Then It Is Combed
With Hand Cards, - Small Flat Implements With Wire Teeth, Purchased From The
Traders.
(These and the shears are the only modern implements used.) The
dyeing is often done before the spinning but generally after.
The spindle
used is merely a slender stick thrust through a circular disc of wood. In
spite of the fact that the Navahos have seen the spinning wheels in use by
the Mexicans and Mormons, they have never cared either to make or adopt
them. Their conservatism preserves the ancient, slow and laborious
method. The Navahos live on a reservation which covers several hundred
square miles, extending along the northern borders of New Mexico and
Arizona where few travelers go. They do not live in villages or settlements
and their homes are so scattered that one may travel a whole day without
finding a woman at work with her loom. Day after day, however, one may see
the carding, spinning and weaving processes in the Hopi House at El Tovar,
where a little colony of Navahos is maintained.
Holding the spindle in the right hand, the point of the short end below the
balancing disc resting on the ground and the long end on her knee, the
spinner attaches the end of her staple close to the disc and then gives the
spindle a rapid twirl. As it revolves she holds the yarn out so that it
twists. As it tightens sufficiently she allows it to wrap on the spindle
and repeats the operation until the spindle is full.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 168 of 322
Words from 44417 to 44673
of 85893
