Tejiendo

It is time for me to learn how to knit in Spanish. I obviously already know how to knit in English, but aside from to knit: tejer the only other word I know is stitch: puntos . Each time I whip out my sock (media) or the red scarf (bufanda) I am making for the Red Scarf Project, I am the recipient of a barrage of questions, to which I can only answer “I am knitting a sock/scarf.” Yo estoy tejiendo una media/bufanda. Part of the problem is that weaving, knitting, and crocheting all count as tejer. And all yarn is referred to as lana. There is no highbrow shops chock full of designer yarns (ironic, I know, considering some of the best yarns come from Peru), and specific varieties aren’t really necessary-I am glad I know the difference between lana de oveja (lambs wool), lana de alpaca (you can figure this one), and lana de acrilico(another obvious translation). Where I live, on the northern central coast of Peru, the majority of the animals are stripped of their fleece and it is immediately shipped south, to places like Arequipa (Blue Sky Alpacas), Pisac(Cascade 220), or further north to Malabrigo( yeah, there’s another town by the same name in Uruguay, both produce lots of yarn). There is plenty of acrylic yarn available in the stores, but most of it is more like crochet thread than yarn-lots of doilies and doll clothing are knit and crocheted around here. So, cheers to me spending more centavos searching the internet for a knitters’ dictionary in Spanish-Doña Juana wants me to translate one of my sock patterns to Spanish (Embossed Leaves-Interweave Knits).

I finished the Messenger Bag, and did a trial run at cold-water machine felting – it didn’t work, even though I had added a teakettle worth of hot water. So today I’ll buy some rubber gloves to protect my freshly manicured fingers (don’t laugh, cinco sols and the manicurist came to the house, all the rest of the mujeres in la familia were doing it, and I didn’t want to be rude), boil more water, and give a go at felting by hand. Also, I turned the heel on the second rib/cable sock, although it doesn’t look exactly like its mate-I think I must have used a different method, and I didn’t write it down.

P.S. Thursday, in between the hour and a half classes at the girls school, I saw two niñas sitting together in the yard knitting. Ahh, it warms my heart.