Community Crochet- an Undersea Panel for Weaving Stories!

The next chapter in my series about the crochet in the Weaving Stories installation is about the freeform style crochet panel for the Sea themed part of the wall.

When the submissions came in for this part of the wall, most of the artists had chosen to concentrate on pieces relating to water. As the time came near for putting the wall together, I decided I needed a piece inspired by things found under the sea. I really wanted it to be crocheted because I wanted it to be 3 dimensional and there are so many effects you can achieve with the right stitches and yarn! 

I thought that it would be fun to do this panel as a group project, so I invited local crocheters to join me in a crochet morning at the Sadu House. I told them them just to come with their hooks and I gave them the color palette for this section in case they had any yarns in the colors we were going to use. I  also collected yarns from my stash to bring. My yarn exchanges with the International Freeform Crochet group were really beneficial to this project, as I have collected many bits of interesting yarn in beautiful colors over the years! 

Everyone arrived in the morning ready to get to work, and I gave them some patterns and ideas for possible shapes. Some people used patterns and some freeformed their creations. I wasn't too specific as I wanted their creativity to come out and I didn't have a picture in my head of exactly what I wanted it to look like.

I just knew that it would be like putting together a puzzle with no exact solution. I also knew that I  probably wouldn't use all of the pieces, and that I would need a lot to choose from to find the best arrangement. It was exciting not knowing exactly what the finished panel would look like! Some people were skeptical that the pieces would look good sewn together and overlapping, but I persevered. 

We crocheted for 3 hours and were able to produce a nice collection. I didn't feel that it was enough to make a meter long panel, so we got more crocheters together the same week in the evening and some people agreed to work at home and bring the pieces in by the end of the week. 

Written patterns were used by some, and diagrams by others, depending on the way they like to work most. 

The time passed very quickly with periods of silence as they became part of their stitches.

Nawal Al Baker, Afifa Behbehani, and Tammy Asad hard at work!

 As the pieces were completed, we collected them on a table for inspiration. 

Once all of the pieces had been collected, I got my cutting board out and began to lay out the pieces. I had all of the pieces in front of me and just kept arranging and rearranging them until I was happy with the arrangement. I kept them on the board and put some pins in to hold the main pieces together. I stitched everything together with invisible thread first. It was challenging to stitch while everything was on the board, as I had to be careful not to upset the pieces! I took a photo of the arrangement first, just in case the pieces moved for any reason. After the initial stitching with invisible thread, the panel was easier to work with. I was able to stitch on my lap since everything was secured in its place. To make the panel really strong, I stitched the pieces together with coordinating yarns wherever there was any weakness. 

When I had all of the pieces together I took the panel to try in the frame with the panels that we had already received. As with all of the panels, it took us a while to decide the best location for it! We finally decided to put it below the sea shell panel, and after I got home and looked at my photos from the day's work, I realized that it would look even better if I made it wider. Fortunately I had more pieces at home to add, thanks to the hard work of the group! I spent another evening adding pieces to the panel to almost double its width!

Photos by Nawal Al Baker

The panel was carefully woven in, so as not to cover too much of the crochet work.

Voila! The completed Sea Section!

Photo by Tammy Asad

Letting Your Yarn Write the Pattern Part 2: Embroidery Embellishment!

We had some wonderful crochet panels in the Weaving Stories Installation, due to the fact that crochet is very popular in Kuwait. I thought it might be fun to show you some of them up close!

I am starting off with one of the panels I made for the wall. In a previous post, I introduced this panel by talking about how I let the yarn write the pattern by changing the stitch type every time the variegated yarn changed color.

I was inspired by the Desert theme and I wanted to show that there actually is some green in the desert! I was so happy to find a variegated yarn that had the exact shades I was looking for. Since the wall tells stories of Kuwait, I decided to include the National Flower of Kuwait, Al Arfaj. It is like the dandelion of the desert and it is a cheerful reminder that there is color in the desert!

I crocheted the panel background before I knew where to place the flowers or how I would stitch them. I just let the yarn do the talking first!

I wanted them to look as much like they do in nature as I could so I went searching for photos of Al Arfaj, and I found the perfect image:

I printed it in the size I needed it to be for the panel and traced the main lines on to some thin paper and pinned it into place on the panel.

Then, I used some regular sewing thread to stitch all of the stems through the paper.

After it was all stitched, I tore off the paper so I could follow the thread stitching lines to stitch with the yarn.

The stitching lines appear very faint in the photo, but they were visible enough to stitch easily.

