Aana Jaana Himalayan handcrafted woolens

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Aana Jaana Himalayan handcrafted woolens

handmade woolens from Himachal Pradesh, India
sustainably sourced & fairly traded
exploring pastoralist landscapes and lifeways through craft

11/22/2023

Desi oon is featured in ! Check out the Winter 2024 issue for a nice intro to some of the diversity of wool and wool cultures in India. The is mentioned too...if you haven't gotten yours yet, you better hurry! I'm running low and it will take a while to get about shipment of more wool from the multiple (and remote) members of the that provided fiber for the kit. I'm having difficulty linking my Etsy shop here, but you can find it at aanajaanahimalayan.etsy.com

06/23/2023

Aaaand it's launched! Heritage breed study kits for 5 breeds of sheep native to India are now available for sale. Includes 1 oz samples of carded wool for spinning or felting, plus a booklet chock full of information about the sheep and the herding communities that raise them. Available now exclusively at my booth at

05/21/2023

Ready for Himalayan Fair day 2 with a cup of salty butter tea from the Tibetan Association of Northern California. This morning as I was setting up, a gentleman stopped by who was born into a nomadic shepherding family in Tibet. He said he was drawn to my booth because he could immediately tell the wool was really from Himachali sheep. Wool is such a magical material to maintain its connection to place no matter how far it wanders. (And he was very impressed with your spinning as well!)

05/20/2023

Open for business at the Himalayan Fair in Berkeley! It's going to be a cool weekend (in both senses), so stop by if you're in the Bay Area and need some wool in your life.

03/28/2023

How much wool can I cram in this suitcase?! It's the question I ask myself at the end of every India trip. This time, on my way through Delhi I stopped off at the office to pick up carded wool from some of the other folks. I'm very excited to get my hands on wool from some of the native sheep breeds of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand (Deccani wool is still on its way and...wouldn't have fit in the suitcase anyway). I'll be using this wool to put together an initial breed study kit for handspinners. Are you interested to learn about the many sheep and shepherding communities of India? (Did you even know there are sheep in India?) I'll be assembling the kits over the next couple months and they'll debut in my booth at in June.

03/27/2023

Last week some of the ladies of met with a group in Jagatsukh who want to join in the work. I got to tag along! This excursion reminded me of how Himachali communities are woven together through women's relationships. Men usually stay in the same village for their whole lives, while women leave their maika (birth home) at marriage to go live with their in-laws. This movement of women creates a social network that connects people across sometimes very long distances.

At first the plan was for me to go with Lata, part of the management team of Kullvi Whims. But Lata said, "How can I go? I won't recognize anyone there!" Jagatsukh is the maika of another Whims member, Neema, so we called her to come along and make introductions. Once we got there, we found out that Lata did indeed have a connection - through the maika of Veena, the organizer of the group in Jagatsukh.

Lata and Neema showed samples of some of the products that Kullvi Whims makes, and described the processes of making them. Lata emphasized quality control - "Everyone must get a good inchtape!" The ladies of Jagatsukh shared their various skills, and also their limitations - they all raise cows, and have to fit in their textile work around the daily chores of milking and gathering grass. All in all it seemed like a promising start to a new partnership!

Photo 1: Neema (right) explains the construction of a cushion cover to Veena.
Photo 2: Ladies of Jagatsukh examine samples of Kullvi Whims products.

03/26/2023

Goodbye mountains! Sadly, it's time for the "jaana" part of "aana jaana" - time for me to go. It was such a short trip this time, just a few weeks that I could squeeze in between my other obligations. To my pahadi friends, thank you as always for your hospitality, and I'll be back as soon as I can, pakka! In the meantime I'll be catching up on posts and preparing for the spring craft shows. Lots of new merch coming soon!

03/21/2023

Then & Now: When I was last in Himachal 3 years ago, I showed up at with 50 kg of wool that I had bought from a couple shepherds I knew. I arrived by bus, with 5 or 6 reused feed sacks full of wool tied on the roof by two very helpful bus conductors. The ladies had never had that much wool all at once before. They didn't know where they would store it, let alone how they would manage to process it all. Now they regularly deal with 100s-1000s of kilograms at a time! This load of raw wool recently went to the mill for cleaning and carding. Under the tarp the wool is still in reused feed sacks, although much larger ones. I bummed a ride part of the way and went to visit an old friend in the next valley over. With all my back-and-forth travels, I'm remembering why I named this business "aana jaana" 🚗🚌🛻

03/19/2023

Trekking for flowers! New blog post up at https://aana-jaana.com/2023/03/18/trekking-for-flowers/

03/18/2023

Sapna harvests rhododendron flowers on our trek up to Langha Mata.
Music: Lal Chidiye Remix by Shivangi Kashyap

03/17/2023

Rhododendron chutney! Every season in Himachal brings a new flavor to the pahadi kitchen with freshly foraged wild foods. Right now it's rhododendron time. These beautiful flowers make the mountains blush red, and make for one of my favorite chutneys. Villagers trek up to collect flowers, and either use them fresh or (more often) dry them to store for later. Every veranda is brightened up by baskets of drying blossoms. Fresh or dried-and-rehydrated flowers are blended with mint, cilantro, onion, garlic, salt, and spices (every cook seems to have a different preferred masala). The result is a vibrant pink, tangy chutney.

03/08/2023

"Wealth from the forest" - Last week I met with some of the women of the Bargat Collective, a group that is creating "wealth from the forest" () by making pine needle baskets. I'm excited to bring some of their products back with me to share with you in my festival booth this spring.

What do pine needles have to do with wool? A Very Brief History of Colonial and Post-Colonial Forest Management in the Indian Himalayas:

Back in the day, local communities made use of a variety of trees and understory plants for building materials, rope-making, food and medicine, and grazing fodder for livestock. The British then logged the hell out of the region and replanted with one variety of tree (Chir pine) which makes good timber but is not useful for much else. It also produces a thick pine needle duff which suppresses the growth of understory plants. Many former grazing grounds are now basically "food deserts" for sheep and goats. The pine needles are also highly flammable, increasing the risk of forest fires. This hazard affects migratory herders and village dwellers alike.

The women of Bargat are turning this problem into a resource by collecting pine needles (therefore reducing fire risk) and turning them into useful and income-producing products. The group was founded during the Covid lockdowns when livelihood options were thin on the ground. They also use their gatherings to learn technology skills and discuss gender discrimination, healthcare, and other issues affecting women in the region. I'm just really stoked about this group! Looking forward to supporting their work as they grow.

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Albany, OR
97322

Website

https://aana-jaana.com/

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