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Journey West Through the Years

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A Journey West

Master weaver Thomas Kay began his training as a bobbin boy in English mills before coming to America to establish the family legacy that led to Pendleton Woolen Mills. His journey was a rugged one. He traveled down the Atlantic seaboard, crossed the Isthmus of Panama on a burro, and sailed up the Pacific on a grueling four-month passage. Yet for Thomas Kay, a young English weaver, it was a dream come true. We have commemorated his travels with the Journey West pattern.

For 2023, we are excited to unveil a new coloration of the Journey West blanket.

The new 2023 version of the Pendleton Journey West blanket.

This is the third coloration of a favorite pattern. This dynamic blanket celebrates the pioneering spirit of our founder, weaver Thomas Kay, who journeyed to America from England, arriving in Oregon in 1863. Its design was inspired by a blanket discovered in a 19th-century European mill. The pattern highlights the universal appeal of geometric shapes and lines. The hooked patterns inside the large diamonds are common symbols of luck and prosperity. Its quality and beauty is a tribute to the generations of weavers that have continued Thomas Kay’s legacy of quality and excellence.

See it here: Journey West 2023

Craftsman Journey West (retiring 2023)

In 2020, Journey West was chosen to be part of the Craftsman Collection, a special capsule of blankets that celebrated the history, artistry, and craftsmanship of our blankets. For this version, the pattern was recolored and specially dyed to evoke the natural fading of a vintage blanket. One side of the blanket was napped for softness and warmth. The reverse was left unnapped, to showcase the geometry of the pattern. Hand-cut rounded corners recalled the shape of blankets from the earliest days of the mill. For the introduction, we chose three patterns with stories to tell; Canyonlands, Journey West, and Sierra Ridge.

Learn more about this collection here: The Craftsman Collection

Here is the version of Journey West unveiled with the Craftsman Collection.

Pendleton Woolen Mills blanket, the Craftsman Collection version of Journey West.

Here you can see the blanket being hand-trimmed for this special edition.

This blanket is retiring this year, and a limited amount are still available at Pendleton-usa.com – see the blanket here: Craftsman Collection Journey West

The Original Journey West

The Journey West blanket premiered in 2013. It is officially retired, but still available in limited quantities.

original version of the Journey West blanket

As mentioned before, the Journey West pattern is based on a piece of fine European weaving. The original blanket was discovered recently in a 19th-century European mill and included the designer’s notes and calculations, handwritten neatly along the sides. Our modern Pendleton designers viewed this historic work of art with reverence and used it as inspiration. This original gold and red coloration has been popular since its introduction. Our designers have used it in many different apparel styles like the women’s limited edition Cardwell jacket.

Women's limited edition Cardwell jacket in Journey West pattern.

This complex and beautiful design has also graced towels, dinnerware, oversized mugs, and other items. We love them all, but do you have a favorite?

See the current selections here: Journey West

Pendleton "Born in Oregon" logo

Medicine Bow – a New Blanket and More

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River Inspiration

This beautiful new blanket was inspired by the Medicine Bow River in Wyoming.

Pendleton blanket: Medicine Bow

Medicine Bow

The Medicine Bow River rises deep in Wyoming’s Snowy Range to flow 167 miles on its way to the Medicine Bow Mountains. Native tribes traveled to the area to harvest mountain mahogany for especially fine bows. Stands of wood alternate with bands of arrows, meeting in the center to show the Medicine Bow River crossing, an important link between East and West.

Take a look at the beautiful Medicine Bow River!

The Medicine Bow River, photo by Colby Thomas
Photo by Colby Thomas on Unsplash

The river is a beauty, but it isn’t the only Medicine Bow in Wyoming. Far from it.

Medicine Bow Peak

The highest point of Snowy Range –and the highest point in southern Wyoming–is Medicine Bow Peak (12,018 ft). Intrepid (and hopefully experienced) hikers reach the mountain’s peak on a four-mile trail that features numerous switchbacks and plenty of loose rock. It’s part of the Medicine Bow Mountains, near Laramie, Wyoming.

Medicine Bow National Forest

The river, the peak, and the mountains are part of an enormous preserve called The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland (also known as the MBRTB). The MBRTB is composed of nearly 2.9 million acres in northern Colorado and eastern Wyoming. The entire complex of mountains ranges, grasslands, and vast unspoiled landscapes spans two states and over a dozen counties.

Medicine Bow, the Town

There’s also a tiny town in Carbon County, Wyoming that bears the Medicine Bow name. With a population of only 200 to 300 people, Medicine Bow has maintained a post office since 1869. It is home to the famed Virginian Hotel. In the past, the town hosted outlaws like Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, who committed the Wilcox Train Robbery just a few miles away from Medicine Bow.

