Needle Arts

Mensura:
The idea for a handicrafts workshop in needle arts like knitting, crocheting, sewing, lace-work was conceptualized in order to develop in two directions. The main one was to create a space for people to talk in Croatian while doing something most of us can relate to. I know how hard it is when you don’t understand what people are talking about around you. Soon we started mixing in English as well but we still focus a lot on language. The other direction was to exchange ideas and techniques on handicrafts, to creatively combine it with other techniques, like glass-making that we practice in the Atelier. The Needle Art group meets in the atelier once a week, for two hours. We present to one another what we have created at home. We share ideas and exchange techniques. 

I started learning crocheting and lace knitting at the age of 11. My stepmother taught me. She said that every woman needs to know at least the basics, so she taught me. I am very happy to have those skills. I know how to knit garments. Once I earned money for my daughter’s summer vacation by selling sweaters. My father was also earning pocket money with knitting when he was a child. He would make woolen socks and sell them in the market. 

In the group, we create earrings and brooches by crocheting. Knitting produces  slippers and headbands. Our next step was to combine it all with glassblowing and making really nice necklaces. It is all about developing aesthetics and creativity.

We usually get yarn donated, but some of us are investing in our own. We get reimbursed when the pieces sell. Money is less important, the most important thing is to enjoy the things we do. 

My friends started asking me to make them earrings, but my small personal victory is when my granddaughter recently asked me to make them for her in rainbow colors. I think it is really important that children accept how we are different yet still can be together. 

Arpy:
I’m making knitted slippers, called papuche, here. My aunty taught me when I was a child. She didn’t have children. We were her children, so this is how I first learned to knit. Even with the knowledge of a simple stitch, you can make many models. If I dedicate myself solely to knitting, I can finish a pair in two days. 

Safaa:
I learned crocheting as a young child in Syria, and I was doing it a lot. I really loved it. I was making tablecloths and bed linen. It was my cousin who showed me, and then I did my own research, learning from the catalogs. There are mobile phones and Youtube today, back then we only had magazines. I have so many things going through my head right now – I don’t have citizenship, waiting for the permanent stay for the whole family, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. All this makes it difficult to have the patience for the intricate needle art. It is not easy.

Madina:
In Afghanistan all women are doing it, but also some men. My mother was making scarves and gloves, but also carpets. She was telling me how in the villages everyone is working in the field during the summertime. But for three months in winter they would be at home – cooking, eating and doing handicrafts. Families would come together, and talk, work, sing, play games. 

Mensura:
Those are called “prela” where I’m from! I was growing up during a time when people still cultivated  hemp. My grandmother was growing  hemp and linen. They would harvest it, create bundles that would be soaked in the water, and worked it with something called “stupa.” What was left from the plant was the hemp thread. In the spring  women were washing and drying wool after shearing the sheep.  They would spin it during winter, along with the hemp and linen. My grandmother had a large loom where she would make hemp and linen sheets; a bit more rough, but they were the best for sleep. Women worked a lot during wintertime.