This beautiful Chimayo blanket was woven by an elder weaver of the Ortiz family in Taos, NM for my mother in 1959. She asked for a traditional pattern instead of the fancier and more brightly colored patterns that were appearing as part of a new tourist industry. The blanket he wove for her was an old pattern of thin stripes of natural wool and a bit of color from a dyed indigo stripe. It is so wonderfully soft and the stripes are so perfectly woven. It was damaged a number of years ago, but a terrific weaver in Tucson, Matina Garbotz did an amazing job of restoration and it is impossible now to see where the damage occurred.
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....
