Mindful crochet as an act of kindness healing individuals and communities ...
Crochet Heals: Interview with Chason & Tumaini
Today I’m sharing this interview from the archives. For eight years, I wrote a column called Crochet Heals for Happily Hooked Magazine. Each month, I had the opportunity to interview inspiring people all about how crochet has helped them heal and improve their lives. The interview that I did with Chason and Tumaini has always stuck with me. While, to my knowledge, they are no longer doing the workshops that we discussed in this interview, the words they’ve shared with me continue to feel important.
Chason Yeboah and Tumaini Lyaruu are a team of Toronto-based crafters / artists who celebrate and propagate the power of the craft through their amazing movement called Acts of Kindness (AoK). They created this movement online to spread love and kindness in a world where are often inundated with disheartening news. Chason and Tumaini host crochet workshops to teach people of all ages the basics of the craft so that they can embrace its loving kindness for themselves. They also use crochet as part of education, including health education, working with diverse communities who are able to come together in spite of differences because of a shared interest in crochet.
How and when did you learn to crochet?
Tumaini: When I was eight years old my grandmother’s sister (rest in power) was visiting from East Africa and more or less forced me to sit down and learn. At the time it didn’t resonate with me; I found it hard to pick up. Then when I was 15 I found my mother’s crochet hooks and some yarn in the closet and asked her to teach me, and that is when I really connected with crochet. I learned then that my mother was taught by her mother. It’s comforting knowing it’s a generational craft, especially being of the diaspora and physically removed from my family. I think of it as keeping us connected through distance, space and time.
The art of crochet doesn’t just thread through my family; it is also connected to the history of the land we hail from. Where my family is from a lot of people crochet, people of all ages from children to seniors. It is a thing many people know how to do by virtue of the institutions established by British colonial rule. I recently learned that my grandmother (rest in power) was also a crochet teacher working in a colonial context that limited the positions of power that black African women could hold. Now in my mid-twenties, being able to contextualize how my grandmothers and other people in my family used crochet makes me happy that it has become so integral to my life. I think of crochet as an ancestral birthright, colonial “inheritance,” and a craft proliferated by non-governmental organizations (NGO) as low cost income-generating programs during geopolitical instability.
Chason: At the age of three, sitting in a rickety rocking chair on the front porch of my grandmother’s home in Morne Diable, Trinidad, I used to watch my gran vigorously fusing fibers together with what looked like a little crooked stick. Sixteen years later I finally discovered what that was all about! My crochet partner in crime, Tumaini, always wore beautiful crochet scarves and accessories that I was enamored by, but at first I wasn’t interested in learning the craft. Instead I asked for a commissioned scarf, but was (happily) rejected and told instead that I should learn to crochet a scarf for myself. I sought help from T and took a lesson on the basics, but didn’t comfortably catch on. I tried to go home that night and teach myself, but the frustration was real and I very quickly gave up. As the cold months approached, and my funds depleted, it became obvious to me that the only way to stay warm and fashionable was to learn to create these pieces for myself, and so crochet came back to me with a vengeance in a real way. I turned on my computer one day and sought help from YouTube and I never looked back!
What inspired you to start AoK? What do you hope people get from this?
Chason: AoK was inspired by love. A growing frustration at the increasing absence of love in our spaces, led us to create a place (our Facebook page) where we could promote acts of kindness, good deeds, love, selflessness, self-love and give props to the people who create these things for others and themselves. We were able to use something we love to create more love, and it’s important for me that people understand that. Honestly I just want people to learn to crochet! I want people to come into their own; I want them to know the joy that I feel every time I choose my hook and get ready for a project.
Tumaini: Daily we are inundated with the very real disheartening and violent narratives about the world and people around us. Profiling kindness in all the ways we extend it to people became an important story for to us to share. I really hope that the hearts can be symbols of one way that we can share kindness, which is an act of love.
What are some experiences you’ve had in teaching your crochet workshops?
Chason: There have been some awesome experiences doing what we do. I’ve had a finger-knitting/crochet skill swap with some really feisty 5 year olds. We have had a fancy tea party with our seniors’ crochet group. I’ve received love and relationship advice from some opinionated preteens from the crochet girls’ groups that we ran. We got down and sexy during the kinky craft workshop. Having heated conversations in the park about race, gender, sexual orientation, politics… anything! But I think the most amazing experience of all is the constant growth that I receive as an educator, coming into a space knowing that I am going to learn something new, and using the knowledge that I gain from these workshops in my everyday life.
I’d especially like to know about your Mindful Crochet workshop… what inspired that idea? How has it gone? In what ways do you personally use crochet for mindfulness?
