Manos del Uruguay 50th Anniversary

This year Manos del Uruguay celebrates 50 years of producing some of the finest Fair Trade yarns available. At Estelle, we couldn’t be prouder to be the Canadian distributor for this wonderful company.

While most of you are already familiar with Manos del Uruguay, let us take a minute to talk about this amazing cooperative. Manos del Uruguay is a non-profit social organization that strives to generate and develop work sources for women in the interior of Uruguay. The craftswomen themselves are the owners of Manos del Uruguay, and the objective is to generate work for rural women, allowing them to stay in their own home towns to earn their living, and to develop themselves as human beings.

All Manos del Uruguay yarns have an identification tag on them, with the signature of the craftswoman who made it, along with the name of the locality and the cooperative where it was made. You can actually go online and see the woman who dyed your yarn and her location! How’s that for a connection?!

If you’d like to know more, Manos del Uruguay has produced this insightful video to talk about their history, what they stand for and how they have helped women in the countryside of Uruguay for over fifty years.

Not only does Manos del Uruguay offer breathtaking colourways and exquisite yarns, they also have an extensive selection of tasteful patterns designed with hand painted yarns in mind.

Paisano Vest is the latest and greatest in the free pattern line-up from Manos del Uruguay. Knit in super soft Serpentina on 9mm and 10mm needles, this is one project that is guaranteed to fly off your needles in no time.

Paisano Vest is a simple vest designed to highlight the rustic look and soft feel of Serpentina. Available in two sizes, it is knit flat from the bottom up. Paisano Vest features a fashionable split hem in the back and decorative faux seaming. This trend setting vest is an excellent layering piece that is sure to be a hit this Fall. Knit it for yourself or whip one up as a last-minute gift for a special friend, they’ll never forget you for it!

Serpentina is both hand dyed and hand spun, making it truly an artisan experience! Gorgeous colours run throughout this 100% merino yarn at random which enhance its unique quality. The result is a fabric that is soft and squishy to the touch with plush stitch definition.

Serpentina gets its name from the delicate colour twirling effect, reminiscent of the paper streamers, or serpentina in Spanish, that are thrown at Carnival parties. If you’re in the mood to party with an incomparably elegant yarn, stop in to your LYS, grab a ball or two (or three or four!) of Serpentina and let the fun begin!

Join us as we wish Manos del Uruguay Happy Anniversary! And be sure to stay tuned here for more details of what’s to come from for Fall 2018.

 

Leave a Comment