Blog Post 15/07/2020 - Manos Del Uruguay

Manos del Uruguay is a non-profit organisation that supports local women to make a living while remaining in their local village and raising their families. Manos' artisans are organised in cooperatives located in small towns in Uruguay's countryside.  They spin and dye the yarns in co-ops located in Fraile Muerto, Rio Branco and Dragón. These talented artisans create the most beautifully dyed yarns, with great dedication, skill and care. Their jobs at Manos del Uruguay, enable them to provide for their families and raise their children without having to emigrate to Montevideo's poorer areas.

Manos del Uruguay's fantastic colours are their trade mark. Manos combine research and experimentation with traditional techniques and more than 50 years' experience. Their dyeing process uses small dye lots made in pots heated by wood fire or gas. Manos colours are never completely solid and have beautiful nuances and tone variations.

To achieve their spectacular space dyed colours, they dye the same skein up to six times, to achieve a truly unqiue and beautiful piece of art. After being dyed, the yarns are sun-dried in the
co-operative's back yard. Every skein is unique and no two are exactly the same.

The best way to support the cooperatives is to purchase their yarn. We have several ranges of Manos yarns in stock on our website.

Manos del Uruguay do a wonderful job of providing free patterns to support their yarns, you can click here to go to the website to see the free patterns they provide.

Here is a mini documentary about Manos del Uruguay and the difference it makes to peoples lives.