How to identify your future husband based entirely on the quality of his knitting and the colour of his hat.

After visiting the floating islands we made our way to firmer ground on Taquile Island.

From the picture our guide painted, all 2000 inhabitants are obsessed with identifying who is and is not married – using the medium of knitwear. “If the men do not knit they cannot marry”. I was intrigued.

How do you find a husband on Taquile? First of all find out if he is single by checking the colour of the hat he has knitted himself. Red and white means he is single and just red he is married.

Black or bright colours indicates he is a leader in the community. I would say that was potentially a good catch, however I did see a lot of bright hats.

Once you have identified who is available, you can judge him on the quality of his stitches and his choice of design. The question is, can your man knit?!

Once you’ve hooked up, you will be responsible for spinning and dying wool for your husband so he can carry on knitting. Boys start knitting at 5 or 6 years old, and continue into their 90’s.

For any men reading this on the lookout for a wife on Taquile Island, you need to check the size of her pompoms. Large pompoms sewn onto her black shawl means she is single. Small pompoms mean she is married.

Personally I think they have it sorted. No confusion. And a community all about the knitwear.