Beautiful Blankets are Looming
Local craftsman, K.T. Monson, loves weaving saddle blankets
Being a saddle and chap maker by day and a blanket weaver by night allows K.T. Monson, of Shepherd, an outlet for his artistic side.
K.T. has spent the last 30 years working at Swanke Saddle Co. and Boot Repair. He’s instrumental in the saddle-making process that takes place at the company as well as in the custom chap division. But it’s his “night job” that allows him to really feed his artistic side.
“I guess you could say I’m an artist,” K.T. said. “I love creating.”
Determined to endure one of Montana’s long winters several years ago, K.T. took it upon himself to either come up with a new hobby or go crazy. “That winter was just grueling,” he said. “I knew I had to do something with the long dark nights.” A lifelong fascination with Navajo blankets promoted him to try building a loom and weaving a horse blanket himself.
“I read a lot of books and watched videos on building a loom and weaving, and thought, what do I have to lose?” The loom came first and K.T. gathered recycled materials he had around his place to build it. Leftover boards from other projects were used for the frame and a couple of fence posts became the rollers. He ordered the other materials he needed and built a loom large enough to weave a saddle blanket.
The loom takes up a large portion of K.T.’s shop and shares the space with tools, equipment and horse gear. “I like it out here,” he said. “It’s very peaceful. It’s a great way to end the day.”
The most time-consuming part of weaving is setting up the loom. K.T. meticulously threads each yarn through the eye of the heddles, which are the loops of wire attached to the loom’s harness used to separate and control the warp yarns, making the foundation for the warp of the weave. He selects colors and counts and measures to ensure that the blanket will be adequate for the finished size.
Once the loom is ready, K.T. settles in front of it, takes note of the tension of the warp yarns and ensures that none are loose or broken. He’s been working on this blanket for some time. Its finished edge is wrapped around the roller just in front of him. He shoots the shuttle that holds the weft across the loom and with the reed makes sure that every yarn is tight and in place. Then he slams the shafts, verifying that each warp and weft is tight, even and precise.
K.T. experimented with several styles of yarn and worked hard to emulate the Navajo blankets that he admires so much. “I wanted it thicker, though,” he said, “I like using a thicker yarn than the Navajos.” K.T. uses 100 percent wool yarn for his blankets. He has two styles he likes to weave, his favorite being thirty two x sixty four that is folded when used.
“It should last forever,” he said, “because you can fold it over different ways and it wears longer.” K.T. purposely excludes leather pads on the side of the blanket to allow for multiple folds.
The methodical craftsman is content working with his hands. Rough and calloused from life’s occupation, the cowboy looks as natural weaving at his loom as he does stretching leather across a saddle tree.
“I like creating,” K.T. said. “I keep trying new ways to be artistic and this is something I think I’ll enjoy doing for a very long time.”