Redeeming Myself at Navajo Weaving

22 to 24 March 2026

 

I attended a Navajo weaving workshop last year in Tucson, and while I enjoyed it, I wasn’t very good at it.  This was my second weaving piece (as well as second class), and I made a lot of mistakes.  Not enough to throw the piece out, or to refuse to finish and leave the class as someone else did.  I’m not that much of a perfectionist.

But the two instructors ended up finishing my piece for me.  As a former teacher, I know that means I was really not doing a good job.  Perhaps even doing a bad job.  But it really is not a good sign when the teacher finishes the work for you because you’re working so slowly.

So I had to redeem myself.  At least in my own eyes.

Here’s the blog from the first Navajo weaving workshop:

https://rollingluggagers.blogspot.com/2025/04/navajo-weaving-workshop.html

The same two wonderful women were the instructors – they are sisters, from the Navajo nation, and come from a long line of weavers.  Fabulous teachers, and they include stories from their tradition as well as history as part of the class.  It makes for a fascinating three-day workshop!

On day one, we selected our yarn colors, and began by weaving the edge.  (In fabric it’s called the selvage, for you non-fabric-working readers.  Helps stabilize the piece.)  Wove about two inches, and during the lunch break we selected a traditional design and sketched it on graph paper.  As I explained in the 2025 blog, Navajo weaving is based in math and numbers – each square of the graph paper equals four warp (vertical) strings, or two overs and two unders in the weaving.

I added a stripe of midnight blue surrounded by a few rows of green and then pale blue on my turquoise background.  I actually have not only improved but sped up! I also brought my loom home with me so I could work on it a bit and not be the last one finished.  We each were making a "rug" (that's what our two instructors call them), about 6.5 x 8.5 inches.  I have some blue and teal green to use up, so bought a turquoise and a midnight blue balls of yarn.   (We weave in one ply, it compresses better when we use the beaters and so the warp threads don't show.)

On the second day, our main instructor, the famous Navajo weaver, showed us her family's collection of weavings, from her grandmother on through the current generation of her own children.  So, four generations of this family's weavings.  SO gorgeous, and so precise!  One looked like it was painted, although I kept thinking even when I paint I can't make lines that straight! Truly amazing!

As we were leaving that afternoon, the two instructors said we should try to have all but the last 2, 2.5 inches woven. Finish your design, add some more of the background. If you have a bottom stripe, add a top stripe. That way we'll be able to finish everything tomorrow.

I brought my loom home again, and spent my evening weaving.  Tiring but satisfying!

OH - just in case you were wondering - Navajo children receive a Navajo name when they are born, as well as an English name.  The names are usually in honor of an older (and maybe deceased) relative, so that names are often handed down within families.  I was chatting with our super weaver lady, and said I asked because Jewish children receive a Hebrew name as well as their English name.  And when we're called to do certain rituals in synagogue, we use our Hebrew name and then daughter of (or son of) and then our mother's or father's name.  She looked surprised and said that's what they do as well!  We agreed that human beings have very similar rituals, despite our ethnic differences or origins.

Day three, and yes, I had just about two inches to go!  Lovely weaving if I do say so myself, an icy pale blue, a dark midnight blue, and a teal green against a rich dark turquoise background.  All water colors, which is what I wanted.

Our chief instructor took out a few rows of weaving below my stripe, she said that way the horizontal stripes will match.  I have no idea how she could tell, because the yarn compresses as we go.  How can she predict exactly how much compression will take place?  I truly don’t know.

We all finished by the end of the day.  After taking the rugs off the loom, at the very end, the instructors fold each piece in half horizontally, then half lengthwise – and we each cut the four corner strings.  It's all very symbolic and has deeper meanings within Navajo culture.  Anyway, when the professional weaver folded mine, she looked at me and smiled, and said "oh, look! Good job!" – because my stripes above and below the central design lined up PERFECTLY!!!  I said something like wow, how did I do that?  She smiled more broadly and said "that's why I made you keep measuring!"  She and her sister are gifted teachers and story tellers, and she really is an incredible teacher. If we're back in Tucson next year, I'll take their class again. It really is fascinating to hear their stories and history, and as I said, I just like making art.  (The knots at the four corners of each rug represent the four cardinal directions.)

This year, when I pulled the Spider Woman string, I didn't get a whoosh of energy - but I did get an involuntary shiver. I'm telling you, it really is rather spooky!

In addition to my almost perfectly matched stripes, my sides are almost perfectly straight!  I did a LOT of measuring – every inch of weaving, we're supposed to measure the width to make sure we're not wobbling or changing size.  It's not easy to achieve the perfect balance of tight enough to not drift outward, but not too tight to pull the weaving inward.  Took me a while to get that balance.

I'm using the little rug for the penguin I got at the wedding last October.  I know, it's a little crazy.  But I have a small stuffed puppy from my childhood (his name is "Puppy," I probably named him at age 2 so I didn't have a lot of names) – but Puppy has always been with me, and now he hangs out with Pengy.  I figure they can have their own little weaving for them where they sit on the nightstand.

The design is a traditional Navajo design – or at least traditional from the tribe that our sister instructors are from.  The designs are based on squares – any Navajo design that includes diagonals is not traditional, these designs came from Navajo weavers being taken as slaves and forced to copy designs from Mexico.  (The sisters include components from their lives, and their tribes' history, in the class with all the technical instruction.)

When I look at the weaving, I see the deep turquoise waters of Antarctica.  The pale blue looks like ice floes or bergs, and the teal green looks like the islands of the Antarctic Peninsula.  My stripes look like waves or part of the current.  Perfectly apropos for a crocheted Adele penguin!  (Puppy is also very happy with his rug, but he stays on the islands.)