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36 women crocheting their way to Guinness record attempt in Chennai

Dubai - The "crocheters" said it takes nine hours on an average to make one blanket. Each participant has to make at least one blanket. While many made four or five, some even crossed 10 and 15.

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Three dozen Indian women from across the UAE have been busy of late with their needles and yarn, creating woolen blankets with their nimble fingers.
They have been crocheting the blankets for the past few months to be part of a Guinness World Record attempt by participants collectively called "Mother India's Crochet Queens."
Sitting thousands of miles away, they are joining hundreds of Indian women across the globe knitted together with the sole ambition of crocheting a 5000-square metre blanket, which will later be donated to the needy.

How 'Mother India's crochet queens' were born The record attempting crochet project is the brain child of Chennai-based Subashri Natarajan, who always wanted to be an internationally acclaimed achiever. Browsing through various options, she hit upon the idea of breaking the current record of a crochet blanket measuring 3377sqm that was created in South Africa's Pretoria. Being an avid "crocheter" herself, the prospect thrilled her. Subashri applied for the record, and received an acceptance letter in July 2015. As a first step, a Facebook page 'Mother India's Crochet Queens community' was created. The response in the social media was overwhelming and the idea snowballed into a mega event. Any Indian woman who knows to crochet, and can make one blanket measuring 40x40 inches, in granny square patterns, can be inducted into the group. Also, the blankets contributed will be donated to the underprivileged. This noble cause satiated the yearning of the women to contribute to the society. A platform to express one's skill as well as serve the needy was too good to let go, the felt. Women in different cities in India as well as abroad formed small groups connected by the web with Subashri at the helm of affairs. The Facebook community now boasts of nearly 1,000 members across the world, including Poland, Europe, Singapore, the UK, Oman, Germany, the US, the UAE, Qatar and Australia.

The expat women are from different states and have different backgrounds. Many of them are working women and have taken up the venture by sparing their leisure time for it.
The UAE participants have committed making over 100 blankets of 40x40 inches in granny square patterns. They have already sent 26 of them to India to be woven together in Chennai.
Weeks ahead of sending across the rest of the blankets for the Guinness World Record attempt planned on January 31, most of the Crochet Queens in the UAE assembled in Mushrif Park on Friday with their vibrant blankets.
"This is the first time many of us are meeting each other... We have been coordinating through social media and phone calls," the UAE coordinator of the Crochet Queens Vinothini Ramesh Babu told Khaleej Times.
"We are using four ply yarn and 5mm crochet hook to make the blankets uniform. We could choose any colour and as you can see most of these are very vibrant in colours and some have even made blankets in rainbow colours."
The "crocheters" said it takes nine hours on an average to make one blanket. Each participant has to make at least one blanket. While many made four or five, some even crossed 10 and 15.
Priya Sivakumar, who works for a printer service company, said the crocheting experience took her back to her younger days.
"I had stopped doing crochet after school days. It is a wonderful feeling to be doing it again after 20 years."
The mother of two girls had committed only two blankets initially.
"After completing them, I did two more. Now, I want to do more before they get shipped. We are happily spending the money for the material because it is for a noble cause," said Priya.
Hooked on the hobby, some women said they found crocheting a big relaxation amidst the stressful life of balancing work and family in Dubai.
The participants said the union of a diverse group of Indian women from across the globe for a common cause was a commendable achievement by itself.
The Guinness record is only the icing on the cake, they felt.
They are now eagerly waiting to achieve their ambition of putting India in the international map in their own way and contributing to charity through their own works.
Concerned about the deluge happening in Chennai, the women, some of whom have relatives over there, said they hope the situation in the city will be back to normal soon and their event will also be held as planned.
sajila@khaleejtimes.com