THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The intricate stitches that make up a pattern in crochets requires a lot of patience. However, that comes easy for the 356 members of Mother India Crochet Queen (MICQ), who came together to set a Guinness world record for the fourth time. Three women from Kerala are also part of the miracle team.According to Rashmi Rose John, art teacher at The Choice School, Tripunitura, this year’s theme was ‘Christmas Decor’. She adds that the whole initiative was micromanaged by Ruba Murali who is based in the US.
The goodwill ambassadors, in turn, connected to the members living in different countries. The entire group followed instructions that were provided through video files or WhatsApp. The works were divided into 22 Cals (Crochet along) which took place every week starting February 2019.
One group was also involved in creating 2D objects for Christmas decor, while another worked on the nativity scene. “It finished in July 2019. Afterwards, they were couriered to Chennai. Subhashri Natrajan, the founder of MICQ, along with her team members, arranged all the collections,” said Rashmi. The event was held on September 15, 2019.
There were 66,187 pieces in total. “It was a big step for us since we started with MICQ’s in 2015,” said Rashmi. “You can see from the huge membership MICQ enjoys that more and more people are finding ways to beat stress through crocheting,” she said. Studies have shown that crocheting can help those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
For Aureen Noronha, a math teacher at Charter School, Pookatupady, it was a family affair. “We are three sisters. This time, all of us were involved in the initiative. My two sisters Christina Aldrine Pereira and Ashline Fernandez joined in from Muscat. Christina is a third-time winner. She had been part of the two other initiatives by MICQ,” she said.
The other records set by MICQ are for the blanket measuring 11,148 sq mts on 31 January 2016, longest crochet scarf measuring 14.09 kms in 2017 and the largest display of crochet sculptures with 58,917 sculptures in 2018.