Visit toTierra Wool

We left Taos Valley RV Park and played follow the leader through beautiful Scenery towards Chama. After about an hour on a narrow two lane winding road we arrived at the charming rural town of Los Ojos, NM where we were to tour the Tierra Wools. It is a “Grower/Spinner/Weaver Owned Company” which was started in 1982 by 8 original members and now employs 25 local weavers and spinners. That year they were featured in New Mexico Magazine and have been growing since.
By the 1950’s there were few local Spanish weavers left and the old Spanish Churro sheep that were originally introduced to the area were almost extinct. During the 1930’s the government had introduced more desired breeds of sheep that corrupted all but a few of the churro that were kept on outlying private ranches. During the 1970’s interest began to revive among local entrepreneurs who focused on creating a way to make the local art of weaving into something that could provide an outlet and an income for weavers. They worked to restore the Churro sheep whose wool is excellent for weaving because it is long, coarse and nearly lanolin free and is not crimped. Now, local ranchers raise sheep that produce the wool for the weavers. Each sheep is sheered only once a year after cold weather is gone. Only about 20% of the wool is spun and dyed locally. Most of it is sent to Pennsylvania and Vermont for processing. Of the wool that is spun and dyed locally, part is dyed with local plants such as Curly Dock, Cota, Chamisa, & Yeradela Neguita. Cochio, Indigo and Matter Root are purchased from Colorado. The original plant is boiled in water for an hour with bundles of wool which are then taken out and hung on rods to cool and dry. The rest of the local died wool is done with commercial dying products. Lupe (Valdez) who was our instructor on the art of dying uses only Churro wool for hand dying. She starts with 4 lbs of fresh plant material per 1 lb of fresh wool. The dye can be used over and over for dying, each use creating a lighter outcome. As an example when she purchases Cochino, it costs her $80 per pound, but she will end up with about 40 pounds of dried yarn ranging from a deep rich red to a pale rose pink.
Sofia who was our guide through the weaving process said that it takes about 6 lbs of yarn to create a 4 X 6 rug. She introduced us to Nancy who demonstrated the weaving process with both a hand bobbin and a larger spinning wheel. She then led us through the weaving process from stringing the warp onto a loom using the dummy warp which pulls the actual warp onto the loom, through filler strands which even and flatten the warp, to the stretcher which maintains an even edge to the rug. After this process, which is the most critical part of weaving is finished, the actual rug is started with about ½” header before starting into the rug colors. At the end, a finisher will complete it using this header. Some weavers weave in row designs which are done using a shuttle to run the yarn back and forth across the rug. More experienced weavers do tapestry designs which require running yarn through small sections of warp by hand to achieve the desired design.
Tierra Wools currently is a work area for weavers who also weave at home if they desire and a sales outlet for their products. The weaver we spoke to was doing a tapestry style rug and said that when it sells, she will earn the equivalent of $15 per hour for her work. They also have a web site where people can order rugs. They also have a week long camp where someone can go to learn to weave or spin or die wool. Each year at the end of April they have a fair where local weavers and spinners display and sell their goods.
After lunch we resumed our journey into Chama where we stayed at the Chama RV Park. We enjoyed wine and hours d oeuvres as we waited for the train to cross the bridge over the Chama river. We will be on this train tomorrow. Later in the evening we went to dinner at the Elks Lodge for a traditional bbq dinner.