Road knits II

They are serious about llamas in this region of the world, and so I have stepped up my interest in llamas as well–by knitting with as many of them as I can. I never thought I’d knit a poncho, let alone wear one, but then again, I also never thought I’d travel by car through Peru.

This is the poncho I made from the 50-50 wool-cotton blend from Hilana in Ecuador. It was really easy–just made two rectangles and then sewed them together with this homemade tapestry needle (a twisty tie).

The hardest part about the poncho was finding a stitch that would work well with this super-bulky yarn. I ended up going with the SKYP (slip, knit, yarn over, pass). I had enough yarn to add a hood, which was also a lot easier than I thought it would be: just pick up the stitches around the neck, knit a flat piece up, then close the corners together and sew up the seam. I will probably now add hoods to everything I make, now that I know how easy it is. I have never worn a poncho in my entire life, but I have been wearing this one every day (I’m a little sorry I chose white yarn because the thing is now filthy). It’s perfect to throw right over me and my giant purse, and I’ve even slept in it.

I’ve been knitting a ton lately to get through all the yarn I bought in Ecuador and Peru, but also because in Bolivia, it seems like every woman on the street is crocheting these very complicated shawls, which is sort of inspiring. Also, we are living at a mechanic’s workshop this week in La Paz, which means I am knitting while Juan and Milo are working on the car.

I also finished two projects with the Salinerito yarn we got in Salinas de Guaranda, the Ecuadorean town known for its cheese, and yarn. (They also make chocolates.) I bought three colors of alpaca, and used one of them to make these hideous socks. I loved the color of the yarn, but they ended up not striping anywhere except the heel flap. Their saving grace is that they are nice and warm for these nights in the high plain.

The other two skeins ended up being a little bulkier, and I used one color to try this free Boneyard Shawl pattern by Stephen West on Ravelry.

Here you can see I again used twisty-ties–this time to make stitch markers–and opted for the perforated yarn-over increases, rather than figuring out the M1R and M1L increases, which I couldn’t do without an internet connection.

It’s a little bulkier than I would like, so I’m probably going to take it out and use the yarn for something else, or else try it on larger needles.

I have started an awesome new sweater project with the baby alpaca yarn I got in Pisac! So hopefully I will be able to write about that soon.

To close, here is us crossing Lake Titicaca on these scary two-vehicle boats. I was really glad we shared a boat with this dinky little car and not a big truck.