Medicine Bow is a beautiful place and a beautiful pattern that is showcased in this wool jacket.

A man wearing a Pendleton jacket

More information at pendleton-usa.com:

Blanket

Jacket

Forever Oregon – Celebrating Oregon State Parks

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Born in Oregon

Forever Oregon

The "Forever Oregon" blanket by Pendleton Woolen Mills

Get more information here: Forever Oregon

This limited-edition wool blanket honors our home state’s park system. In this design, Mt. Hood watches over a reflective lake flanked by forests, with geometric patterns honoring Oregon’s original inhabitants. Medallions for 12 beloved state parks are bordered by stripes in colors that echo their landscapes.

Purchase of this blanket helps support the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department’s “Park Explorer Series,” which aims to remove barriers to outdoor recreation and encourage diversity. Projects include building trails accessible to all, and making camping possible for folks who may otherwise never get to try it.

The Featured Parks

Oregon has 361 state parks, and we could feature only 12. We would like to invite you along on a visual tour that just touches on their special features. Enjoy!

Smith Rock –

Smith Rock

(Source – Pixabay.com)

Fort Stevens – Wreck of the Peter Iredale

The wreck of the Peter Iredale in Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon.

(Source, Pixabay.com)

Silver Falls –

Silver Falls State Park

(Source, Wikimedia Commons)  

Champoeg –

Newberg Bridge in CHampoeg State park

(Source, Wikimedia Commons)

Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park –

Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park

(Source, Wikimedia Commons) –

Whale Watch

Whale watch, Oregon coast

(Source, Pixabay.com)

Vista House at Crown Point –

A view of VIsta House with mountains in the background

(Source, Pixabay)

Vista House in the Columbia River Gorge –

Vista House overlooking the Columbia River Gorge

(Source, Wikimedia Commons)

Cape Meares –

Lighthouse at Cape Mears

(Source, Pixabay.com)

Heceta Head –

Lighthouse at Heceta Head

(Source, Pixabay.com)

Wallowa Lake –

Wallowa Mountains and Lake

(Source, Wikimedia Commons)

Detroit Lake –

Detroit Lake (low water)

(Source, Wikimedia Commons)

Devil’s Lake –

Devil's Lake

(Source, Wikimedia Commons)

Last Chance Blankets – 2022

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Only here for a short time more…

Spirit Seeker

The front of the Pendleton Spirit Seeker blanket.

The quest for knowledge leads the spiritual seeker on many paths. In Australia, bush people go on ritual wanderings known as walkabouts. The Babongo people of Africa have a rebirthing ritual that includes a journey to find spiritual truth.  Native Americans from many different tribes go on vision quests, rites of passage that include fasting, prayer, and a solitary journey to find life’s purpose. Spirit Seeker celebrates Spirit Seekers and their journeys with multi-directional arrows bordering a medallion, the central truth reached by multiple paths.

Gift of the Earth

Pendleton Gift of the Earth blanket

Learn more about this blanket here: Gift of the Earth

Saddle Mountain
Saddle Mountain blanket by Pendleton - gold, purple, blue and off white

Saddle Mountain is a scenic peak in the Oregon Coast Range, and the tallest mountain in Oregon’s Clatsop County. It is also one of the most beautiful places in Oregon to watch the sunrise. Bold blocks of warm colors evoke the rising sun in a design derived from early strip quilt patterns. In the center, a row of stylized stars evoke the planets Mercury and Venus, sometimes called Morning Stars, as they rise on a new day.

Morning Cradleboard

Bold colors and arrow shapes, Wendy Ponca's Morning Cradleboard blanket

Learn more about this blanket and the designer here: Wendy Ponca

Star Guardian

Pendleton Star Guardian child-sized blanket.

Crossed arrows stand for brotherhood and the setting aside of conflicts. A peaceful evening has come to the prairie. It is time to light the fires and draw together in the warmth of the fire circle. As logs crackle and flames flicker, stories rise on the night air. Stories of bravery and victory in battle. Stories of stealth and bounty in the hunt. Stories of tricksters and their clever magic. As they share their legends, the People are safe and warm in their tepees. Above it all shines Bear, the great guardian of the night skies.

When they’re gone, they’re gone.

You can see these blankets and more at Pendleton-usa.com. Last Chance Blankets

Honoring Madeline Albright

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Madeline Albright onstage at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Center for the Performing arts, receiving a Pendleton Brave Star blanket

Looking back to a Proud Moment

America lost a pioneering presence when Madeline Albright passed away on March 23, 2022. Dr. Albright had a long career in public service, and was the first female secretary of state in US history. In addition to serving important roles under two presidents, she was the US ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997.

