Cultural Threads

26/05/2026

Travel and time are wild. One day you can be 14,000ft in the Peruvian Andes, workshopping daily with the most talented Quechua women, creating handwoven textiles, knitwear and pieces shaped by life at elevation. Then suddenly you’re back in the Sierra, sharing those same creations at as thousands gather for closing weekend at .

From the high Andes to Tahoe in what feels like the blink of an eye. The contrast is beautiful and disorienting all at once. Different mountains, different rhythms, yet somehow connected.

Thank you for the warm welcome home. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was hearing people stop by to tell me how much they love the knits they’ve bought from us. I can’t wait to tell the ladies. 💛

I have so much to catch you all up on from my time in the Andes.

25/04/2026

Our tiny Andean planet 🌎

This is Bertha and Romualdo’s home which has become my home in the Andes, where I stay, where we work and where so much of this dream has grown.

For years, they have been a quiet but powerful force behind Cultural Threads.

We dream of one day having our own local place to gather, stay warm and create together.

Each year, it feels a little closer, thanks to you.

19/04/2026

To work within another culture means learning that your way is not the way. It means listening first. Respecting customs and understanding that community comes before business.

Living here alongside these women, I have shared so much of life with them… celebrations, laughter, long days of work, love, and life’s hardest moments.

When I arrived to the mountains on this trip, an uncle of Victoria and Alejandrina had passed away.

So everything paused.

There was no workshop.
We did not knit.
We simply sat together.

The entire community gathers in these moments. Grief is shared, not carried alone. Days are given to honoring the person who has passed and to being present for those left behind.

This was not the first time I have experienced loss alongside these women, and each time I am reminded that Cultural Threads is not built on transactions.

It is built on trust.
On respect.
On showing up for one another in every season of life.

This is the real foundation of our work. And this is why what we create carries so much more than craftsmanship.

09/04/2026

It’s that time of year again 🤍
Back to the Andes.

The shop will be open Friday, Saturday, Sunday
11–6pm through Memorial Weekend.

23/03/2026

Cultural Threads is once again in the nomination phase for the Best of Tahoe Truckee awards.

We were honored to be voted Best New Business last year and are grateful to be nominated again for 2026.

You can vote for us in various categories, including Best Boutique Shop and Gift Shop. When you select Cultural Threads, it will show all the categories we’ve been nominated in so you can vote for them all at once.

Use the link below to log in once, then vote each day through March 25.

We truly appreciate your support 🤍

Vote in any or all categories once per day March 13th through March 25th PDT! Not seeing your favorite in a category? You can still cast write-in votes through March 25th PDT!

09/03/2026

Women are the heart of Cultural Threads.

They are not just artisans. They are mothers, herders, spinners, knitters and keepers of knowledge that has lived in the Peruvian Andes for generations.

If my younger self had known that one day I would be friends with and working alongside talented Quechua women living above 14,000 feet, I would never have believed it.

Together we have built something that did not exist before. A path where their hands, their culture and their lives are carried through every piece we create.

I am endlessly proud of us.

This is the power of women.

19/02/2026

The Tahoe backcountry is where I first fell in love with alpaca fiber in real mountain conditions and where I came to understand what true mountain community means. In a small town like ours, these wild and beautiful places are where we gather and rely on one another.

It’s been a heavy week in Tahoe. The tragedy that has touched our community is heartbreaking and we are all feeling it. 💔

The shop will remain closed again today. Snow continues to fall and our basin’s resources should be focused where they’re needed most. Please share only love with our community. Hold the families close in prayer and send strength to our search and rescue teams.

06/02/2026

Don’t be shy. Come be the best Valentine ❤️

Shop open daily
11-6pm

03/02/2026

We were supposed to have our usual virtual meeting last Friday.
When I hadn’t been able to connect with anyone for days before, I knew Pachamama was the reason.

Yesterday, messages, videos, and calls began coming in.

The high Andes have been experiencing an extreme snowstorm. One we haven’t seen like this since July 2017.

For five days it was nonstop work. Clearing snow with sticks just to make space for the alpacas to lie down. There are no shovels here. This kind of snow is not typical. Babies were being born in the middle of the storm, and all the women could do was try to keep them warm. Some newborns ended up sleeping on the floor inside the cabaña. We lost some babies. 😔

Normally, storms at this altitude are dry and cold. Hail comes through and melts away quickly. This is different. Wet snow and lingering cold. Conditions families and animals here are not built for.

We’ve been clothing our baby alpaca in jackets for many years, but this storm is showing us what we already know. Jackets aren’t enough. Alpaca in the highlands now need barns.

Climate change is not abstract in the high Andes.
It’s personal.

This is why our work matters. For adaptation, protection, and staying rooted on ancestral land.

I’ll be sharing more ways to support our artisans and their communities very soon.

12/01/2026

New life in the Andes 🦙

Our artisans’ herds in Peru above 14,000 ft. are thriving and we are in peak birthing season with nearly ten baby alpacas arriving each day. These tiny crias are taking their first steps in the same mountains where their fiber will one day be transformed into the pieces you hold in your hands. Getting these updates from our alpaquero families makes me smile. I hope it does for you too.

This is what the seasons of Cultural Threads look like. Living, breathing, and rooted in Pachamama. 🌀