Knitting while Abroad
So one thing I need to do to make this a genuine, honest-to-goodness blog with the International Education Office´s stamp of approval is to answer this question: what did you assume before you left that you are not finding in your host-country?
Yarn. I thought there would be yarn. Glorious fluffy skeins of pure alpaca and maybe even llama. See, I am a knitter (I have come to terms with this and have even joined a support group), it´s extremely calming, gives my constantly nervous hands something to do, and it´s really freaking cool. Look, I can even make socks.
(I´m making these for my host-mom Cecilia. The pattern is Tiny Dancer by Elspeth McKee.)
So when I found out I was going to the land of mountains and llamas I had visions of lovely alpaca yarn (among other things, it´s not like I was just excited for the yarn). But upon arrival I realized that despite the prominence of llamas and alpacas in tourist information they are not that abundant here. My parents just visited (hi birthgivers) and we went to Otavalo this weekend. They were especially excited to see the animal market and my mother joked about buying a llama, but there were no llamas to be found. Sure there were pigs and cows and goats and few horses for good measure, but no llamas. When they expressed their disappointment (or more accurately, I translated their disappointment, since they don´t speak Spanish) to my host-dad Rodrigo he explained that there are more llamas in Oregon than in Ecuador, and even fewer alpaca. I suppose they look good in promotional photos and in handicrafts, but that doesn´t mean that there are a lot of them.
Yet, this does not mean that there is no yarn in Ecuador, there are plenty of stores that sell yarn, and I found a mountain of it piled up on two tables in Otavalo. It was all synthetic. Synthetic is occasionally itchy, especially in comparison with the soft clouds of fiber that is alpaca. My mom had a whole bag of light blue alpaca this summer and I would sneakily go to squeeze the skeins, loving how soft it was, and thinking how lovely it would be to actually work with it. It ruined me and I don´t want to buy much synthetic now, which is unfortunate seeing as that is the majority of what I am left with.
A fellow knitter in Ecuador explained that is seemed to her that any natural fiber is viewed as primitive and for poor people, and that modern (ie synthetic) is better. Perhaps this mindset goes back to the whole problem with class/racism here. On the surface, the native Ecuadorian culture is supported. In tourist information, everything is awash with indigenous peoples surrounded by the backdrop of the Andes with a herd of llamas in the distance. Tourists can buy alpaca sweaters with motifs of llamas that have been around since before Pizarro showed up. But sometimes even when you search a little deeper all you find is synthetic yarn.
Edit: Look to the comments for another explanation of the acrylic yarn situation. I think it probably makes more sense than my assessment. Natural fiber is great, but it still smells like wet dog when you wash it, unlike acrylic.
Yarn. I thought there would be yarn. Glorious fluffy skeins of pure alpaca and maybe even llama. See, I am a knitter (I have come to terms with this and have even joined a support group), it´s extremely calming, gives my constantly nervous hands something to do, and it´s really freaking cool. Look, I can even make socks.
(I´m making these for my host-mom Cecilia. The pattern is Tiny Dancer by Elspeth McKee.)
So when I found out I was going to the land of mountains and llamas I had visions of lovely alpaca yarn (among other things, it´s not like I was just excited for the yarn). But upon arrival I realized that despite the prominence of llamas and alpacas in tourist information they are not that abundant here. My parents just visited (hi birthgivers) and we went to Otavalo this weekend. They were especially excited to see the animal market and my mother joked about buying a llama, but there were no llamas to be found. Sure there were pigs and cows and goats and few horses for good measure, but no llamas. When they expressed their disappointment (or more accurately, I translated their disappointment, since they don´t speak Spanish) to my host-dad Rodrigo he explained that there are more llamas in Oregon than in Ecuador, and even fewer alpaca. I suppose they look good in promotional photos and in handicrafts, but that doesn´t mean that there are a lot of them.
Yet, this does not mean that there is no yarn in Ecuador, there are plenty of stores that sell yarn, and I found a mountain of it piled up on two tables in Otavalo. It was all synthetic. Synthetic is occasionally itchy, especially in comparison with the soft clouds of fiber that is alpaca. My mom had a whole bag of light blue alpaca this summer and I would sneakily go to squeeze the skeins, loving how soft it was, and thinking how lovely it would be to actually work with it. It ruined me and I don´t want to buy much synthetic now, which is unfortunate seeing as that is the majority of what I am left with.
A fellow knitter in Ecuador explained that is seemed to her that any natural fiber is viewed as primitive and for poor people, and that modern (ie synthetic) is better. Perhaps this mindset goes back to the whole problem with class/racism here. On the surface, the native Ecuadorian culture is supported. In tourist information, everything is awash with indigenous peoples surrounded by the backdrop of the Andes with a herd of llamas in the distance. Tourists can buy alpaca sweaters with motifs of llamas that have been around since before Pizarro showed up. But sometimes even when you search a little deeper all you find is synthetic yarn.
Edit: Look to the comments for another explanation of the acrylic yarn situation. I think it probably makes more sense than my assessment. Natural fiber is great, but it still smells like wet dog when you wash it, unlike acrylic.