The coronavirus pandemic with its restrictions on public outings, gatherings and, of course, lockdowns, has forced many of us to find new hobbies to help pass the time, and over the past year, Israelis have gotten hooked on an old-new craze – yarn. More specifically, knitting and crochet.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The age of social media and especially the rise of Instagram has brought with it a revival of knitting and crochet as a pastime and – judging from the hundreds of Facebook groups and the ever-growing number of accounts across all platforms that are dedicated to the various techniques, patterns and yarn varieties – what was once the exclusive domain of grandmothers and elderly aunts is now all the rage.
Maya Goldstein, the marketing manager for Israeli educational toymaker Or-Da Industries, says all things yarn are now "an inseparable part of the younger generation's hobbies. Over the past year, we've seen how things like sewing, knitting, and embroidery have again become very popular."
Blogger Idit Paran, who runs a Facebook group with over 10,000 members, told Israel Hayom that crochet and knitting are very simply "good for the soul.
"I've been knitting for as long as I can remember," she said. Knitting "is relaxing; it brings people together and it allows us to express our creativity – not to mention, it gives us a break from [computer and phone] screens and from whatever may be bothering us."
When the pandemic hit Israel, she said, "People were looking for ways to pass the time. I got requests on Facebook to hold demonstrations, and now I teach on Zoom."
Tali Dalal, who runs a Facebook group dedicated to crochet with over 8,000 members, agrees that the Israeli yarn scene has become much more lively during the pandemic.
"You can definitely see a wide variety of audiences emerge over the past year. Since the corona [erupted], there are young women, and those place on leave [from their jobs] who have never before picked up a crochet hook take to it, and on the other hand, young girls are also interested in it.
"There's been talk about a revival of knitting for about 10 years," she explained, "but the coronavirus has certainly raised the demand and interest in the field.
"YouTube tutorials get more hits, more groups are launched [on social media] for a variety of audiences and knitting styles, and there is a real boom in the field."
Channy Rosenblatt De Haas, whose Facebook group has nearly 4,000 members, teaches children to knit.
"I teach girls ages 8-12, who knit sweaters and ponchos. Some of them got their mothers into it, and they tell me that their daughters won't put the knitting needles down," she told Israel Hayom.
"I think that's a very positive thing – instead of being on TikTok all day – they knit."
The knitting and crochet boom has birthed dozens of women's circles seeking to give back to the community.
The Israeli Association of Community Centers, for example, hosts knitting groups where women meet once a week and work on various projects together, which are then donated to the community, hospitals, IDF soldiers, children with special needs, and more.
Mosaic, a network of community centers in Nof Hagalil, in northern Israel, has a group of 10 young women knit and crochet hats for the neonatal care units in Israeli hospitals, the Israel Cancer Association, Holocaust survivors, and the residents of the city's nursing homes. They also make baskets for kindergartens in the special education system.
In southern Israel, the community centers network in the city of Sderot has 100 volunteers knitting and crocheting hats and scarfs for soldiers deployed in the southern sector, as well as dolls for the maternity wards and neonatal care units in Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba and the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.
Private community outreach initiatives are also thriving.
Aviv Wasserman, from the Hefer Valley Regional Council in central Israel, heads a knitting project seeking to bridge the intergenerational gap with none other than yarn.
The project brings together children and teens who knit and crochet with the elderly, and what started as a small community project two years ago, now stretches across 200 community centers across Israel.
"A good friend who lives in London introduced me to the idea of bringing people in the community together through knitting," Wasserman said.
"I started appealing to local councils around the country for funding for materials and placed [to host meetings]. Today, the project runs from Eilat in the south to Kiryat Shmona in the north, in Samaria, and in Arab and Druze localities.
"The project also involves people with special needs and those with hearing and visual impairments. These are groups of adults and children who knit together, and even I join meetings and have already learned how to knit."
All products are donated to the community, he stressed.
The pandemic, he said, has not slowed down the project, with meetings held on Zoom or in small groups outside, in accordance with the Health Ministry's guidelines.
"In some groups, members have become very close, like family," he explained. "You see them take care of each other, of the elderly women who couldn't leave the house for fear of the pandemic. I have no doubt that this project has fostered ties that will continue long after the coronavirus is gone."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
