The most beautiful feedback you can imagine:
a photo of the new home of my mochila "Pagosa" in Colorado.
It could not be more perfect.
Thanks a lot, Debby, for this wonderful photo!

Click here for the crochet packages:




Of course you can get the crochet packages optionally with or without handwoven shoulder strap.




Short introduction - what is behind a Mochila Wayuu?

"Mochila" is quite simply the Spanish term for bag, pouch, backpack and the like.

The Wayuu are a tribe in Colombia. At first they lived in the area of today's Guayanas, but were expelled from there and finally found a new home on the peninsula "La Guajira" between Colombia and Venezuela.

Arts and crafts - including the production of the legendary "Mochila Wayuu" - have a high status in Wayuu culture. This is expressed in myths, rites of passage and customs. A Wayuu bag is produced in three techniques: crocheting, weaving and knotting. In Wayuu culture, women crochet bags as a socialization tool to impress virtues such as perfectionism and patience. Since the bags have found a market, middlemen have had them produced with double thread (double thread technique) and simplified patterns, which has resulted in a decline in the quality of the product: the production time is reduced from 3 weeks to 3 days, the patterns become inaccurate and the stitches loose.

Characteristics of a high-quality Mochila Wayuu:

• The mochila is so tightly crocheted that it stays upright.
• It is crocheted in the so-called "single thread technique", i.e. it is crocheted with a single thread in contrast to the commercial double thread technique.
• The shoulder strap is woven.
• The cord to pull the mochila together is woven or knotted, never just twisted.
• The tassels at the end of the cord are individually wrapped according to color.