It's a bit confusing even in person. My classes was taught by Nari and Katy, two master weavers who were incredibly knowledgeable and funny. They always helped me out when my threads got mixed up or I miscounted the pattern... which happened a lot!
Over the six-hour lesson, we practiced three patterns and then chose our own to weave. The first was just a simple back-and-forth pattern that alternated the two colors in repeating bands, just a design to practice the movements. The second was called tanka ch'uru, which means "snailshell or seashell" and is supposed to represent el Cruz Andino, a symbolic representation of the four regions of the Incan empire. The third was kuti, a swirling pattern that, according to different weavers, either represents a farming tool by the same name or the cyclical nature of time. The final design, the one that I chose, was jakakuy sisan, a design that originated from pre-Incan cultures and represents the circling or spiraling path of birds in flight, althougth I chose it mainly for its difficulty.
It's hard to convey the process of weaving only through words, but I had such an incredible expereince learning a bit about the indigenous knowledge and art from the place where I'm a temporary resident. Plus, now I have some good Christmas gifts to make and bring home!
