Weaving with wool in the Pyrenees wool processing, garment making, and shearing sheep

Located in the middle of the Aragonese Pyrenees, the inhabitants of San Juan de Plan are used to making the most of the resources that their environment offers them. Agriculture and livestock have been sources of food and clothing. Ovine cattle are cared for with care to feed on their meat and take advantage of the wool. At the end of spring, the sheep are sheared. This operation relieves animals of the heat that approaches, and allows the inhabitants of the valley to use the wool to combat the rigors of a hard winter. The work of conditioning the wool to use it as a textile raw material is a task that the women of San Juan assume. The wool sheared is dirty and flaky. It will need several washes, and it begins by soaking it in a cauldron with hot water. And this is the stone, and now you are going to see what it is for, I am going to light the fire, so that the water heats up and I also soak the wool. You will see how it turns on. It will turn on, don't worry. You will see what fire it will make. You will see that it has taken strength. Do you see what fire? It is hot. The water does not have to boil, because the wool is soaked, but the water does not boil, but it is very hot, and it is already hot. You can put the wool in. I take out the water from the cauldron, the wood, and I put the wool in. The first washing must be done with hot water, so that the vellones release the linoleum and dirt. Well, because that way it is cleaned and it is very soft. Only with cold water it would have to be in the month of July, when the water in the river is hot. But they wash wool all year round. They wash it in January with the chile in the river, they wash it in ... In any case, in any case. A melon of wool, mattresses, pillowcases, pieces of wool, and wool shirts. The wool and the hemp were the essential thing in this place. Oh yes, everything worked by hand. Now, that's it, very good. And it turns white. You will see that it turns white when it passes through the river. The effect of the heat of the water on the wool is almost immediate, and in a short time the first washing is ready. Very little, five minutes, as long as it is well soaked, then later it flows into the basket, into this, which is the basket, and it goes to the clear river. And the hands, when we finish washing the wool, some fine, fine hands, so that just as if you had put cream. Now they take the broth out of the jar, so that it does not get ruined, as it is hot, it dries and does not get ruined. And the wheat, as it burns, they take it out of the fire and there. And this process is done. You have to collect the wool well. Well, you see, now the basket is put in and the wool is collected, a bucket is put in, a bucket from below, and this is taken out. Now they put the shovel and the lid again, so that they do not touch the wool lid, so that it drains. This is the black one, and this is the white one. You will see, now it is not very clean, but when it reaches the river ... Well, now that it is a quarter of an hour, in the meantime we are going to eat a little bread with garlic and a little bacon, and we will have a drink, and so the cold does not enter our hands, because if not, the water of the river is very cold. And now, come on. The basket, I will use it in pieces and my sister's pants. The water that soaks the white and black wool is drained little by little. Anita takes advantage of the wool to soak the dirty clothes. This cleans as well as better detergent. This is to eat and it is a little more soaked than wool. And these pants, in which they are used, because there are cows and shepherds, and pigs get into everything. And these pants, these are the ones that go to disaster. Where to buy? They are dates to buy the shovel and date the tailor. Well, now we go straight to the river. To the river, to the natural water. To lighten the wool, that is, to wash it and lighten it. You lighten your cape and lighten your pants. The road to the river was a usual route for these Pyrenean women. The heavy load of the boilers, supported on the waist, was lightened with the clatter of the last events that took place in the valley. The Zinqueta River flows lively as it passes through San Juan de Plan. Its cold waters, coming from the high mountains, accentuate the physical effort that the washing of wool and clothes has in itself. Kneeling on the round corners, the women roll the baskets in the river to soak the wool and, on the stones, hit it with the shovels. This, even if you soak it, when you put it in the wool, this does not soak. And it is the fish that they mark when they stretch the fingerprints. And now, you see, it is difficult to remove, because what is in the wool is not pure, it is the fish that does not blink, you see, you have to cut it with scissors. I take it out with my hand, but you have to cut it with scissors, you see, that the wool will be very clean. The wool, the wool is never washed like clothes, eh. The wool crumbles and crumbles. You see, no, no, this does not separate. As they wash the wool, the women spread the laundry in the sun to save time when drying. The blows with the wooden shovel are the remedy to remove the dirt from the work clothes. The daily task of washing thus became one more of the hard work that these women have carried out in their homes. The fact that the wool and clothes dry more or less quickly directly affects the weight of the load when returning home. As the river is somewhat removed from the town and the road is made uphill, the laundry is hung on a stone wall near the stream. These stones are put in so that the clothes are not carried away by the air, you know? In other words, in four hours the wool is dry. In this nice place that they have put, that is why it extends here on the wall, because the sun touches it from the front