Tumaini: Mindful crochet came out of the need to have trauma-informed programming that centers a historical, social-political context of trauma. Using group arts-based therapeutic models, such as crochet, to expand beyond traditional models of counselling (e.g. talk therapy or one-on-one counselling sessions), has been one way of doing that. It has gone so well! I think having multiple approaches to healing is important especially in the city of Tkaronto (the Haudenosaunee word for Toronto) where people of such diverse backgrounds have come to this traditional indigenous territory with and through histories of violence.
Chason: We both understand how meditative and restoring crochet can be, and when facilitating workshops we would always say, “crochet is a great way to lose yourself; to think about everything that’s going on, or to think about nothing at all and just focus on the craft.” I think the idea was there from the get-go, and thanks to all of the stress-management, and anger-maintenance crochet workshops we’ve facilitated, we knew that crochet was an answer. The amazing people at The 519 Community Centre allowed for this idea to finally come into fruition, and gave us a space so that we could practice freely and give people a place to learn to cope, connect and be mindful.
So far the program has gone beautifully. To be honest it has exceeded my expectations. We have a very large turnout each week, including some very loyal return students. They’re now at the point where they teach each other when one of us is occupied with somebody else, and that makes me excited because that’s how I know that they’ve come to do more than just learn to crochet.
Because I crochet mostly every day for business purposes, I make sure to set aside some time to do it for my mental health, and to keep it fun and fresh. It used to be that every morning I’d wake up and crochet while I set my intentions for the day. Now I do this whenever I can; on the transit, in waiting rooms, at home after a long day. A particular exercise that I enjoy doing is crocheting meditation blankets. When I do it, I count to one hundred over and over until I’m ready. Ready for what? Who knows.
What advice can you offer to someone who is trying to teach another person to crochet for the first time?
Tumaini: Be patient, encouraging and remember your learning process. As teachers I think remembering our crochet origin story is important. What kind of teacher would you have wanted? What did you like or not like in your own learning experiences? Be mindful of the fact that through teaching you are also learning a great deal from that person. The continuous introspection has become a personal tool in being a growing humble, honest, reverent, and confident educator.
More practically, know that people have different learning styles and access/mobility needs, so have strategies to support that. Ask and listen to what people express they need to support their being the space and their learning process. Some people are visual learners or some need audio guides, so have books with images and words. Some people have different ranges of motion and mobility, so show different ways to hold the yarn and hook. Some people have varying first languages or need ASL interpreters, so if you are working in organizations/community groups be sure to get those supports so that people can learn in the ways they need to.We both come from different professional backgrounds, of adult education/community arts and sexual health programming and early childhood education, so bridging that knowledge to crafting has been really helpful in supporting how we teach in different settings. We all hold a wealth of knowledge, it’s about being creative in the ways we use it!
Chason: Remember that patience is not just for the student. There is so much that you say with your body and little cues that might throw a person off. Think about how you are feeling before you place yourself in a situation where a person trusts you with their personal journey. Patience will really help you if you find yourself trying to teach someone who learns differently from you, or if they have a personality that just doesn’t vibe with yours.
Something else that I would advise when trying to teach another is to come to the session as a learner, not just as a teacher. We all want to be good at things right away, but the outcome isn’t always what you imagine it to be when you’re trying to teach someone to crochet, and this doesn’t mean that you are a bad teacher. Take away what you can from the day’s lesson and assess what you could have done differently. Don’t be shy to seek help from your student. Ask them if there is anything that you can do to help them learn better. Know your student and learn from their actions so that it may help the pace of the following session.
What do you feel are the most important benefits of crochet for individuals? What about for communities?
Chason: For individuals the most important benefits of crochet lie in mental health and stimulation. It’s been proven that the repetition in crochet releases doses of serotonin in the brain, which acts as a natural painkiller and anti-depressant. Because it is so portable, you can provide yourself an escape from anxiety producing scenarios.
Crochet also stimulates muscle memory, exercises your fine motor skills, and allows for a feeling of satisfaction once a product is finished. This can help to build self-esteem as well as self-awareness. There is no better feeling than knowing that you have the power to create something from your mind, a tangible object with functionality, something that YOU made.
I think crochet can form communities and bring them together. When people have a common interest, it’s easy for them to bond, to want to work together, create together and love together. We’ve worked with all different kinds of people, different sexual orientations, the elderly, very young children, and people from all levels of the income spectrum. The one thing that all of these people have in common is their interest in crochet, and the power in knowing that they have this one thing that can be the building block for further interactions and can help in community structure.
