Because of the considerable time and effort required to prepare handspun wool, rugs using these yarns may cost twice as much as those made from commercial yarns. Like other styles with borders, many Two Grey Hills rugs have a spirit line or spirit trail, a single line of light-colored weft near the top of the design, running through the border to the edge of the rug. The line is meant to prevent the weaver s creative energies from being trapped within the rug border. Warm colors such as brown, sienna, mustard, and rust are accented with a sparing use of pale, milky colors including rose, green, blue, white and lilac. Though named for the town of Chinle, the style is now woven everywhere in the Navajo nation.
Chinle rugs tend to use pastel or restrained colors lots of natural greys, whites, golds and greens.
However, they may also be bright and bold, in black, white and red, for example. The relatively straightforward design makes this one of the most commonly woven rugs. Weavers add very narrow bands with delicate motifs and thin, straight lines of contrasting colors. Shapes within the broader bands are often outlined with a different color. The colors tend to be deep, somber vegetals browns, olives, maroons, and mustards accented sparingly with an elemental color such as white, red or black.