[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]There is a lot of 100% acrylic and 75acrylic/25 wool and acrylic/cotton blends manufactured in and available in Chile, as well as acrylic made in Peru. Some of it is very soft and pretty. It is mostly what we call worsted weight and costs about 1,000 pesos ($2.00 US) for about 200 yards. (Like Plymouth Encore) That is what you see in the front window for 990, 880, 1200 pesos. Knitting and Crocheting is still very much a way to provide sweaters etc. for your family. Most things there are very expensive, especially clothing and food. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]There was some Alpaca in the “regular yarn stores” but it was very expensive…they must export most of that. They did have hanks of hand dyed Chilean wool and beautiful hand dyed cotton in these stores. By their standards they were expensive, but to me they were more than reasonable! $5.00 - $8.00 per skein. I will try to label a picture of what I bought with the prices and names. The pictures I have posted are ones I took at the hotel before I packed. I still don’t have my act together enough to take pictures now that I have it all at home!![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]The best / least expensive Chilean wool was at the Wool/Craft Fair. Sock yarn is not something they stock … or even really understand the need for. How do I know this? How did I end up at a Wool Fair???[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Well, my first day out I took the hop on, hop off bus tour. My first stop was to go to a museum. On the way to the museum, there was a yarn shop. I went in totally unable to speak Spanish, very confused because EVERYTHING is behind the counter and you have to ASK. And, when they tell you how much it costs, it is in Spanish … so … I was trying to tell the sales lady I was looking for washable wool, sport weight, sock yarn. A young Chilean woman was shopping in the store and understood and spoke English VERY WELL. She told the sales person what I was looking for. They didn’t have it and she said “There are lots of other yarn stores on Rosas Street would you like for me to show them to you?” She spent the next 4 hours taking me in and out of yarn stores … doing all the “talking” for me! If the price was written … 1570 … I could figure out that I could use 2 GREEN “dollars” which would be 2,000 pesos and I would get change. But if I asked the price and they said “Ceiento cincuenta y siete mill” I had NO IDEA how much. It was wonderful. (We were always walking, outside, and I knew exactly where my “bus stop” was … so no chance of being kidnapped by a stranger … besides that, she was 28 years old and I met her in a KNITTING SHOP) [/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]We had a really nice lunch which she ordered[/FONT][FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]. And made plans to get together again the next week. I knew I wanted to go to the Araucania shop “Cuentapuntos” in Santiago. So we met there. It was on the “Rodeo Drive” of Santiago. This was the most expensive yarn I saw. It is actually Peruvian yarn, hand dyed in Chile. It is popular here in the US and mostly exported here and to Europe. I bought 3 skeins of beautiful sock yarn. It would have cost about $20.00 per skein plus shipping. It was only about $8.00 per skein. Berni (my new friend) thought that was an ENORMOUS amount to pay for yarn. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]She had heard that there was a Wool/Craft Fair at a park near by. It was SO COOL ! And had the most authentic Chilean yarn and wool, weaving and woodworking supplies and some paper crafting and felting things. After that, we went back to the hotel together and I shared the projects I had brought with me.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]My husband was there on business and I got to tag along. He will have to go back several times in the next year so I am going to go with him, for sure![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]This needle felted Nativity was at the “fair” . Berni knows how to make them … next time I go she is going to teach me how to make it !!![/SIZE][/FONT]