Tumaini: The repetitive and rhythmic motions plus the focus and concentration of the craft can be very grounding for the crafter. Whenever we are teaching a class there is this connected silence that descends on the room when people get into their own flow and motions, we often call this space the crochet zone. It’s almost like a collective altered consciousness that happens. I am not always sure what happens for people respectively in that zone, but to be able to simultaneously commune and go inward is reflective of group ceremony for me. To me the melting together of strangers through this medium is sacred and energizing; from it we are able to experience each other in ways I don’t think we get in our day-to-day lives. That spiritual-emotional connection cuts across and honors the differences between us and facilitates bonds.
What are the pros and cons of making a living using craft?
Chason: Making a living using craft means that you’re the one looking out for you, and self- preservation needs to be taken into account. A con that rears its ugly head is the uncertainty. Questions like “what if I break my hand?” sometimes cross my mind, because there goes my livelihood for a few months if I do. You’re not always certain where your paycheck is coming from or if it’s coming, which can be a very scary thing when you live in a city like Toronto, where it’s difficult to live even when you’re making steady money. And then there’s the crafter’s block. Sometimes you have to make things or facilitate a workshop when you’re not inspired to do so, and that can be difficult. Luckily I have a partner who is supportive of these moments and we try to look out for each other with check-ins and communication when it comes to hard days.
The pros definitely outweigh the cons. Being a self-dependent, freelance crochet artist gives me a satisfaction that no other job has ever given me. I love my job, I get to create what I want, decide my schedule and refuse work if I want to. There is so much power in that kind of independence. You get to constantly meet new people, and most times you’re coming out of an event feeling really good about yourself, and knowing that what you’ve done that day made has changed somebody’s day, and maybe life, in a significant way.
Tumaini: I get to do what is most nurturing to me every day, and that’s a blessing. I am not forced to compromise my integrity, prove my value, or compete with others. Being a working artist is not separate from me being black, being African, being queer, being a gender self-defining female, and living with multiple chronic STIs or any other intersection of who I am. Although it is filled with a lot of uncertainty, I get to come to my work as a full person and I am thankful for that.
What is your very favourite thing that you’ve crocheted?
Chason: It’s a tie between two dolls that I’ve created both at changing periods of my artist’s journey. The first was my first transgendered/dual genitalia doll, because it was created so organically, really free of planning and a very minimal thought process. I made the doll a penis, and the doll also had breasts, and then I added a vulva in the last minute. When it was finished, I remember thinking, “wow, my brain just did this”, and “yea, I care about this very much”. The second was a mother doll giving birth; baby’s head peeking out of the vagina, with mom giving this look of fierceness. I’ve wanted to make that doll forever and when it was finally finished, it was so exciting!
Tumaini: The most fulfilling and meaningful thing I crochet is genitalia as tactile education tools to have conversation about health. Using crochet as a tool to bridge art and health, while keeping learning fun and interactive has been a real growing point for me. I learn a lot about myself, about others and about the expansiveness of health through the interactions and conversations facilitated through the crochet genitalia.
Art and Mental Health Takeaways:
Crochet can be an act of kindness, a tool for education, and an aid to mental health among other things.
Mental health benefits of crochet include serotonin release “which acts as a natural painkiller and anti-depressant,” anxiety reduction, self-esteem building, and grounding /centering which helps with trauma flashbacks, etc.
As they would say in their workshops: “crochet is a great way to lose yourself; to think about everything that’s going on, or to think about nothing at all and just focus on the craft.”
Crochet is a generational craft. I was just reading a book (Unraveling by Peggy Orenstein) in which the author mentions that in her research she started using the shorthand SLFHM to say “she learned from her mother.” It ties us to the generations before and after us in a powerful way.
Crochet offers a way into mindfulness that can help people who aren’t able / interested in traditional “sit and breathe” meditation. Bringing mindful crochet to groups can help as a trauma-informed alternative to traditional talk therapy.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the history of my work, I spent over a decade exploring the benefits of crochet for individuals and communities, with an emphasis on mental health benefits. I went through a period of life-threatening depression in my twenties, during which I discovered crochet as something that helped a little bit. I started crocheting, I started blogging about crochet, and as I shared my own experiences of healing through craft, other people began telling me their stories. I self-published Crochet Saved My Life in 2012, sharing my story and the stories of about two dozen other people who “hooked to heal.” At the time, almost no one was writing about this topic. In the intervening years, there has been much more research and lots of anecdotal evidence about the mental health benefits of crochet. I am proud to have contributed a lot to that research … I’ve interviewed hundreds of people about this topic and shared it widely in print and online.
