Small Blanket

A Diné weaver created this brilliant textile using pre-spun yarns manufactured with early aniline, or synthetic, dyes. Initially produced at mills in Philadelphia for domestic knitters in the Northeast and Midwest, Indigenous weavers in the Southwest also acquired these materials and deployed them to experiment boldly with color and design. Historically, Diné women owned flocks of sheep and spun their own yarn in a range of colors from raw wool, dyed their white yarns with cake indigo, or unraveled industrial whole cloth to obtain vibrant red fibers.