A Winter in India

Today we visited a community-run enterprise called Panchachuli: Women Weavers of Kumaon, which employs 700 women from the Kumaon area of Uttaranchal as spinners and weavers. It also employs a large number of men doing the dying of the fibers, and the packing of the finished products. The whole operation seems very well run. The women are working in clean, well-lighted spaces. Although there are many women in each room, that appears to add to the social aspect of the work. They have buses that transport the women to and from their villages. They are making woven items of lamb’s wool, pashmina, silk, tree fibers, or nettles, and combinations of the above. I’m not sure I would want to be spinning nettles, but I assume they must boil it or somehow de-nettle it before it gets to that stage. Much of the fiber is vegetable-dyed, but some is chemical dyed. The vegetable-dyed items are much softer.

I don’t think they get many visitors; they seemed excited, happy and, at the same time, shy about having us there. When I asked if I could take photos, I got big grins and giggles and “yes”.

At the top left is some of the raw pashmina wool from the goats. Sorting that is a job they let the men do. At the top right is a woman “carding” silk. I know its called “carding” when you work wool fibers into a spinnable form. Here they are not using those pronged cards, but are using their fingers, and pulling the threads apart from the silk cocoon.

Middle photo is one of the spinning rooms; big spinning wheels made from bicycle wheel rims. Bottom left is another spinning room, with treadle-operated machines. Don’t know if that is for two different types of fiber, or two successive parts of the process.

Last photo is one of the weavers. In this one when I asked if I could take a photo, the one woman was so excited she took me over to the weaver and hugged the weaver for the photo.