• Flowers for Abbie
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Flowers for Abbie

Recently, I received an intriguing request from a crafter named Abbie who wants to help engage young people with crochet. Today, most crocheters are perceived to be women -- a stereotype that Abbie would like to help change. Abbie is a university student and has taken on a huge challenge for a project that is near and dear to her heart. I'll let Abbie explain her request below.

My project is part of what I am working on for my final year at university. I am studying Fine Art and English Literature BA, and for the art part of my course we have to host an exhibition, of which our final pieces will be on display and submitted to examiners.

I will be using crochet flowers over the course of the academic year, which spans from October 2018 through April 2019, and I am hoping for a rather large quantity! I will be using the crocheted flowers in experiments, and the final goal is to cover the interior of a car with the crochet flowers!

Ultimately, the project is an exploration of stereotypes. Crochet has been associated with women and seen as a feminine craft in most cultures in recent years, whereas objects and materials such as cars and metal are more commonly seen as masculine items. In doing this project, I hope to open crocheting up to a wider audience, and reintroduce it to a younger generation in a new way.

I began this project by combining tires and crochet flowers; the flowers represent the feminine aspect of the piece and the tires the masculine aspect. By merging them together, it created a harmonious piece that is impossible to label with a just one gender. The work was popular among other students and motivated conversations about stereotypes -- conversations that I believe still need to be discussed further.

I hope that by continuing on with the project and making it physically larger by using a car, these conversations will continue to progress as well. The project will also bring together a wide variety of people, as I have reached out to many for help making the crocheted flowers. It would be lovely to see a piece made from so many crafters, working together as a community to help share the craft of crochet to the wider audience.

If any readers need to use up yarn or would just like to help a student out, please mail the crochet flowers to the following address:

Abbie David
3 Geoffrey Avenue,
Widley,
Portsmouth,
Hampshire,
PO7 5BG,
UNITED KINGDOM

If you'd like to contribute to Abbie's university project please send your crocheted flowers to the address provided above. You can use any yarn and pattern you'd like. The more variety, the better! Who can resist making pretty projects to help another crafter out? I know many of you will step up and help Abbie with her project. Thank you for being the generous crafters that you are! Let's fill her mailbox!

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