As colourful balls of wool cascade down the table to the floor, knitting enthusiasts — both expert and novice — sit with their brows furrowed, deftly manoeuvring crotchet hooks. They are trying to put together as many granny squares as possible. Why? So that they can all be stitched into blankets. “It’s part of our Blanket of Love project that we started three months ago. The idea is to send the blankets to baby girls at Government hospitals in Bangalore,” says Mala Dhawan who along with her sister Sonia started A Hundred Hands in 2010.
“Our organisation aims to revive and promote handmade products by small producers on a commission-free basis. In addition, we also encourage people to create handmade products. We offer memberships to artist communities and today have 65 such groups working with us,” she says. Though the organisation is based out of Bangalore, it gets granny squares and blankets from across the globe. There have been squares pouring in from Gurgaon, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Himachal Pradesh and Kuwait. As of now A Hundred Hands has put together 12 blankets and more are in the making. Some contributors have gone ahead and sent entire blankets as well. Since the Blanket of Love is an ongoing project the numbers are expected to soar.
There are other initiatives as well like the one where they recycle old jeans to create trendy lifestyle products such as iPad covers, bum bags, wallets among others. A Hundred Hands also hosts handmade collective shows where artists showcase their work that includes artefacts, dolls, paintings... “We would love to organise something like that in Chennai as well but for that we need sponsors,” says Mala.
Suguna Rangaswamy from Chennai has been associated with A Hundred Hands since its inception. The 74-year-old has been into knitting for 24 years now. She makes dolls and more recently has been creating squares for the cause. “I have made around 15 squares so far and sent them to A Hundred Hands. More are underway,” she says, adding, “I would like more people to take up crotchet and knitting. I plan to start a group in Chennai for the same.”
The pre-determined measurement of the blankets and the squares are mentioned on >A Hundred Hand’s Facebook page . It’s a rather active page with members discussing all things related to crochet and knitting. Granny squares is the buzzword. The squares should measure 4x4 inches or 8x8 inches. For those new to the world of crochet, granny squares are square patches created by working from the centre outwards. Sounds intriguing? It’s time to pick up your crochet hooks and look up the Internet for help.
