Nilda Callañaupa Alvaez the director of the Center of Traditional Textiles of Cusco, and author of Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands went with us to Chahuatire, a community famous for the fact that the weavers are men, the women doing the fiber preparation, carding, spinning, dying and all the painstaking finishing techniques. I of course focused on the men who were knitting chullos,
who for the most part use the familiar Andean technique of purling from the inside with the yarn tensioned around their necks, using thin needles with little hooks bashed on the ends.
But lo….observe closely the gentleman in the middle.
He is knitting. Again, a maverick in the community! (I don’t know why these images are so weirdly saturated or dim, depending on your browser.)
To facilitate working intarsia in the round, some of the men use the corded join technique.
While one man used “cruces” or crosses. He crossed or twisted the working yarns, before heading back in the other direction.
The pincher technique was also in evidence.
I showed them my knitting and we had a few laughs.
Mustn’t forget the women and children!
Beautiful & fascinating! I’ll have to pick your brain about this next time I see you. 🙂
Fantastic post!
Fabulous! I’d love to see these knitters some day.
What a beautiful post, thank you for sharing! Portuguese villagers use exactly the same needles and purling from the inside technique. But nowhere else in the world has stranded knitting developed like in the Andes.
Mary Jane, Beautiful! I LOVE their colors. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Knitting Bliss!
Incredible, wonderful photos again! I can’t quite wrap my head around how they knit, I think I’ll have to see it action, so intriguing.
You got some great pics!!!!! (I still haven’t gone through all mine) — I especially love the one with the kids. Makes me want to go back!!!!!