I chose the shades of green from the variegated yarn so they would show up well on the background, cutting the yarn and changing colors wherever necessary.

Once the stems were embroidered, I pulled out all of the sewing thread.

I used the photo as inspiration for where and how to stitch the flowers. I tried a few techniques for stitching the flowers, and decided on one that would give the most realistic look. It involved stitching a rather thick base of petals, then cutting some of the stitches and separating the strands of yarn to give a fuzzy appearance in the center of the flowers.

This method was a great way to stitch the flowers as realistically as possible!

Weaving Stories Art Installation: "Honoring Textile Traditions, Creating New Interpretations"

I have talked a little bit about the Weaving Stories exhibition, but I haven't shown you the focal point of the exhibition! We put together a 12 meter long panoramic woven wall installation that took us 425 collective hours to arrange and stitch, not to mention the 5 months of work to make all of the panels!]

Photo by Lesli Robertson

We began planning the exhibition last December, and we sent out a call for submissions last May, asking for panels in these six themes: Modern Interpretations of Sadu Weaving, Desert, Sea, Islamic Motifs, Traditional Kuwait, and Modern Kuwait. I made storyboards for each theme to inspire artists and makers. These storyboards were great conversation starters and led to many great creations! You will see many of these images translated in the wall.

The wall is made up of a total of 72 panels made by over 30 different artists and makers, and 10 of the panels were made by Fibers program students from the University of North Texas as part of a cultural exchange. They are students of our consultant to Weaving Stories, artist and professor Lesli Robertson. The wall took the team a little over a month to put together and was exhibited for one week at Al Shaheed Park.

We invited people to submit all types of techniques and we have a beautiful variety represented: crocheting, knitting, quilting, applique, macrame, fabric painting, and 3D printing.13 of the panels are crocheted! You can see each individual panel and its story on the blog for the Weaving Stories Project.

We spent a lot of time arranging and rearranging the panels to make the most harmonious array and deciding what should be woven in between the panels. I even printed out miniature paper mock ups of the panels to help decide the best arrangement! Once we had everything decided, we set to work stitching the panels to the frames and weaving in twill tape and roving. Each end of these had to be hand stitched to the back of the frame. We had a team of volunteer stitchers helping us with this job to get it done in time for the exhibition! 

SADU
Photo by Tammy Asad

We start off the tour of the wall with the Sadu section. We reserved the left for more traditional Sadu pieces, some with a modern twist, woven by Master Sadu Weaver Laila Yasser. For fun we also put the traditional old Kuwaiti Flag by Aiesha Khalid in this section to kick off this story of Kuwait! In the other half of the Sadu section, we included modern interpretations of Sadu weaving and designs. You will notice at the top right of each double frame, there is a macrame panel at the top right. We have a very talented macrame artist here in Kuwait, Marly Kamal Youssef, who created macrame interpretations of each theme! In the Modern Sadu section we also have 4 hand woven panels, 2 of which were created by University of North Texas students, and 1 that was created by a student of a Sadu Master Weaver. The panel of traditional tassels was a group collaboration!.We got together one Saturday morning at the Sadu House, and we were taught by a Master Weaver how to make the traditional tassels, then we set to work making as many as we could in the 3 hour session.

Now I will take you on a mini tour of the wall. Can you spot which pieces are crocheted?

DESERT

Photo by Tammy Asad

Next we move onto the desert, with 3 crocheted, 2 quilted, 1 knitted, 1 needlepoint & cross stitch, 1 applique, 1 hand painted with natural dyes, 1 tapestry weaving, and 1 macrame panel. I created the green panel with the national flower of Kuwait, Arfaj, embroidered on it. I am planning a future blog post with more details about this panel. 

SEA
Photo by Tammy Asad

This frame tells the story of the Kuwaiti Sea, with textural pieces representing water, sea life, a traditional boat (a dhow), and a macrame fish net. There are 3 crocheted, 2 knitted, 5 quilted, 1 woven, and 1 macrame panel. The freeform crochet sea life panel was also a group project! We gathered in 2 sessions to crochet shells and things under the sea, and then I assembled them all into one panel. The texture is wonderful, and I love that so many people worked on it together!

ISLAMIC MOTIFS
Photo by Tammy Asad

The Islamic panel was interesting to put together as we had many different interpretations of the them. We started out asking for motifs, but some artists wanted the theme to extend into architecture, and phases of the moon. In this section we have 3 quilted, 2 applique, 4 crocheted, 1 Sashiko embroidery, 2 woven, and 1 macrame panel.

