Cusqueña is my love letter to Cusco. Its colors and stitch patterns, including variations on a star motif traditionally used in Peruvian chullos, call to mind the terrain, architecture and history of the region—the mountains and terraces, the colonial structures built into Incan temples, the dusty trails and cobblestone streets. Worked in a DK weight yarn, it’s thick, cozy, and sturdy and in 100% baby alpaca, it’s impossibly soft—a little too-on-the-nose metaphor for life and people in the Peruvian Andes.

50% of proceeds from sales of this pattern go to support the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco.

Sizes: S (M, L); finished circumference 20 ½ (21 ¾, 23 ¼)”/52 (55, 59) cm

Gauge: 22 sts and 30 rounds = 4 inches/10 cm in charted pattern

Yarn: Pichinku Yarn ISKAY Baby Alpaca, 100% alpaca, 246 y/100 g (225 m/4 oz): 1 skein each in Golden Chicha and Toasted Trigo

Needles: US 6/4 mm 16”/40 cm circular needle, or size to obtain gauge
US 6/4 mm double pointed needles, or size to obtain gauge
US 5/3.75 mm 16”/40 cm circular needle, or 1 size below gauge needle

Notions
yarn needle, stitch markers