67 Minutes, Crochet for good

We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference. ~Nelson Mandela~

Last year my sister Kim and I contributed our time and creativity to painting a mural at Inkululeko,  a pre-school/children’s day care centre in Pretoria as our 67 minutes/Madiba day project. It was great fun, took the two of us a day to do and from all reports the children loved arriving at school after the weekend to see their beautiful new walls. Have a look here for some pics:  https://artzoo.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/a-belated-happy-birthday-madiba/

This year for my 67 minutes, I have set up a handwork project on a farm in the Magaliesburg.

The first session kicked off on Saturday the 20^th of July with four ladies from the area, who came to learn to crochet.

Everyone was given a kit (ball of wool, crochet hook, darning needle and a pair of scissors in a bag) and amid a lot of nervous giggling we got going with our lesson.

The first step was just to get comfortable with the yarn and hook, so we made a very long chain.

Then we jumped right in and started on the hat project. Only one of the women had done crochet before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone managed.

Part of the discussion during the crochet lesson was about the economics of this project, and how each person can use the tools and wool to earn extra income for themselves, by making these hats and selling them to people in their community.

The principles are really simple:

1 Ball of wool, a crochet hook, a pair of scissors and a darning needle, cost about R25.00.

Each 100g ball of wool can make 2-3 hats, these hats can be sold for R30-R40 each.

This money can be used to buy more wool to make more hats – the ladies all thought this was a very good idea.

At the end of Saturday afternoon, hats almost done everyone elected to come back on Sunday to finish off rather than to take their work home with them.

Just look at these amazing women, and their beautiful work!

The next lesson will be making the flowers, and I have been told that there are 3 more women who would like to join our “little group”. I could not be more pleased! 🙂