Retiring blankets for 2020

Pendleton has been telling stories with our blankets since the first blanket mill opened in 1909. Each year, certain Pendleton blanket designs are retired. These designs are all available at pendleton-usa.com in limited quantities. Is one of these stories yours?

PAINTED HILLS

Pendleton Painted Hills blanket

Rising from the dry plains of Eastern Oregon, bare earth undulates in folds of scarlet, ochre, and yellow. These are the Painted Hills, whose brilliant stripes inspired this design and were created by oxidized mineral deposits in layers of volcanic ash. Adventurers who want to take a road trip into the past can see the hills, visit the nearby John Day Fossil beds and explore the ghost towns of this remote part of Oregon’s landscape.

Learn more here: Painted Hills Blanket

BIGHORN

Pendleton Bighorn blanket

Straddling the borders between Wyoming and Montana, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is home to spectacular canyons, clear blue waterways and countless wildlife. In 1825, the Bighorn River called famed mountain man Jim Bridger to build a raft of driftwood and ride it through the foaming rapids. Part of the river was dammed to create Bighorn Lake, but the spectacular canyon it carved remains, named for the Bighorn sheep that travel its rocky, treacherous paths. Located in Montana and Wyoming, about one third of the park unit is located on the Crow Indian Reservation. One quarter of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range lies within the Bighorn Canyon Recreation Area.

Learn more here: Bighorn blanket

TURQUOISE RIDGE

Pendleton Turquoise Ridge blanket

Turquoise is known as the “fallen sky stone.” Prized for its beauty in colors that range from white to aqua to deepest green, turquoise has been used for amulets, beads, jewelry, carvings and more for ten thousand years. Legends of the Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo and Apache nations mention turquoise. In one legend, a tremendous drought brought great suffering to the People of the Earth. When the skies finally opened and shed rain on the People, they rose up to sing, dance and shed tears of joy. Their grateful tears mixed with the rain and seeped into Mother Earth to become Sky Stone.

Learn more here: Turquoise Ridge blanket

BUTTERFLY

Pendleton Butterfly blanket - front view

Sitting Bull challenged us all “to put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” Sitting Bull College and the American Indian College Fund memorialize his efforts and echo his belief that education can transform the future. We honor Sitting Bull’s legacy with flower and butterfly designs similar to those on his regalia. A caterpillar’s transition to butterfly mirrors the transformative power of education—a fitting remembrance for such a visionary leader. Created exclusively for the American Indian College Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps fund scholarships for Native American students and tribal colleges. Your purchase helps support their honorable mission.

Learn more here: Butterfly blanket

Pendleton Butterfly blanket-reverse view

Pendleton label with bald eagle: "Pendleton since 1863 Highest Quality Made in the USA."

Get them while you can!

Here’s a list of six special Pendleton blankets that are retiring soon.

1. New Mexico Centennial

The New Mexico Centennial blanket is designed around the red Zia sun symbol, in which the Circle of Life binds together elements: four winds, four seasons, four directions and four sacred obligations. The blanket has a clean, graphic beauty. This is a limited edition, with very limited availability from Pendleton the Courtyard, located at 1100 San Mateo NE, Albuquerque, NM. 505.232.0088.

2. Keep My Fires Burning

Keep My Fires Burning pays tribute to Native American storytellers, who fill an important cultural role in each tribe by passing on traditions of healing, song, ceremony, dance and most importantly, creation. Storytellers interpret tales taught to them by their elders, and adding their own experiences to create sacred and living narratives that span generations.

Maria Martinez for AICF 20th Anniversary Blanket

3. AICF 20th Anniversary by Maria Martinez

This blanket, based on the work of the late ceramic artist Maria Martinez , pays tribute to her artistry with Pueblo Indian Pottery. Her black-on-black pottery reached new heights in artistic expression, skill and technique. This blanket honors the 20th Anniversary of the American Indian College Fund, and reminds us that we can only reach new heights together.

4. Sunrise Song Heritage

Sunrise Song uses the brilliant colors of daybreak to represent the Sunrise Ceremony that is common to many Native American tribes. The people gather, wrapped in blankets and facing the East, to greet the Morning Star with dance, prayer and song. Together, they give thanks for another day of life.

5. Sugpiaq Umaq

Sugpiaq Umaq, with a design based on ancestral art created by Kodiak craftsman and artist Jerry Laktonen, celebrates a rebirth of the Alutiiq people culture of Native Alaskans indigenous to Kodiak Island and parts of the mainland. Sugpiaq means “the real people,” and Imaq means “ocean.” The bold rising sun mask represents the Alutiq cultural resurgence and Alaska’s midnight sun. Sea life swims around the sun, while Alutiiq kayaks travel across the top and bottom of blanket.

6. Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe portrays the radiance and beauty of Mexico’s popular religious and cultural image. Since 1531, Our Lady’s icon has resided in the Basilica of Guadalupe, extending her promise of love, compassion and protection to all.

We are here to help.

If you need help with tracking down any retired blanket, please call our Pendleton Home Store at 503.535.5444. Our expert associates can often help you when all else has failed!

Made in USA label with eagle for Pendleton

Pendleton Woolen Mills

Since 1863

retired Pendleton blanket

Making Room on the Loom: Retiring blankets for 2020