Knitting

Many of you have been asking  me privately how to make the sweet scalloped “punta” edging found on Peruvian men’s hats, called chullos. A hard thing to describe in an email and hard to learn without seeing someone actually make some. Well now you’ve got the next best thing.  Pick up the Fall Interweave Knits for complete instructions for one way of making them. Take it easy, go step by step and you’ll be making multi-colored points in no time. You’ll also learn to make a checkerboard edging and strings of darling popcorns. There is even a sweet wristlet pattern for your pleasure.

 I’m not a scholar, just a passionate knitter who “needs to know”. I owe most of what I’ve learned about Andean knitting to two women I consider my mentors.

Cynthia LeCount Samaké is author of the definitive work on Andean Knitting, Andean Folk Knitting, Traditions and Techniques from Peru and Bolivia.  She also leads textile related tours around the world with her company Behind the Scenes Adventures, traveling to Mexico, Ghana, Mali, Turkey and of course Peru and Bolivia. I’ve been lucky to go with her to Peru a couple of times, and Bolivia once. I will tell you it is an amazing experience to be guided by an expert of her caliber, and on top of that –she’s a blast– adventurous and always on the look out for new experiences. We’ll both be teaching with Craft Cruises on a cruise around South America in November.

Nilda Callañaupa, is the director of  The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, a non-profit organization founded to help preserve the the textile traditions in the Cusco area of the Andes. Many weaving, knitting and other textile techniques were in danger of disappearing, with each new generation less and less likely to learn them. The center works with nine communities in the region to preserve the techniques unique to each village. CTTC is also committed to keeping the knowledge of natural dying alive.  Nilda accompanies  us to the villages, sharing her own vast textile knowledge, and as a local and native Quechua speaker helps us to communicate when inquiring minds like mine need a little further explanation for complex techniques! She’s also the author of a beautiful book Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands, Dreaming Patterns, Weaving Memories.

 There is nothing like learning new skills in real life. I’ll be teaching Andean Accents at Interweave Knitting Lab in Manchester  October 3-7, and fascinating Andean Intarsia at Vogue Knitting Live Chicago October 26-28.