and so it advances. But in four hours the wool is dry. And it is better that there is no sun and that there is no air, because if there is air, the wool will be carried away. If there is no air and there is sun, it will be very good. Four hours ahead to do other jobs and let the sun and the air of the mountain completely dry what has been washed in the river. Well, we are going to collect the wool because it is already very dry and tomorrow we will work it. Back to the town, with the laundry clean and dry, the women plan when to meet to continue with the processes that the wool must receive before using it. The good day allows us to go outside to start the process of this wool and escarmená, the name that receives the first raleado. This is called escarmená. As you can see, it is joined and you have to separate it. You know, put it all in. And the work is escarmená. Separate it, put it all in. If you want to be healthy and warm, you put on a winter wool shirt and you'll see, you won't catch a cold, right? You won't catch a cold all winter, don't worry. And this must be tried to make young people understand that wool has a lot of value. What happens is that every day, as the new world has arrived, well, every day they appreciate it less. Well, this year, you know what I'll do? What will you do? I will knit a very good wool on the day I go skiing and I will make the socks for that of Madame Tacarnavam. Ah, well, very good, but very good. Just like before, with those holes. Yes, so that I breathe, of course. You will see that you will make better socks. Before the summer they wore wool shirts, and I thought it was going very well. They said that what covered the heat covered the cold. Mom is always protective. What keeps the cold keeps the heat. She is always protective. Once the wool is shredded, it has gained volume, finesse, and is ready to continue with the next step. In order for the clean and shredded wool to be able to be woven easily, it must be loaded. Notice that this is all the wool. Well, Ana, you still have to put it all in, to air it, you know? And also, for the adredones, it was also loaded. In other words, so that it can be woven better, you have to load it, you have to pass it through the looms. And this is called loading. The looms are wooden pallets, filled with iron tips on one of their faces, that comb the wool, leaving it soft and vaporous. Depending on how you load the looms, the wool is also shredded. Then, when the wool is shredded, the thread comes out so beautiful, and it is not woven so easily, it is more difficult to weave it. You have to wear it softly, and never tighten, never tighten the looms, so that the wool comes out. Always soft. Well, I'm going to roll up the wool that these women have prepared in the wheelbarrow, then sharpen it. It is rolled up. They used the wheelbarrow a lot, because they rolled it up and took it to us, when there were shepherds and cowgirls, they sharpened it in the mountains. And in the villages, they would meet us in the kitchens of the fire, in the fireplace, and come to sharpen. If many women wash it, many. Now there is no practice, with the comforts of the washing machines, there is no practice, the wool. Well, look how decent and how clean. They made the hoods, the skirts of this child, the blankets, the blankets, the blankets, a lot of things. I have a new hood, it is going to walk on fire, and in total it occupies the place in the trunk and will not be used. Tying the thread on the wheelbarrow was basic for Hilar during the work of shepherding. Already in the homes, on the evenings, women threaded directly from the basket. Because before they put it like this in the basket to make it at home, because this for the mountain you could not take it, how were you going to take this like this? Then they did it like this, they advanced more, and they did it at night in the kitchens. But Hilar is the same, it is the same wool and everything is the same. When the wool is clean, flayed, loaded and rolled up, it is time to go to the spinning. I am spinning the wool that has been prepared, with the spindle and the wheelbarrow. I spin with spindle and wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow is made of green, from a green bella nera branch, men were going to make it in the mountains. There are many wheelbarrows. This is squeezing, look, you do what you want with the wool. Not even a machine can do it, when the wool is good, if it is not good. I like spinning, I like it. I also like spinning, I like it. More than squeezing and more than loading. The movement of the body, I think this exercise is very good for him, because the ribs hurt more, squeezing and loading than spinning. To spin, women take the wool from the wheelbarrow or basket and print a rotation movement to the spindle, the piece in which the spinning is collected. The thickness and quality of the thread depend on the skill of the spinner. We have made the spindle, one spindle each, and now we are separating the thread from the wool. And now we are going to join the two spindles, and twist and it is ready to work. As if it were put on a loom, as if it were done with needles and a stick. The spindles that the women have threaded separately must be joined in a single ball, so that they are balanced in their length. As one spindle was thicker than the other, then they govern us like this, making a knot in a wheelbarrow or in the wheelbarrow, and everything is taken advantage of. In the resulting ball, the two spindles have been joined without interlacing, and it is necessary to join them. This is twisting. As they have equalized the spindles, which were called spindles, now you have to twist the thread so that the two spindles are well joined, because you see, now they are not well joined, they are separated, and when you twist them, they are joined, and to work them in the middle, you