Linda Morton-Keithley sits at her largest loom in her home studio in Melba, Idaho. This is her largest loom and she’s weaving a pattern to be installed on a handmade leather purse. She pulls a shuttle through the strings, known as warp thread, and then uses a comb to bunch the yarn together creating a bright triangle of yarn before her in red, blue, green and gray.
“So what I'm doing on this loom right now is just a small piece,” said Morton-Keithley. “There's not a lot of room for an extreme amount of design, but that's where using tapestry technique, you really can play with the colors.”
Much of her studio stores a large pile of colorful yarn, organized in a gradient rainbow of warm to cool. Each skein is wrapped with a paper label denoting the brand and color and decorated with a paper tag label attached by a string to track the dye lot. There is variation within a single color of hand-processed yarn.
Her introduction to weaving was over 50 years ago, when she took an undergraduate occupational therapy course at Western Michigan University. Morton-Keithley dove deeper for a M.S. in historic costume and textiles at Colorado State. Her education led her to a career working as a curator, museum director and archivist.
Like many weavers, Morton-Keithley makes a variety of things, from scarves to dish towels, but her favorite is the wool saddle blanket. She learned to make this classic western fixture at first for her husband, “a saddlemaker, silversmith and fourth-generation rancher.”
Saddle blankets provide cushion for horses and protection from the saddle rubbing on its hide and making sores. The essential accessory has since been a perfect contribution for their small business outfitting cowboys with handmade gear.
“When I first started weaving the saddle blankets I honestly didn't know what I was doing,” recalled Morton-Keithley.
She had yet to meet another weaver who was interested in making such a specialty good; without a mentor she had to learn through trial and error.
“I just kind of had to go by what my husband was telling me and what he had used all of his life as a rancher.”
As a new weaver, she used cotton warp thread that crumbled quickly. The warp thread are like the bones of a blanket, holding it all together. Without knowing how to properly finish the edges of a saddle blanket, her early pieces frayed and wore out quickly. She now ties her warp into a durable Damascus Edge to complete each blanket.
“That's one thing I learned from hanging around with my husband and all of his ranching friends — that saddle blankets need to be 100% wool,” said Morton-Keithley. “It has a wicking ability. It helps move the sweat through the wool to the outside so it can evaporate.”
Synthetic fibers trap moisture against the body of the horse resulting in discomfort and white spots on the hair of the animal.
“It actually bleaches out the hair. So wool helps move that moisture through so it can evaporate.”
Navajo Churro sheep wool is her wool of choice, as it’s less oily than other fibers. While Morton-Keithley admires the rich history of Native American rug weaving associated with this wool, she generally avoids copying indigenous patterns out of respect for their tradition. She also learned wool has a mind of its own and weaves according to the temperment of the wool rather than enforcing a universal technique. Wool as a fiber varies just like human hair, from curly and stiff to thin or soft or straight.
Another necessary trait of a saddle blanket is that it must be very durable.
“I mean, it's going to go through a lot of abuse in its life. It's going to get dirty. It's going to get stickers in it. It's going to have horse sweat all through it. And it has to be very firmly woven so that it can hold up to that kind of abuse.”
Now Morton-Keithley slides into a seat at a smaller loom and with her hands, begins sending a larger shuttle, arm’s length, through the warp. Her feet rest on the treadles of the loom, similar to organ pedals. These wooden levers allow her to lift and depress the strings each time she sends the shuttle through. After several rounds she leans in and reaches across to pull the beater of the loom toward her body repeatedly, smashing the yarn into place.
“Weaving takes a lot of concentration … and it's a pretty good all-body workout.”
And despite its physicality, skill and the incredible masterpieces woven throughout time, weaving has been confined to the quaint label “craft.”
“Because it's more of an activity carried out by women, it's considered more of a craft than an art, but it goes both ways. I think a lot of weaving is very fine artistically.”
It’s an art that was nearly lost were it not for Mary Meigs Atwater of Montana, known as The Dean of American Hand-Weaving, who revitalized the practice of weaving in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century.
“If we go back to the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, people stopped handweaving because mechanized weaving became the major way that cloth was produced.”
Thanks to Atwater, many nurses and physical therapists learned handweaving in college in the 50s, 60s and 70s as a form of therapy.
“She was hired to work in some of the veteran hospitals. Her goal was to help the veterans who had been injured in war help to regain their fine motor skills,” said Morton-Keithley. “And she's really the one that kick started the hand weaving industry in this country.”
