Back to my beloved Peru – Ready for 10 days of exploration & excitement

Crazy how it has already been more than 8 months since we left humid Lima for, well yes, humid Antwerp, last April, after the most amazing trip of my still very young life.

When we, my friend & photographer & traveling buddy Griet Hendrickx and I, that is, arrived at our little Bed & Breakfast (Casa Bella Peru in Miraflores)last night, it was as if it were yesterday that we were drinking juchos and brainstorming/dreaming about our ‘second trip’ to Peru, in 2012. How time flies…!

Because… we’re back, baby! Back in beautiful, oh-so-beautiful Peru for 12 days of work, excitement, exploration, enjoyment, laughter … We’re ready for it!

So… What’s the plan this year? Although we traveled in Peru in April last year for 3 weeks, our (my) trip this year is now a bit earlier and a bit shorter too due to 2 important aspects. The first one is the upcoming LN|Beanies book. As you might have read, there will be an LN|Beanies book next winter, publised by De Standaard Uitgeverij.

A book of almost 130 pages about the beginning of my little love brand, the long, yet exciting road I had to follow to where the brand is today and a bunch of great patterns on how you can knit or crochet your very own LN! More info soon about that…!

So, at the end of this month I will start writing and creating the samples for you to make yourself and therefore I need… yes… the new “Winter 2013-2014” yarn collection.  The first important meeting is planned for today, with Mitchel, my yarn manufacturer. I will pick up the samples of the new LN|Beanies & LN|Andes colors. Very excited about that! The color palette is absolutely stunning, and I’m curious to find out what your favorite color will be!

Pictures up soon…

After my morning meeting at Mitchell, Griet and I will enjoy our last hours as lazy tourists in Lima before we head to Ayacucho, the “pearl of the Andes”, where my LN|Andes goods are produced. As you all probably already know, the entire LN|Andes collection is handmade in Ayacucho by teenage mothers at DIA (Solidarity International Organisation), giving them a chance to have a steady income.

Back in Ayacucho I will be catching up with the girls and briefing them about the new collection items, namely… the handknit vests! How do you like these? Made out of the same yarn as the Big Berthas, Long Lucys and Mini Marias. As soft and as light weight as the rest. Once you’ve put this Cosy Charlene on, you’ll wish the winter would last forever. 100% pure alpaca warmth… Mmmmm!

Other than Mitchell and DIA,  there is another very exciting something: a weekend high in the Andes (5000+ metres above sea level) with a family of Peruvian 100% baby alpaca farmers. Griet and I will be herding Alpacas with the absolute pros! We will arrive there during the day, spend the night in one of their huts and join/help them shear the baby Alpacas. We would like to focus more on the basic product, the 100% baby Alpaca, than on the production of the collection itself, as we did last year.

So we’ll be herding, shearing, spinning and dyeing together with the locals in order to have a greater insight on how my basic product, the 100% baby alpaca, is produced, where it comes from and how it got there. Then we can share this with you!

Lots of interesting stories and beautiful pictures of us and our trip in general, so keep your eyes on this page!

Hope you will be as hooked on this year’s LN| “travel Peru” blog as you were last year!

Cheers,

LN