South America Pictures - Will They Work?

I seem to be able to post pictures, so even though I am not entirely happy with the template, I will continue with this blog as is for now.

Firstly, I want to let everyone know that this is primarily a fiber blog - knitting, spinning, maybe a little felting, probably not weaving, as I am not a weaver. Will not be a weaver in the imaginable future, I tried it once many years ago, had a loom living at my house for a few months, and never got to like it. And warping! This has to be one of the most diabolical types of torture I know of. (Though I do have a warping board, I got it about 2 years ago for dyeing experiments, to make long color change handpainted yarns, which it does well)

Anyway, I am currently blogging from the road (how weird does that sound?, as if I were a real blogger) so I do not yet have pictures of my in-progress projects to display. However, I really like the Indian woman weaving shown above, so I thought I would post some other fiber-related pictures from our trip to Peru and Ecuador a couple of months ago. It was a great trip, I love the Inca ruins and the Quechua culture, and the mountains are amazing. If anyone wants to see non-fiber pictures, let me know and I'll post a couple.

There was a lot of spinning, weaving, and knitting going on, even in the cities. Done mostly by the Indians and often displayed for the benefit of tourists, it was still very interesting to watch. Once I conveyed, in my poor Spanish, that I wanted to buy spindles, wool, and alpaca, I was treated more as an individual than just as a "gringa". In the local markets out in the country, there was a lot of acrylic yarn, but there was also wool and wool yarn, eagerly purchased by women of all ages. I knitted a lace shawl during the course of the trip, which was always exclaimed over by the locals, they seemed very surprised to see it.

Note: It's now Monday morning, the pictures from the laptop didn't work, so I'm trying again.

A mother and daughter, posing with their alpacas. While the people often wear colorful folk dress as their normal clothing, the alpaca is dressed up in a colorful yarn collar, usually it's just a rope.

This woman is knitting at a bus stop, where she is selling the sashes, bags, and dolls that she has spread on a blanket. She's using burgundy-colored wool, about sport weight, and needles that are probably about #4's.

This Quechua woman is spinning on a bottom-whorl drop spindle, as she is using black wool. The wool is held in her left hand, and the spindle in the right. When she has filled two spindles, she will roll both singles held together into a ball, and then spindle again, adding the plying twist.

Okay, since this seems to work fine from my office, I'll post it as is. Later in the week, there will be some actual fiber content of my projects, including the shawl that was knitted during the South American trip.