Threadelp: Making Crochet More Efficient for Users

Abstract

Crochet has been a common hobby for many middle aged and aged women. However, now it has become abundantly common in youngster girls and boys too, especially after the advent of COVID-19, when many people resorted to indoor hobbies to pass time. About 45 million Americans know how to knit or crochet, and one-third of them buy their supplies every month. Crochet and knitting have shown to have a positive effect on mental health. In addition to crochet being just a hobby, it is the means of earning for many women in Pakistan. Several organisations in Pakistan are working which enable women to make their own livelihood and keeping the craft sustained. Apart from that, women who have learnt this craft through generations also use it as a means of earning by staying at their homes. Even though the popularity of this craft has declined in comparision with the previous half century, it is regaining its popularity now because of the ease of social media and COVID-19. It is important to revive crochet because it has shown to help people with their mental health. While there are many tools available in the market which provide ergonomic crocheting, most of them cater to the actions of the dominant hand (right, for right handed) and helping people with arthritis. The intended goal of the project is to make crochet efficient by catering to the actions of the recessive hand (left, for right handed) while crocheting. Keywords: Ergonomic, crochet, efficient, revive craft