When she left the public sector, Dr. Albright was the Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Dr. Albright was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May of 2012.

Pendleton’s Brave Star blanket was presented to Madeleine Albright on Tuesday, September 10, 2019, when Madame Secretary kicked off the Hatfield Lecture Series for the Oregon Historical Society. She spoke to a sold-out crowd at the Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium in Portland, Oregon.

Pendleton Brave Star wool blanket in red white and blue

BRAVE STAR

This contemporary interpretation of the American flag is a celebration of the patriotism of Native Americans. In 1875 Indian scouts carried messages from fort to fort in the West. Native American soldiers saw action with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in Cuba. And soldiers from many tribes battled in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and Iraq. Five Native Americans have been awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery “above and beyond the call of duty.” The design marries modern asymmetry and vintage Americana. The unique striations, using pulled out yarns, reflect an era when dyes were made from plants.

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Oregon Home, Miller Paint, and Pendleton

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Down to Earth

We were excited to help with a recent feature in Oregon Home Magazine, working with Miller Paint to showcase the power of earthy neutrals. According to Apartment Therapy, “A neutral is a color without much intensity or saturation—a color that’s lacking in color, if you will, which generally goes with everything. Think tans, beiges, ivories, creams, whites, blacks, and grays.” Oregon Home included more soothing earth tones, while keeping the palette gentle.

A Pacific Northwest living room in earthy neutral tones featuring the Sandhills Pendleton blanket. Photo by Oregon home magazine, used with permission.

Our Home Store staff was part this project (thanks, team!), bringing their Pendleton design expertise to play in choosing blankets that show the softer side of Pendleton patterns.

According to the feature:

This season’s color palettes draw inspiration from the ground up. Earthy is in. “Whites are shifting from bright and stark to earthy tones touched with raw umber,” says Puji Sherer, director of color marketing for Portland-based Miller Paint. “Grays are giving way to gentle browns and beiges. Even though Pendleton designs are typically very angular and dynamic, the subdued color palette in this one makes it easy to live with in any interior environment.” Oregon Home collaborated with Miller Paint and Pendleton Home on this design for a cozy, on-trend gathering space.

A Pacific Northwest living room in earthy neutral tones featuring the White Sands Pendleton blanket. Photo by Oregon home magazine, used with permission.

We agree. The power of this palette is soothing and understated, but still strong. Our geometric patterns allow for all kinds of subtle colorplay.

Some of our favorite blankets tie in with this palette.

The article featured three beautiful Pendleton blankets; Sandhills, White Sands, and Wyeth Trail.

We love these blankets for their natural tones and offer more in this palette; 5th Avenue striped throw, Juniper Mesa, Prairie Rush Hour, and Kitts Peak, which has a little kick of dark wine red.

Interested in a little DIY?

A Pacific Northwest living room in earthy neutral tones showing a painted wall motif. Photo by Oregon home magazine, used with permission.

Visit millerpaint.com/paint-this-pendleton-wall for a DIY showing how you can recreate the Pendleton-inspired wall design in your own home.

Miller Paint colors used:

  • Fireplace Mantel 0569
  • Elusive White 0002
  • Light Lichen 0211
  • Rich Reward 0302
  • Golden Buff 0288
Miller Paint supplies, along with a swatch set, level, stencil, paintbrush, and painter tape. Photo by Oregon Home and Miller Paint, used with permission.

See the Oregon Home feature here: Down to Earth

See all blankets here: Pendleton Blankets

Made in USA label with eagle for Pendleton

Serapes for Spring & Summer

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Serape on Film

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in a promotional shot from "Killers of the Flower Moon." Photo used bypermission of Apple Original Films.

Ah, the serape. This bold striped blanket reads modern, but it has been around a long time. In fact, a (very) vintage Pendleton Serape will be featured in Martin Scorcese’s upcoming Apple Original film, Killers of the Flower Moon. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart and Lily Gladstone plays Mollie Burkhart in the film depicting the true story of the Osage tribe murders in the 1920s. In this promo shot (courtesy Apple Original Filsms), Lily Gladstone is wrapped in a vintage Pendleton fringed shawl serape, provided to the film by our friend and vintage blanket expert Barry Friedman. 

Serape History

The serape’s roots are in the Mexican weaving tradition, but it is now common to both Spanish and Native American textiles. Here’s a photo of a Native family in a historic Babbitt Brothers wagon with a serape peeking over the edge. This was taken in the Southwest, where the Babbitts plied (and still ply) their trade.

