Edith Cruz: A Woman Who Knits

Edith Cruz: A Knitter Empowered by Fair Trade

In her rural village overlooking Lake Titicaca, near Puno, Peru, Edith Cruz grew up watching her mom knit scarves, sweaters, and gloves to sell. Her nine-year-old sister Veronica and most of her girl friends knitted their own dolls to play with, but Edith wasn’t interested at the time. Instead, she tried knitting in high school at age 14, which to her felt old--and today, she is glad she did!

In 2009, the Lucuma Designs team met with Edith’s family and began working together soon after. Today she is finishing college and managing a group of knitters. Read more.

Veronica Cruz Knitting a Finger Puppet

During a 2018 visit to Puno, Peru, Alessandra and Don found a great spot along with Edith and Veronica and Petrona, in an open field overlooking Lake Titicaca and got a chance to film while experiencing a little bit of the countryside daily life. "This communal field is used as a pasture, so people had left their animals including their cows, sheep, and pigs earlier. As the afternoon progressed, they were coming back to pick them up. They knit so fast! Veronica did a puppet in under 30 minutes, even while talking and telling us about their families. We also heard again why this work matters and got a chance to interview them a little bit and hear their stories. Without much pre-planning, I feel we accomplished a lot today." Read more.