Admiral and I checked out Santa Fe, NM in about Sep 2003. We liked it, found a house and bought it, returned to San Francisco, packed everything, sold her house, then moved to Santa Fe in Dec 2003. 

I had reason to be reminded of that time in Santa Fe in a WhatsApp conversation with a friend who is traveling way-far South of the USA in the most Southern part of Chile. I saw a photo on Michael's blog of a restaurant owner (below) wearing a unique vest.

The owner's vest caught my eye immediately.

That little vignette centers around what I take to be a vest assembled from hand woven wool fabric triggered a recollection of times gone by. Over 20 years earlier...

The Admiral has been a knitter a very long time before we met. When we were new to Santa Fe she was on the hunt for wool for a knitting project. One of the places we visited in that search was Miriam's Well in Santa Fe. Miriam had a pretty good selection of yarn but off to the side was a loom for weaving. I asked Miriam about it and got hooked on the idea of taking lessons from her on weaving. The project was interesting enough that I bought a loom through Miriam (it was made by Leclerc in Quebec, Canada). 

Weaving fabric was OK (I made Christmas gifts that first year) but on a drive North of Santa Fe to (I think!) Chimayo, NM we came across a shop selling fabrics and hand woven rugs. The owner had an old home-made loom for weaving those rugs. Those rugs really grabbed me!

Then in early 2004 we took a ride up thru Chama, NM... just South of the Colorado border on US-64. On the way we poked around in a tiny town just South of Chama named Los Ojos. 

A little S of Chama, NM near the village of Los Ojos, NM

There was a large store there named Tierra Wools selling locally woven goods- fabric, rugs, place mats, whatever. If it was made from wool, they had at least one of it. Then I spotted the very large back room which was filled with looms for weaving.

Tierra Wools in the old location in Los Ojos, NM

Turns out they offered lessons on weaving and that grabbed me. I immediately wanted to sign-up. Plus they had a small apartment they rented to students taking lessons so we could have a place to stay for the week-long class. I signed up and a short while later got busy learning. 

My project was a small rug of my own design...

Done and dusted!

Getting started on the rug

My instructor at Tierra Wools in Los Ojos, NM (sadly I've forgotten her name).

All a very long time ago. Apparently Tierra Wools has moved from tiny Los Ojos, NM to a new building just South of the larger town of Chama, NM. It appears to be a ranch with a large building that may be for wool sales and maybe lessons. Dunno.

Tierra Wools new (to me!) location on the South side of Chama, NM on US-64/-84 (see map above)

For me, weaving went away after I finally admitted that it killed my back thanks to my terrible posture. I really enjoyed weaving but finally had to admit I wasn't doing the work because it was too painful.

And that makes me realize those photos I've seen of Navajo weavers all showed women with ramrod straight posture. Photos of me at the loom show my usual slumped posture. Aaarrrggh! Maybe the vertical orientation of their weaving is the secret... ?? Or more likely they're made of tougher stuff!

Linda Nez working at her loom... a really complex design

 

I believe this was taken at Hubbel Trading Post in Ganado, AZ

Another image from the web of a traditional weaver