HistoricBabbitWagonEdit2

Colorful, sturdy and functional, this blanket shawl was part of life in the traditional Mexican home. It could serve as clothing, bedding, and shelter. The serape is known by many names throughout Mexico, including chamarro, cobiga, and gaban. It can be woven of a variety of materials and patterns but is generally lighter in weight. Different regions use different palettes, from the elegant neutrals of the Mexican highlands to the bold gradients of Coahuila.

Serapes Today

Pendleton serapes hang on pegs in front of a white wall, with more folded on a crate.

Pendleton’s serapes are woven of 82% wool/18% cotton in bands of gradient colors to achieve that beautiful eye-popping dimensional effect. This is your perfect spring and summer blanket, just waiting to be invited along wherever you go. And this year we have a new design in Aqua.

Pendleton Aqua Serape

All made in the USA and available at www.pendleton-usa.com .

Made in USA label with eagle for Pendleton

New Blankets for Spring 2021

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Pilot Rock

Spring is…nearly here, and with it come two new traditional wool blankets from Pendleton. They are beauties!

Pendleton Pilot Rock wool blanket

Pilot Rock – In Oregon’s Western Cascades, Pilot Rock rises thousands of feet above the Rogue and Shasta Valleys. The area’s original Native American inhabitants, the Takelma, called it Tan-ts’at-seniphtha, or “Stone Standing Up.” The Takelma lived in the rock’s shadow as they fished, hunted and foraged along the Rogue River. In this pattern, arrows represent salmon swimming into nets, and large baskets overflow with abundant acorns and camas.

See it here: Pilot Rock

We are using this beautiful pattern for clothing, towels, and accessories!

A woman faces away from the camera, she is wearing a jacket in the Pilot Rock pattern

Would you like to see it all? Click here: More Pilot Rock

Fossil Springs

Pendleton's Fossil Springs blanket

Fossil Springs – A pattern inspired by the powerful waters of Fossil Springs in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest. Every minute, 20,000 gallons of calcium-laden water pour from the base of a 1,600-ft deep canyon, laying down deposits of travertine limestone and creating fossils that inspire the area’s name. In the center of this pattern, the springs surge to the surface, flowing out to fuel the wild waters of Fossil Creek.

See it here: Fossil Springs

Warriors Circle of Honor, by Harvey Pratt

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Veterans’ Day 2020

For Veterans’ Day, we’d like to feature the Warriors Circle of Honor blanket, designed by artist Harvey Pratt.

The Warriors Circle of Honor blanket by Harvey Pratt.

The Artist & Memorial

Harvey Pratt (Cheyenne/Arapaho) is an Oklahoma artist who works in painting, sculpting, wood carving, bronze, and graphic design. He served with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam. He has worked in law enforcement for fifty years and is one of the foremost forensic artists in America. He currently serves as the chairperson of the Interior Indian Arts and Crafts Board, and as a traditional Southern Cheyenne Peace Chief.

Mr. Pratt designed the National Native American Veterans Memorial, at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. This memorial commemorates the service and sacrifice of Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Veterans—past, current, and future. The memorial is a place of honor, recognition, reflection and healing for all Native veterans and their families.

For a deeper look at Mr. Pratt and his work on the memorial, please enjoy this film.

The Blanket

Pendleton is proud to present Mr. Pratt’s “Warriors’ Circle of Honor” blanket design, based on the memorial.

Warriors Circle of Honor blanket, front.

The Sacred Fire burns at the center of bands of color representing Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. A border of stars and stripes has openings to allow spirits to enter. Four hands wearing feathers of bravery and triumph mark the cardinal directions. Oval shapes echo the museum’s Grandfather Rocks.

Warriors Circle of Honor, reverse view.

More Information

For more information on Mr. Pratt’s work, please visit his website:  harveypratt.com.

To learn more about the blanket, visit our website: Warriors’ Circle of Honor

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Happy Earth Day, with Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® Blankets and Throws

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A stack of folded Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool bed blankets on a wooden table.

Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day.

There are many, many products out there claiming to be green. From the sheep to the shelf, Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® passes strict standards of sustainability and stewardship, verified and certified. This means that if you were to take a Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® blanket and bury it, it would leave the earth better, not worse, for the addition.

Soft and Comfortable

That’s a nice way to explain it, but we make blankets for you to use, not to bury. Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® products are designed to be delightful to touch, easy to care for and beautifully colored. And they are woven in the USA of 100% virgin wool.

Another stack of folded Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool bed blankets on a wooden table.

Blankets come in solids, stripes, checks, and plaids; and be sure to see the new Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® striped throws with whipstitch binding. These are just begging to be thrown over the arm of your sofa.

Four Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool striped throws draped across a wooden dowel.

There are also fringed throws and shams to complete your bedding ensemble. And in addition to being eco-friendly, all these products are woven and made in the USA.

See the Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool collection here: Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool®

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