Why do I crochet?…
If I analyze in detail, I might discover that it’s ingrained in my DNA. Some of my first childhood memories involve garments crocheted or knitted by my Grandma Toyita and Grandma Pila, as well as from my Mom Vicky. I remember the feeling of the yarn and the comfort of it, and in a way I think my young brain acknowledged the love in which they where created for me and made me feel protected.
As a teenager in the 80´s, I tried to learn how to crochet. My mother handed me a hook and yarn and taught me the basic stitches. I tried to do a simple chain with a couple of single crochet rows. What came out was an uneven rectangle with some areas that where tight and some loose. I tried a couple of times and gave up my idea of creating something…maybe a sweater? I hadn’t really gotten that far into defining a specific project I wanted to do.
Flash forward to 2013 when I decided I wanted to do something special as a gift for the birthday of a dear friend’s son. Back then I worked as a video and photography producer and I had taken a liking to YouTube tutorial videos when I started self-learning video editing and animation. So it seemed logical to search YouTube to find something to create as a gift. I should say that I had recently started looming, also thanks to YouTube tutorials, and as a typical first knitter I made scarfs and beanies in different colors for all my family members ad nauseaum, so that was definitely not being considered as an option.
Design Lanas y Ovillos
In my search I found this curious shaped bunny which seemed very simple to construct. I got yarn and a hook and started following step by step each instruction, and to my surprise the results where perfect!! I later understood that this was not a bunny but a Totoro, which was how I got introduced to the wonderful world of Miyazaki’s films.
I also learned that this was an Amigurumi which is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed yarn creatures. The term comes from joining the Japanese words ami, meaning “crocheted or knitted”, and nuigurumi, meaning “stuffed doll”.
The amazement I experienced by all the different bloggers showing their amigurumi creations, motivated me to follow them and it inspired me to start ideating my own creations. It was as if a switch was turned on, and everything that my mom and grandma taught me was unlocked from my brain and streamed into my hands. It was intuitive. It was comforting. It was creating from my heart, through my hands, into the yarn.
Without much thought behind it I started posting my creations on Facebook and people started asking me to do some amigurumis for them. The crazier the idea the more excited I was to do it, and that is how Abé amigurumis came to be.
When looking for a name I thought of the Sierra Tarahumara, in northern Mexico where the indigenous community of the Raramuris live. Years before, I had spent several days among them and learned many valuable lessons about how a community should share: love, care, support, responsibility and joy. It was about being present for each other, and I wanted to use my skills to be present for others. To pay it forward by sharing with others what I know, as others did for me.
I also wanted the name to represent my experience when I crochet. For me it is a meditative experience. My mind focuses on counting stitches, rows and rounds, and all other thoughts and worries fade away. I get focused on that precise moment, not the past nor the future, it helps me to be here and now. Crocheting is part of my wellbeing, my peace of mind, my joy!
Abé (pronounced like “abed” without the “d”) is a raramuri word meaning “today”, and there is nothing more representative of being present, of being here and now, than today.
And here I am. Many years later with this little idea in my head, and not enough time to get the ball formally rolling, until now…April 2020, when the world is at pause.
I am not sure if this will evolve into something else, if it will grow or disappear in memory. But for now, for today, I choose to give it a try…
