It Is One Of The Interesting Sights Of The Southwest Region To See A Flock Of Sheep And Goats Running Together, Watched Over, Perhaps, By A Lad Of Ten Or A Dozen Years, Or By A Woman Who Is Ultimately To Weave The Fleeces They Carry Into Substantial Blankets.

After the fleece has been sheared, the Navaho woman proceeds to wash it.

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. The spinning is done loosely or tightly, according to the fineness of the weave required in the blanket.

The quality and value of a Navaho blanket is governed largely by the fineness of the weave. The yarn in some of the cheaper qualities now made is often coarse and loosely spun, and the warp, or chain, which has much to do with the life of a blanket, may be improperly spun and of uneven strength. A blanket of a given size may be made in two weeks, or in four, or in two months, according to the quality of the work and the skill of the weaver. Next in importance to the fineness of the weave is the proper blending of colors. Though a woman may have the highest skill in her primitive art, she must take time to study out the color scheme for her blanket. These are the principal factors, but there are others which enter into the making of a blanket, and the finer the product of the loom the more difficult the work becomes.

There are still a limited number of very fine blankets made.

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