have to twist. This is so that the spindle does not escape, so I'm going to put my finger like this, and so the spindle does not escape from my hand. Well, sometimes, no matter how much twisted it is, it is better, the finer the thread, the less twisted it is, it is softer. The twisted thread already has enough consistency to make wool garments. And now we are going to make a pair of boats, come Maria José, three tracks, you have to take all the force, and a track, and this, you will see. And giving thread. And you give me the thread, that. You have to pull hard, make sure that the tip does not escape, that it would be twisted. Now the boat comes out, now. You see, this is very good, very well done. The only thing is that you have to twist it a little, give it a maneuver. Pull, pull Maria José, make it smooth. The abarquera, a twisted thread that is used to tie the alpargatas, is the simplest atavío that the women of San Juan make with wool. The heat power of this material gives it a decisive use to face the colds of winter. With wool, small covers are filled that give heat to the feet, the hedredones. So we are going to start putting the wool. Come on, Maruja. There are two cards together here. Well, to thread it, you turn it around like this, so that when you put it on the wheel, it is easier to put it on. And yet here what matters is that it is flat, so that it does not bulge. And you can get it on the march. The flatter the better. First we have made a face like this, from top to bottom. Now the next layer goes through. And so it stays the same. In these stripes, as it comes through, it covers the stripes. Now we put it through. Do you see how beautiful it is? It is totally different. First we have done it in one direction and now in another. Look, now the fabric is raised, one on each side, so that it is even, this is very important, that the fabric is even. And then it is pointed and sewn. Now you have to point the light. You know, put the point, from time to time, to hold the fabric face to face with the other. For example, you hold this fabric with this one, and then you can sew it the same. This is only, as they say, ironing, you know. You see, like this. Well, when it is sewn, the wool does not dance, that it does not move from its place. You know, that's the meaning. It has nothing else, you know, to hold the wool. It was a disaster job, this one. And it was, well, with a cork it took three days to do it. The drill, no, the drill took less time. But the cork, well, no. Three days and long. These things have to be marked so that later you do not twist. Because if you don't, you might start here and end up there. So you can't go wrong, of doing what you want to do, of the drawing you want to do. The drill is one of the innumerable pieces they made, in times, the stars of the area. Given the great demand, they were professionally dedicated to this trade, while women took care of weaving other garments in their homes. This is the biggest it can be. Also, Annie, it doesn't have any plastic. This is cretona and the inside is wool. So, you see, you're done. The garment is finished. Well, from the whole process of the wool, from all the work you have done, I am going to start the piece. Of all this merchandise we have here. Four dozen, measured with the needle, and a little more, and such a bomb. I'm starting a piece of the wool that went in there, of the white and the black, but I start it with the white. Two points to the right and two to the reverse. You can also do one to the right and one to the reverse, but I have a habit of doing two to the right and two to the reverse. This in winter, in the slugas, is done very late at night. And from five in the afternoon, maybe until eleven at night or twelve, spinning wool, making socks, wool sweaters, tricot, such a man, such a shepherd, of everything. And scraps that are not seen, are beads of wool. The sticks, when they were girls, they were seen to us as friends, as boyfriends, in the mountains. And they gave us a stick. I was once given a José Jiménez. And they gave it to us with drawings and put the name on it. Like now, friends who miss a gift, from the factory, from the store, it was made by hand. The friend, the boyfriend, gave us the stick. Very nice, they gave it to us. And they put the letters on it, with windows, drawings. This one does not have letters, but they put the letters on it. And when they conquered us, they did things to us, maybe, maybe they wanted to be girlfriends. When working in a hurry, the needles make a music. And as an accompaniment to work. They make a music, and all you need is to play a song and the noise of the needles. This was a distraction. Well, what I have to do now is measure it. Because if I make a sock the same as the other, you have to measure it. Then they come out exactly, measuring them, they come out exactly the same. And I already close the sock. Because there is a program. Then I measure it with the other one and I say that they are both the same. Then now, every pass, the stitch is taken out. And you see, it is taken out like this, one stitch over the other. And so it closes without realizing it. Or sometimes the stitches are also released. Do not think. I have finished and you see that with a stitch there is a chain and now the thread breaks. Now it is a knot, it is two together. They have been very good. And you see, they get in like this, hang them. Hang them. Because that way they don't fray. Wool is also something that must be taken care of very well. If it does not fray. From the care of the sheep to the making of the garments and clothes of wool, there is a journey through which life passes in San Juan de Plano. Crafts and uses that used to be daily in the Pyrenean valleys are being relegated to the memory of their inhabitants and they try to transmit them to future generations as a sign of identity.