For Morton-Keithley and many handweavers, it’s difficult to quantify the true value of what they make. It’s about more than just the utility of a highly functional saddle blanket because of the time and creativity she puts into each piece, plus the years of experience it took to develop her abilities and preferences. In an age where machines do so much for us, the human touch adds meaning to the object but also produces a more enduring one.
“Most of the time the product that weavers are creating, for example, a hand-woven dish towel. It's a work of love, but it's going to last a lot longer than that $1.99 dish towel you buy at the discount store.”
And as for the artistic qualities of her work, many of her saddle blankets are used by working cowboys. But when she heads to the Wood River Valley for the Trailing of the Sheep Festival each year to sell her goods, she usually meets a few customers who will be using the saddle blanket they buy for something else.
“Functional textiles have a place in this world. Artistic textiles, why not? You know, if you hang a painting on your wall, why not hang a wall hanging that's been hand woven?”
Some of the music in this story was composed by Jared Arave.
This series is produced in partnership with the Idaho Commission on the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program, with funding support from Jennifer Dickey and Andy Huang, Dr. Suzanne Allen, MD and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Below is the full transcript of the audio story:
My husband is a saddle maker, silversmith, fourth generation rancher. So, you know, I had to make saddle blankets for him.
When I first started weaving the saddle blankets. I honestly didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know any other weavers of saddle blankets to ask. I just kind of had to go by what my husband was telling me and what he had used all of his life as a rancher.
My name is Linda Martin Keithley, and we are in my home studio in Melba, Idaho. I have three looms in my studio, and like most weavers, I weave a variety of different products, from scarves to dish towels to my absolute favorite saddle blankets and rugs.
I am now sitting at my largest loom. It's a tapestry loom. So what I'm doing on this loom right now is just a small piece. It's going to be about ten inches by ten inches when it's done. And I'm using four different colors. There's not a lot of room for an extreme amount of design, but that's where using tapestry technique, you really can play with the colors.
Weaving is... Takes a lot of concentration and it really does involve the entire body because you're using your feet to change the treadles to get the particular pattern that you're trying to do. You're using your hands to throw the shuttle back and forth through the shed from side to side. And you're also leaning forward and back whenever you grab the beater to push the threads into place.So it's a pretty good all body workout.
The purpose of a saddle blanket is to provide some cushion between the horse, the saddle and the person because they're moving at different rates. That causes a lot of wear and you can get rough spots, sore spots pretty easily if you don't provide some level of cushion.
Anywhere there is Western style weaving, you're going to find the wool saddle blankets. That's one thing I learned from hanging around with my husband and all of his ranching friends that saddle blankets need to be 100% wool. It has a wicking ability. It helps move the sweat through the wool to the outside so it can evaporate.
Otherwise, like a synthetic fiber, if it's against the horse and they're getting sweaty and dirty, it holds that moisture in and it can cause what are called scald marks. So if you look on the flanks of some horses, you'll see white spots. That's because of that heat buildup. It actually bleaches out the hair. So wool helps move that moisture through so it can evaporate.
Like any weaver. I do a variety of things, but the wool is my real love. I'm weaving a saddle blanket. It has to be very functional. I mean, it it's going to go through a lot of abuse in its life. It's going to get dirty. It's going to get stickers in it. It's going to have horse sweat all through it. And it has to be very firmly woven so that it can hold up to that kind of abuse.
There are a lot of really fine handweavers in the world who are male. I would say predominantly weaving is carried out by women though, and that leads one to think, because it's more of a activity carried out by women, it's considered more of a craft than an art, but it goes both ways. I think a lot of weaving is very fine artistically.
If we go back to the industrial Revolution of the 1800s, people stopped handweaving because mechanized weaving became the major way that cloth was produced. So hand weaving really fell out of favor for a long time. But there was a woman, she actually lived in Montana and she really revitalized the whole hand weaving industry following World War Two. She was hired to work in some of the veteran hospitals. Her goal was to help the veterans who had been injured in war help to regain their fine motor skills. And she's really the one that that kick started the hand weaving industry in this country.
Most of the time the product that weavers are creating, for example, a hand-woven dish towel. It's a work of love, but it's going to last a lot longer than that. Dollar 99 dish towel you buy at the discount store. Functional textiles have a place in this world. Artistic textiles. Why? Why not? You know, if you hang a painting on your wall, why not hang a wall hanging that's been hand woven.