TRADITIONAL KUWAITPhoto by Tammy Asad

I think this panel a lot of fun! It illustrates traditional dress, architecture, music, dishes, camel trappings, baskets and henna. There are 3 quilted, 3 crochet, 2 knitted, 2 applique, 1 henna painting with embroidery, one leather work with buttons, and 1 macrame panel.

MODERN KUWAIT

Photo by Tammy Asad

The Modern Kuwait wall makes bold statements about the landmarks and architecture in Kuwait, with many tributes to our beloved Kuwait Towers as well as the Constitution Monument at Al Shaheed Park, and a piece depicting the precious oil underground! In this frame there are 2 crocheted, 4 quilted, 1 woven, 1 applique, 1 3D printed, and 1 macrame panel.

I love how the entire woven story looks from afar as well! I am so proud to have been in charge of this project, and can't wait until it finds its permanent home so that it can be enjoyed by visitors for years to come!

Read the Full Article here

World Wide Knit in Public Day!

Today is World Wide Knit in Public Day, and I celebrated it with local stitchers at the Sadu House in Kuwait. Mini, the organizer of the gathering, is an amazing cross stitcher, who does beautiful fine work (see her gorgeous butterflies above). She decided to open the event to all types of stitching in addition to knitting to celebrate all handwork! She even made the adorable badges you see in the photo at the top right for us to wear, and another participant made goodie bags for all of us including chocolate and a crocheted flower. My daughter immediately took possession of the flower to make a coat for her baby tortoise!

So much lovely work was being done! Four ladies were making blankets: one lady was crocheting a granny square baby blanket for charity, an another was crocheting a princess blanket made up of crocheted squares that follow a charted design, and other two ladies were making the same flower blanket in different colors. The flower blankets were part of a challenge set by a local crocheter, who challenged them to make 1 square each day for the whole year to end up with a beautiful finished blanket by New Year's 2017! Another lady was creating a doily made from some lovely string she found from a rope seller in one of Kuwait's open markets. You never know where you may find something great to crochet with! One lady was knitting a garter stitch scarf out of the most beautiful chunky pink wool, which may now be my new favorite color after seeing it! Last but not least, two of us were working on pieces for the Islamic section of the Weaving Stories project that I am managing. She is doing crocheted tile inspired motifs, and I am working on a piece that includes knitting and crochet. Stay tuned to see my progress on that piece... One of the ladies was even wearing a crochet filled Mini Masterpiece Pendant, can you spot it in the photos above?

All in all a great morning full of inspiration! I wish every morning could start out with stitching with friends!

My Interview in the "Talking Crochet" Newsletter!

I have always loved reading the Talking Crochet Newsletter, and it is such a thrill to be featured in the current issue that debuted yesterday on the Crochet World website. I was interviewed by Brenda Bourg about being an international designer, and about my designing life in Kuwait. There is also a photo of my favorite local yarn shop in Kuwait: Needles and Yarn.

If you are interested, pop over to their website to read the full interview!

Book Review and Interview in Kuwait Moms Guide!

Now that Crocheting Clothes Kids Love is available in Kuwait, Jamie Etheridge of Kuwait Moms Guide, recently did a review of the book as well as an interview with me. Kuwait Moms Guide Newsletter is an invaluable resource for Moms in Kuwait, and it also has useful general information for Moms anywhere. Jamie is a fantastic mom, and she really puts her heart into everything she does. I am so thrilled that she featured the book in her newsletter! You can read the both the review and interview on her website.

My Interview on Creative Mojo!

At the beginning of the month, I was interviewed by the always entertaining Mark Lipinski on his Creative Mojo podcast. I was pretty nervous as it was my first podcast ever, and unfortunately my partner Ellen Gormley had a family emergency and was unable to join me. Mark put me right at ease and I really enjoyed talking with him. In case you missed the podcast when it was live, it has just been made available to listen to at any time. There is a link to download it on his blog, or you can also listen to it on iTunes.   Mark's podcasts are so interesting, if you haven't listened to the Creative Mojo podcast before, treat yourself and listen to more of his podcasts in the archives!

I chatted a little bit with Mark about Kuwait, and I told him about the fabric and trims market we have here. After the podcast, I went to the market and took some pictures so he could see what it is like. I am thrilled that he posted them on his blog (scroll down to see the photos). There are literally hundreds of shops like these in this shopping complex. It is a true treasure trove. If you can't find what you are looking for there, it might not exist! 

