Whoa, the depth of field is very unusual in pictorials! I love the planted corn detail. The colors are smashing, artistically a huge WOW. 
Thanks for sharing!
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Amazingly gorgeous color palate and detailed weaving. Viewing it brings a sense of peace and harmony. Thanks for sharing this wonderful weaving, I doubt it will last long at Garlands.
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This weaving is exceptional to me in its overall beauty and design. Looking at it, I feel like I’m there. I sure hope this weaving finds its way to you…
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So after the discussion about the giant Navajo rug that @here4turquoise is hoping to go back for, I thought I would post a picture of our first rug. We bought it in Kanab at a store that had a little bit of pawn. The tag says Two Grey Hills saddle blanket (so not technically a rug, but I still refer to it as that). Soon after we bought it we were at a trading post in Page (now closed per usual, sigh) that had a lot of rugs. The owner pointed out to me that even though it is a little more roughly woven you can still feel a few of the burrs in the sheep’s wool, and he really liked that, because he said it was hand carded. And I like it that it was a horse’s blanket; seemed appropriate for my first foray into rug buying.
The color is a little off (doesn’t have that orangish tint), because I didn’t take the pic in the daylight.
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That’s a beautiful horse blanket. Thank you for sharing it!!
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Thank you for sharing your lovely saddle blanket, Zia. What a lovely first choice! 
The natural wools in Two Grey weavings are tough to beat.
This is awesome, and is a telltale, I feel, as he pointed out.
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Mosi blends well with your rugs.
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I didn’t plan it when I got her or the rugs! The rug mostly stays on that chair, and lately she’s decided it’s her chair.
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I’m sure none will care, and I feel I could turn the 
dial down a notch, but I must admit an oversight on my part and revise a comment I’d made earlier in the thread. On top of doing what I feel is right, if anyone ever uses this thread for research, perhaps my amendment will aid their endeavors.
In response to @Xtina’s sharing of a classic Navajo First Phase Chief Blanket, I’d commented that it is the “rarest of Chief Blankets”. The example shared was similar to this one.
Commenting as I had, I was mistaken.
In researching Navajo wearing blankets, and following the trail blazed by the renowned Doctor Joe Ben Wheat, tonight, I’ve learned of an earlier garment.
The following is excerpted from Wheat 1976a, an article published in American Indian Art.
The earliest blanket that can be termed a Chief Blanket was found in a Navajo grave dating about 1775. It is of loose [weft-faced plain] weave with alternating stripes of natural dark brown and white. The central stripes are relatively broad, but the ends are decorated by a panel of narrow alternating stripes. Although they do not enter into the decorative scheme, there are two weft inserts of indigo blue yarn, perhaps introduced as an owner’s mark.
By 1800, what we have come to know as the First Phase Chief Blanket had been developed, for in Massacre Cave, among the scattered remains of Navajo Indians murdered by a Spanish punitive expedition in 1804, was found a fragment of shoulder blanket with broad, alternating brown and white stripes, narrow brown and blue stripes across the ends, and a double-width center panel of brown with four blue stripes, a classic example of the First Phase Chief Blanket…
Below is the earliest document Chief Blanket that Joe mentioned in the first paragraph above. It was collected in 1937 by Earl H. Morris and Alfred V. Kinder from a Navajo grave in Canyon de Chelly.
(They’re barely visible, but I’ve made note of the two indigo weft inserts Joe mentioned with red arrows)
That is the rarest of Chief Blankets. There, I feel better now. 
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Thanks for coming clean, Aaron. We all knew you were wrong but didn’t want to say anything. 
Seriously though, that is very interesting. And to think that blanket was collected by Earl Morris. Surely Hollywood will include that fact in As Deep As The Grave won’t they?
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Please, for your sake and mine, in the future, call me out as quickly as the next guy.
I thought the same! 
Too bad Digging in the Southwest was published four years earlier, we could have read about it there!
They better: they’ve had plenty of time to ensure its historical accuracy. 
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I came THIS close to buying this adorable weaving at Cameron Trading Post.
I love the shaggy little sheep. The reverse is the same design but the sheep are flat.
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In the past, I’ve made mention of a dress form display that has been, and will continue to be, an ongoing project. @TAH initially planted the idea with me, mentioning that it would be a neat way to display belts and/or necklaces that weren’t being worn. It quickly evolved into a sculpture of sorts with the intent of displaying a Navajo family in roughly the 1920’s or 30’s wearing period clothing; that of the parents being of an earlier vintage. It’s nothing that has moved very quickly, as it’s been an excercise in hunting just the right pieces, but it’s been a blast nonethelss.
On the quick trip to Tucson recently discussed, I’d wanted to look at and handle a woman’s wearing blanket that Mark Sublette had. Tom and I had discussed it many times, and I was just enamored with how beautiful I felt it was. This is the gallery photo that I’d admired for so very long.
The vibrant aniline dyes and serrated diamonds compliment Mr. Navajo’s transitional Third Phase balnket, and I love the Spiderwoman crosses. Both weavings are ca. 1890.
It’s coming along piece by piece, and there will be much more to share in the future.
Having their backs turned obviously showcases the weavings. I think in the end they’ll be facing eachother, or forward facing and just slightly turned.
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Aaron is too humble to mention the faux feet he made for the little girl in preparation for a pair of moccasins one day.
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metal revolving stand x4 <<<<<click
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it just reappeared in my memory, the last time we were at Hubbell Trading Post, 2022 I believe, they were looking to fill a position of rug buyer. How cool would that be? Required to be fluent in Navajo… 
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let us know how that works out for you!
(I note they say easier, NOT easy!)
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One look at me and they’d keep the ad running.
Precisely! I should clarify that was not a photo of a book I own.
I think the nuances of pronunciation, among many other things, would make it a very difficult language to learn, but it would be fun.
Learning the language from a grandmother while she’s working her loom would be enjoyable. 
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