Our expert, teacher and author Karin Hellaby, has led fantastic tours to Peru, sharing her expertise with crafters just like you. Here is what Karin has to say about her holidays to this fascinating country, including insight into the included excursions and her amazing project and workshops…
“Peru is an incredible country to visit, especially for those of us interested in textiles – whether it be fabrics, clothes, yarns, knitting, crocheting, or historical aspects.
I was lucky enough to lead the first two Stitchtopia holidays to Peru and can honestly say that they have been the best tours I have led since 2006 – and I’ve worked on over sixty!
We covered many of the local sights and cultures, just as you would on a usual country tour, but textiles are also included, with visits to local crafts people and women’s cooperatives. This makes for a very full itinerary, but those who travelled with me said they would not have wanted to miss out on any of it!
We visited Lima, which homes a fantastic museum, and Arequipa, the convent city within a city. There was also Colca Canyon, where we watched the spectacular condors fly over one of the deepest gorges in the world. We paid a visit to the families living on floating islands in Lake Titicaca, experienced luxurious train rides, similar to the Orient Express and travelling over 16,000 feet of mountain passes, and learnt about pre-Inca and Inca civilisations in Cusco and the Sacred Valley.
Finally, we arrived in Machu Picchu, which was the goal for many, but for me it’s just another highlight in a country that keeps on giving. Along with all these attractions were the amazingly varied landscapes and delightful people.
I chose to design a journal cover as the project for this tour. The journal itself was filled with notes and photographs by several people. The cover stars a ‘Lampaca’ (my word for a llama/alpaca) with an embroidered saddle. The reverse side features the stitched names of places we visited during the tour and the spine is embroidered with ‘Peru 2023 or 2024’.
Why would textile lovers wish to travel all the way to Peru? Well, in Lima, we saw fabrics that were over 6,000 years old! A first for me. Several times we watched the locals use natural dyes to produce the most gorgeous, vibrant colours in yarn, which was then spun, woven, knitted, and crocheted. In the small towns and villages, local people wore their traditional clothes. Their hats, blouses, and designs identified them as belonging to specific groups. Taquile, an island on Lake Titicaca, was unusual in that only the men knitted – and their work was exquisite!
Modern clothing made from baby alpaca wool and other yarns were the most admired and were purchased by my two tour groups in considerable quantities, as was the machine embroidered crafts created by the local women’s cooperatives. The large amount of shopping was something our guides hadn’t expected, and they were grateful that we were helping their local economy.
I hope I have given you an insight into the Stitchtopia tour of Peru. My advice is always to go when you can! A textile tour like this will not disappoint!”
Keep your eyes peeled for future holidays to Peru! While you wait, we have a variety of textile tours still available to book for this year. You can find out more about them here and join fellow passionate crafters, or browse more holidays led by expert Karin Hellaby.
