The question regarding the difference between art and craft is one that perhaps may never be definitively answered. But Sophia Mohamed is making her contribution to the argument with her amazing crocheted pieces. Her knack for creating intricate designs has been honed over the years and each new perfected piece brings her great satisfaction.
As a little girl, Sophia watched her mother crocheting away, making doilies and other decorative pieces like chair backs. Sophia has made chair backs but noted that they are no longer in demand as they used to be years ago. She creates other pieces, like purses, baby clothing, swimwear, scrun-chies, tops, pants, car accessories, baby bottle holders, brassieres, and facemasks.
Sophia did not have an easy life growing up. She attended Aurora Secondary but was unable to finish school. However, while at school, her favourite subject was English Literature and she would write in her personal journal. Sophia revealed that her father left her family when she was just eight years old, and this took a toll on her mother who also left. She subsequently dropped out of school to assist her older brother in maintaining their family of three. She hopes to someday be able to share her life story in a book, which may inspire other girls dealing with similar situations.
Sometime after leaving school, Sophia moved to Bartica to live with an aunt who had a general store. She began working at the store earning a weekly wage for herself. But she later returned home to the Essequibo Coast. When she turned 16, her grandmother accepted a marriage proposal for her. Four years later she began dabbling with crochet.
Her first pieces were for herself, a purse, a cellphone case, and a makeup bag. But once people saw her talent, the orders began to come in. The first piece she created for a customer was a knitted cover for a Quran. Initially, Sophia made items she hoped would sell, but she soon realized that this was not working and began to crochet pieces only on order.
At first crocheting was a mere hobby for Sophia. She had a cousin who had crocheted pieces to take to Barbados to sell. When that cousin closed her business ten years ago, she gave all her crochet materials to Sophia.
Currently, she is working on a security blanket. For those not familiar with the term, the blanket is one that comes with a stuffed animal attached and provides comfort to a child. The security blanket, Sophia is working on will have an elephant as its stuffed animal. This is a new challenge for the artist. She explained that unlike being guided by YouTube tutorials as she was for prior pieces, she is following a written pattern. However, with the challenge comes new excitement as she looks forward to completing the piece.
If allowed to work on a piece without being interrupted, Sophia can finish a pair of women’s pants in a matter of hours. However, being a mother of two, means she needs to balance her schedule. To ensure that her pieces are done on time, she would always request that her customers place their orders early enough so that she is allowed three to five working days to complete them.
“I can’t tell you how happy it makes me when persons are satisfied with my work and are recommending me to other persons. It motivates me to continue,” Sophia said.
Speaking of challenges, Sophia shared that making a mistake when doing one of her pieces can mean starting all over again, something she tries hard to avoid. Asked if immediately fixing a mistake would help prevent a do-over, she explained that because she has become really good at what she does, she works really fast and sometimes does not pick up on a mistake until she has done a lot of crocheting.
“It’s one string that is being crocheted into a piece and you have to keep pulling at it until the mistake is undone which means that your work is undone also,” she said.
To know exactly where a design in the stitching changes, Sophia counts each row of stitches. So, crocheting is not just physical work but mental as well.
She pointed out that for the head of the elephant for the security blanket, she had to redo her work four times before she got it right. It can be frustrating, she said but completing these pieces is worth the effort and better than this, finishing a challenging piece is even more glorious.
“I was up until 3 am working on the blanket but it was worth it, totally worth it,” Sophia enthusiastically said.
In light of the pandemic, the woman decided to put a spin on the design of the textile facemasks. The first one she made was created for her before persons began placing their orders. Sophia explained that because of the tiny holes, she lined the inside of her crocheted masks with a thick piece of cotton. She has since made more than 30 of these facemasks, half of which were donated.
Despite the physical challenges that comes with this work, Sophia shared that the benefits are numerous. She is financially independent, knows a skill, meets new and interesting persons, and provides a platform where she can share this skill.
One of the many interesting clients Sophia has met is Dione Vanderhyden, the founder of Ciara Photography. Dione, a much sought-after photographer in Guyana for doing maternity photoshoots and family portraits, has sourced many of her props from Sophia.
Last year July, Sophia was among several facilitators at craft and creations classes hosted by Muneshwer’s Limited for children. The long school holiday was considered the best time to have these classes and Muneshwer’s wanting to pay it forward held the session. However, because of the patience required and intricacy of crocheting, not many of the children who attended mastered the techniques. Sophia resorted to creating bracelets and hair accessories for them. Despite not being able to follow through with the course as was planned, Sophia said the event still turned out to be a fun one for her and the children.
Later that year, Muneshwer’s Limited held a ‘Look Good and Feel Good’ event for breast cancer patients and Sophia was asked to facilitate again. This time she made more than two dozen crocheted brassieres for the women in attendance.
To view a wider range of Sophia’s work, go to her Facebook page: Cute Knitts.
