Men, women crochet for therapy

Three years ago, it seemed to Judith Njuguna that the world was collapsing around her. She was a bundle of nerves after losing students in her music class to Covid-19.

Recognising that she was fast falling into depression, she knew she had to do something and fast before she fell apart. Then she remembered a long-forgotten skill that always calmed her down.

“My mom taught me how to crochet when I was very young but I dropped it because I thought it was a 'hobby for the old'. However, in 2020, I got back into crocheting as a stress buster during the Covid-19 period.”

Having to work from home in constant isolation, she felt overwhelmed but says the repetitive motion of crocheting helped calm her down.

And she is not the only one that has found much-needed therapy in 'hobby of the old.

Hina Mehta runs a class that is bringing back to life the skill that dying. It is where we meet Ms Njuguna with balls of yarn and crocheting needles spread on the table.

Ms Mehta is teaching her students how to make cup holders. She explains to them that crocheting is an art that needs constant practice.

“The more frequently you crochet the more flexible you become and your adaptability to using all kinds of yarn,” she tells her class of five students.

Most of them being first-time attendees are meticulously trying to ensure they have the right number of stitches. 

“I need to reduce the number of stitches. I do not know how many I started with, I may have to pull the whole thing apart,” says one of the students.

Another who only identifies herself as Virginiah, is aged 63 and is taking the classes to satisfy her desire to learn an artistic skill.

“I am happy that I am getting to learn a new skill while also enjoying the company of some good people,” she tells the BDLife.

Also treading on new grounds is 22-year-old Anindo. Her desire to explore and try new things, she says saw her find her way to a crocheting class.

“I wanted to do new things this year. I enjoyed that the class provides a very encouraging learning environment. Having a project that you can just continuously do, leave and come back to gives you something to fall back on,” she says.

Her end goal is self-fulfilment, to have fun and have a project that keeps her busy.

Ms Njuguna has become so skilled in crocheting that she now teaches her music students as well. Her greatest achievement is being able to successfully teach her students crocheting.

“There is a fulfilling feeling when you see a student who has successfully mastered the crocheting skill,” she says adding that her advice to anyone battling depression is to, among other things, pick a ball of yarn and do some crocheting.

Ms Mehta started teaching crocheting in 2020 during the pandemic.

“I learned crocheting from a young age by observing my sister. With time, I let go of that passion to focus on other things but I still felt a calling to crochet. So when Covid-19 hit, I started crocheting again and I have never stopped ever since.”

Why decide to teach crocheting?

“I realised that crochet is a dying art. Not many people want to crochet and prefer knitting. I carry my bag with crochet tools everywhere and when I seat to crochet I find that people are shocked and amazed at the same time. I had someone tell me once that her ‘great great great’ grandmother used to crochet. This just showed me how much crocheting as art was dying,” Ms Mehta tells BDLife.

So she embarked on a mission to change the notion that crocheting was an activity for the dinosaurs (the old persons). Over time, she has seen people's love for crocheting grow.

Why crochet?

“Not only is it a hobby but it also helps people with anxiety and hypertension to calm down,” points out Ms Mehta adding that it helps in hand coordination and keeps one’s brain active and engaged while ageing.

Her students are as young as 10 years old and as old as 80. She is also impressed by the uptake of crocheting in schools.

“Crocheting is being introduced in schools and many children are taking it up. Parents are also looking for crocheting tuition where their children can get extra crocheting classes.”

But it is not just women trooping to her classes to gain crocheting skills.

“The other thing I have noticed is that crocheting is no longer a purely female-oriented craft. We are also getting men who want to learn this skill,” she says.

At a cost of Sh1,000 for each class, Hina has managed to train over 20 students.

“Crocheting is my passion. There are days I can have classes all day. I can also come for only one student. If you are willing to learn, I am here,” she says. She plans to have a YouTube channel to enable her to train even more people.

Nancy Kinyanjui is the co-founder of Provisions Kenya, a shop that sells yarns, knitting and crocheting needles among other materials. “We deal in natural wool yarn that is handmade in Kenya rather than acrylic yarn. Wool yarn is biodegradable hence helping in protecting the environment. The wool comes from sheep in Naivasha that are sheared and the wool is taken to spinners who twist it and make it into yarn,” says Ms Nancy.

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