They have already set two Guinness Records in crochet, for the largest crocheted blanket in 2016, and for the longest scarf in 2017, but they’re now hungry for more. The Mother India Crochet Queens (MICQ) are now working towards a new one, the record set by the Craft Club in the UK, for the largest display of crochet ‘sculptures’ — 13,388 — set on 24th August, 2014.
The MICQ will attempt to beat the mark on January 21 in Chennai. The group has decided on a theme: Go Green, Save Earth. “We will try to portray the progress of human civilisation,” says Subashri Natarajan, founder, MICQ. “Their initial source of food, family-forming, society, entering the technological age, forgetting the connect with nature, and then the dawn of realisation, with a sizeable strength of humans now joining hands to protect the mother Earth.”
The club now has 620 members, adults and children, from 15 Indian states and eight other countries, and for the first time, males are part of the team too: two from Tamil Nadu and 13 from Oman and one from Mumbai. The core of the group is in Tamil Nadu, and the 72 members from the state have contributed 12,000 sculptures.
The 68 members from Mumbai and 25 from Pune are contributing more than 4,000 sculptures, including alphabet cushions and mobile pouches, and replicas of landmarks like Bandra-Worli Sea Link and Gateway of India. The 2” x 2” cushions stuffed with cotton will have, aside from alphabets and numbers — which will be presented stitched on a board to look like crossword puzzles, mandalas or even flight status boards, says Mumbai coordinator Mallika Natarajan — Mumbai railways station boards and even webchat emoticons. After the event, in keeping with the reusability theme, the cushions will be used as educational tools in balwadis and street schools.
Another display members from Mumbai and Pune are working on is a Maharashtra railway map. “We have made crocheted railway tracks with districts marked using yellow mobile pouches,” Ms. Natarajan says. “There will be landmarks like Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur; eight locations of Asthavinayak; hill stations, beaches. This is a huge presentation.”
Vinodini Iyer, a former teacher and the oldest member of the Mumbai group, has been crocheting from childhood — “My mother was a great seamstress and I learnt from her” — but this is the first time she has made sculptures. “I learnt it from the members, and in two-and-a-half months made 30 sculptures of animals.” In the 2017 record attempt, she had contributed 10 pieces for the scarf.
The youngest member, Atharva Tanpure, 13, is the only male in the Mumbai team. The Class VIII student learned the craft from his mother, Sujata, an MICQ member who contributed 15 to the scarf record. Atharva has contributed 30 sculptures, including a Christmas tree; a Santa Claus face, and Christmas lights. His mother’s contributions include chemistry apparatus, like test tubes and beakers.
The group are all exhilarated about attempting a third record, Ms. Natarajan says, and they want to spread the love: “We desire to teach this art to schools, colleges and other institutions.”
