These two ladies (mother and daughter) have been weaving side-by-side for as long as either of them can remember. Back-breaking, sitting outside in the cold on concrete, strapped into what is supposed to be a back support, one raw silk thread at a time. Fine work. The mother’s husband had taken the bus the 8 hours or so each way into town to sell them. We prefer to “buy direct” –and so we did. The other 3 ladies are in a different village in a “weaver’s cooperative” of the region’s women where they learn and sell their products and share (somehow) in the rewards. To carry them through the months it takes to make some of these garments (5-6 months for the one we bought–they said), the cooperative pays them a monthly stipend. Hard to say which wears out first–the eyes or the back…. or the fingers.