The Largest Crocheted Flag in the World is KUWAITI!

Kuwaitis and even expats who live in Kuwait have a strong sense of national pride, and each year the celebration seems to get bigger. Everywhere you look there are the colors of the flag, in any type of souvenir or item of clothing you can imagine! 

Today is Kuwait's National Day, and the highlight this year for me was meeting the creator of the Watan Al Nahar group, crochet expert Bashayer Al Zwayed, and some of the groups members who made the largest crocheted flag in the world. When they told me about it, I imagined something very large, but when I saw the actual flag displayed at 360 mall, I actually gasped at the actual size of it, and how grand it is. At a distance, you can't tell that it is crocheted, but when you get close to it, a sense of awe comes over you as you ponder the thousands of stitches worked by the hands of 172 women volunteers! On the back, individual crocheters put their names on the squares they made, making the flag even more special.

It took a full year to make. They began in January 2013, and completed it in January 2014. It is made up of 900 squares, measures 22 x 11 meters (24 yards x 12 yards), weighs more than 160 kg (353 lbs), and has a total area of 300 cubic meters! It will be on exhibition through February 28th. After the exhibition, the group plans to give the flag to his Highness the Emir of Kuwait.

Such an amazing accomplishment by a group of dedicated crocheters who love the country they live in! Happy National Day, Kuwait!

Colors and Meanings Crochet Competition and Exhibition in Kuwait

I was asked by Kuwait's crochet group, Khayt, to judge their crochet competition along with Hanan Al Kazemi and Mona Al Subaie, at the Sadu House. It was a great honor, and I really loved every minute of it. It was an interesting process because the entries weren't divided into any categories, and we were judging for the most creative, best design, and best technique. We had to define what creativity, design, and technique meant to each of us before we could start judging. It was a very difficult choice, because all of the entrants really put their hearts into their projects. The theme was Kuwait's National day, and most of the entries were inspired by Kuwait's flag. Even the ribbons coordinated with the theme: the traditional blue for first place was changed to green, to match Kuwait's flag. There was a nice variety of items from hats and scarves to garments, and even a lampshade! There was a lot of thought put into each item, so judging was tough, but in the end, I am really happy with the choices we made. All of the entries are on display in the "Colors and Meanings Exhibition" through Monday February 10, from 9-12 in the morning and 5-8 in the evening. They are also having a bazaar to sell handmade items with a National Day theme. It is a wonderful exhibition in honor of Kuwait, and I urge anyone who is able, to attend! While you are there, you can vote for your favorite entry for the People's Choice Award. For more photos from the event, including the awards ceremony, see the Sadu House's Facebook page. There is also an article about the competition and exhibition in the Kuwait Times, today.

Meanings and Colors Exhibition (Photo by Muna Murad)

Here are the winners:

A Crochet Celebration in Kuwait!

Yesterday was International Crochet Day, and the new Crochet group "Khayt"(which means yarn or thread in Arabic) in Kuwait, hosted a crochet event to celebrate! Their members exhibited their work in the beautiful surroundings of the Sadu House, a cultural center that exists to promote Kuwait's traditional textile arts. Al Sadu is the name of the traditional style of weaving traditionally produced by Bedouin women. I love the photo above of the crocheted afghan next to the pillow covered in Al Sadu weaving. The two crafts side by side!

Although I had never met any of the group members previously, I was familiar with many of them through Instagram, which is the most popular form of social media in Kuwait. I think it is fueling the growing craft community here, and many people are selling their crochet and crochet supplies on Instagram.

The group members were so welcoming, and gave me and my daughter a tour and information on their group. They meet 2-3 times a month and they choose a crochet project to work on together. This project is started at the meeting, and finished off at home. Usually one of the members is familiar with the pattern and leads the crochet-a-long. A great way to share their skills!

It was really nice to talk with local crocheters about their passion for crochet. They were surprised when I told them that in the USA crochet is less popular than knitting. They told me they love crochet because of its possibilities, its beauty, and also the fact that crochet can only be done by hand. I asked them why they think Crochet is more popular than knitting in this part of the world, and they said they thought it could be because of the hot weather. People don't have as much need to make things for warmth here, so they gravitate to the laciness of crochet and use a lot of cotton thread and yarn.

Below are some of the photos taken by my daughter, who kindly took the photos for me so I could chat. So many gorgeous pieces were exhibited, and the members were happy to discuss how they were made. It was wonderful to be in a room with so much creative energy. I hope this will become an annual event and that the membership of the Khayt group will grow and grow!