When traveling around Peru, you can find all kinds of beautifully, hand-crafted goods to bring home as memories.  When we visited the market in Chinchero, we had the opportunity to see this group of ladies who make traditional Peruvian textiles starting from scratch and ending with beautiful scarfs, sweaters, blankets, wall throws, etc.  So, we asked them a little about the process and they explained to us that first – they take the wool from sheep or alpaca (depending on what they’re making) and they die it (boiling it in hot water with a local herb) . . .

The color above she decided to do is a beautiful blue tone (interestingly enough – they told us that the blues are the hardest colors to make…I will explain further down the post).

She explained to us how they get the different colors from natural plants, beans, etc.  She was mixing up some color in the photo above.  Here are some of the things they use to make colors below:

While we were with her, she actually took a bug off of a cactus and smashed it and showed us how beautifully red it’s blood is – that is how they get their reds.
So – blue – the hardest color.  Why?  Because amongst other herbs you also have to soak the wool in a child’s pee (they say male pee is better) for a month to get the pretty blue color that is so sought after.  Ha.

After dying, they dry the wool, then they string it into manageable yarn balls.
Then it is time to get to work making their crafts . . .

And after lots and lots of hard work – they have beautiful products to sell: