Group of women in Oman in effort to make world’s largest crochet blanket

Muscat: A group of Indian women in Oman led by Kiranpreet Sahni Nair have joined a global mission to make a world-record breaking crochet blanket.
“The scarf, which is targeted to have a length of five kilometres, will be crocheted in two metre-long pieces and joined into one and will be displayed in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu in India on May 14,” Nair said.
The group are part of the Facebook group called, “Mother India’s Crochet Queens” that was formed in 2015 by Chennai-based Subashri Natarajan for the purpose of uniting Indian women around the world to break the Guinness World Record for the largest crochet blanket.
The group has over 2,500 members comprising of women from various strata of life, ranging from homemakers to students to senior citizens to entrepreneurs to working professionals, all of whom share a common passion for crochet. In January 2016, the group established a new Guinness World Record for the largest crochet blanket at 11.148 square metres by breaking the earlier record of 3,347 square metres.
“Last year, 57 women and children from Muscat took part in the mission. This time too, 69 members, 46 women and 23 children from Muscat, Sohar, Al Amerat and Barka have joined the mission so far. Each member will contribute a minimum of five scarves,” Nair said.
There are some enthusiastic members contributing more than 15 scarves. Interested members are still joining the group.
The Oman group was initially started with four members, namely Kiranpreet, Kamakshi, Shobha and Christina, and is now a team of 69 members, which also include many senior crochet makers, such as Elakkiya, Menaka, Vani, Subha Baskaran, and many more who are helping beginners as a team. Nair said they sent their first consignment of 90 scarves in February 2017 to Chennai for the mission.
“This month we are sending about 120 scarves. The Oman team is sending 350 scarves. The noble mission of the group is to distribute all the scarves after the display and announcement of the Guinness Record to needy people through NGOs and social organisations. This will be done on the same day of the event by separating the scarves and distributing to organisations, whose credentials have been pre-verified by a team,” she added.