WALKING ONTO Tierra Wools’s rustic farmhouse porch is like entering an open-air art gallery. Handwoven Southwestern rugs hang from the eaves, their vibrant colors and patterns contrasting against wood and trees. Stepping inside the five-room Chama shop and studio, however, feels like cuddling up under a favorite blanket.
Fuzzy yarns, dyed using native New Mexican plants and labeled with names like Lamb’s Nose, Green Chile, and Sangre de Cristo, line the walls. Tables are stacked with colorful rugs and tapestries, mounds of soft scarves and warm mittens, and pieces of fiber and folk art contributed by local artisans.
“It’s a community project,” says owner Molly Manzanares, who runs the shop with her sister and master dyer, Toni Boyd Broaddus. In addition, Manzanares and her husband, Antonio, raise about 700 Navajo-Churro and rambouillet sheep that contribute their wool to the store. “At the beginning, it was about economic development for herders,” Manzanares says. “But it’s grown beyond that.”
Over the past 42 years, Tierra Wools has evolved from a simple yarn shop in Los Ojos to a wool retailer and world-renowned weaving center, where fiber-art enthusiasts and artists alike can find everything they need to make a Southwestern home or wardrobe a little cozier.
Poke your head into the former garage turned workshop to catch a glimpse of weavers at work on the giant Río Grande looms. If you’re feeling inspired, sign up to learn how for yourself. (Classes range from beginner spinning to advanced weaving.) Or take home a piece by Los Ojos resident Annalysse Salazar, a Tierra Wools–trained artist who found that weaving helps her feel connected to her sheepherding grandparents.
“Sheep are part of the culture here,” Manzanares says. “We hope it stays that way.”
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Shop Tierra Wools at 2540 US 64 #84, Chama, or online at handweavers.com.