As a result of spending so many years passionate about this research, I could talk endlessly about the benefits of crochet. But I’ve done that writing elsewhere and it’s easy to find. So, instead, what I want to discuss that comes out of this article is the truth that there’s a complicated history (and present) when it comes to crochet and people of color, as Tumaini touched on. When you research the history of crochet, you typically find British history and stories about how crochet helped the Irish survive the potato famine. Which is true. But crochet is a craft that also has a rich history in other cultures, and that’s often overlooked. I admit I overlooked it myself in my early research.
In the past decade, knitting and crochet have really surged in popularity with a huge boost in the pandemic. Millions of people enjoy these crafts. And many small independent artists make a living off of that, which is wonderful. There are crochet designers and artists, yarn spinners and dyers, crochet teachers … But it has largely remained a very white space as far as public promotion, larger support of projects, etc. A lot can be said about this, but others have said it better than I, so I’ll point you to this article as one example.
What I want to say is that I acknowledge how often in the early days I failed to notice this, particularly in my own work. When I interviewed people for Crochet Saved My Life, I wasn’t an established writer, and I took whatever interviews I could get. I didn’t seek out diverse voices. I was remiss in that.
Art and Journal Prompts:
I offer you some creativity prompts that you can use for journaling, creative writing, as a start to an art project, or however you may see fit.
How does the art / craft/ hobby that you enjoy relate to the generations before you?
What is a powerful act of kindness that stands out in your own memory?
Brainstorm a list of acts of kindness you could implement in your daily life using the skills and interests that you already have.
Thinking about your own creativity growing up … What kind of teacher would you have wanted? What did you like or not like in your own learning experiences?
Explore the pros and cons of turning the thing you love to do into the way that you make a living.
What is the origin story of your craft/art?
Related Tips for Using Creativity to Improve Wellness:
In addition to the above prompts, you might want to try some of these creative activities to help improve mental health:
Try learning to crochet! It’s not right for everyone but it’s an affordable, portable craft and you might find that it offers some benefits that surprise you.
Practice mindfulness through your craft. You can pair breathing, counting, or simply intentional noticing with many art/craft practices.
Find something small that you’re good at and celebrate it as a way to regularly boost self-esteem. We are all great at something.
Try art/craft in groups/community. This has the potential to offer a level of healing that differs from solo creativity.
If your art/healing and your business/income are linked, find ways to carve out creative time that’s entirely just for you.
Related Tips for Coping with Mental Health Symptoms That Impact Creativity:
Do you have symptoms that are impacting your ability to create? Here are some additional wellness tips:
When learning something new in art/craft, remember that everyone has different learning styles. Find the way that is right for you rather than trying to fit into a specific box of learning.
Replace negative news and the room scrolling with inspiration and acts of kindness. Psychologist John Gottman has found that “for every negative interaction during conflict, a stable and happy marriage has five (or more) positive interactions” and perhaps the same applies to how much positive input we should have as compared to letting in the negative news.
If traditional talk therapy isn’t right/working/enough for you, look for alternative / supplemental options including group arts therapy, trauma-informed practices, body movement approaches, etc. There are a lot of different ways to heal.
Like Chason, count to 100 over and over until you’re ready. “Ready for what? Who knows.”
Take care of your total health - your mind, body, soul … intergenerational health, relationship health, all of it.
Affirmations, Quotes, Meditations, Etc.:
Reading or writing affirmations / mantras can be very powerful. In relation to this article, play around with writing them down (I usually do ten times each for the one I’m working with) and then with simply thinking them or reciting them out loud and see what feels best for you. Here are some inspired by this interview that you may want to try:
I am inspired by love.
Art connects me to others through distance, space, and time.
Acts of kindness matter.
Patience, patience, patience.
I am a learner and a teacher.
“I get to create what I want.”
“I get to do what is most nurturing to me every day, and that’s a blessing.”
I come to my work as a full person.
“We all hold a wealth of knowledge, it’s about being creative in the ways we use it!”
And I just want to emphasize a few of the amazing quotes and lessons from the interview:
“Take away what you can from the day’s lesson and assess what you could have done differently. Don’t be shy to seek help from your student.”
“The melting together of strangers through this medium is sacred and energizing; from it we are able to experience each other in ways I don’t think we get in our day-to-day lives. That spiritual-emotional connection cuts across and honors the differences between us and facilitates bonds.”
“Being a working artist is not separate from me being black, being African, being queer, being a gender self-defining female, and living with multiple chronic STIs or any other intersection of who I am. Although it is filled with a lot of uncertainty, I get to come to my work as a full person and I am thankful for that.”
Additional Resources:
Hook to Heal!: 100 Crochet Exercises For Health, Growth, Connection, Inspiration and Honoring Your Inner Artist
Black People Were the Original “Craftivists” by Ruth Terry
Black Women are Knitting Their Way Into History (New York Times)
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Thanks for sharing!!