These photos show the women of Manazo, Peru, hand knitting sweaters out of wool gathered from their baby Alpacas. They also knit beautiful sweaters from Pima cotton. When it is warm enough to do so, the ladies group together and knit outside in the sunshine, socializing as they work.

Each woman has been trained to knit the beautiful patterns that we have come to know through the sweater sales generated by the volunteers at St. Pius X, in Greensboro, NC.

All proceeds from these once-a-year sales go to the Artesania, (as they are known), each woman receiving $15.00 per sweater she’s produced. In addition to the training for knitting, they also take business classes and supervise their own quality control, inventory and design. Whatever remaining profits they have at the end of the year becomes profit shared and new equipment is purchased by the Artesania, if possible.