Motivated by promoting sustainability and combatting fast fashion, students use crochet as an opportunity to enhance their personal style.
For Loyola students looking to stitch together a community of creatives, crocheting is more than just a hobby.
Third-year Fiza Sadruddin made her first crochet project for her grandma when she was in first grade. Guided by her grandmother’s teaching and Girl Scouts, she became hooked on the hobby at a young age. Continuing her passion for crochet in college, Sadruddin joined Loyola’s Crochet Club, which she said has become a “stress reliever.”
“You have this love for the same thing,” Sadruddin said. “You have the shared passion, and I think it just becomes really easy to talk to each other.”
Motivated by promoting sustainability and combatting fast fashion, the biochemistry major said she appreciates crochet as an opportunity to enhance one’s personal style. She said she mostly crochets sweaters, scarves and hats.
“I like seeing everyone’s little crochet stock because they’re always so unique,” Sadruddin said. “No piece is going to look the same as the others.”
Tessa Rolewicz, the co-president of Crochet Club, said she first started crocheting during her first year at Loyola. Isabel Chavez, Rolewicz’s friend and fellow co-president, introduced her to the activity.
Rolewicz said she thinks of the craft as an art form and fell in love with how much it allowed her to create.
“It’s definitely a way to express myself and to make something unique that not everyone has,” said Rolewicz, a third-year. “Especially in a world where there is a lot of overconsumption of clothing. I feel like it’s a very special and time-dedicated practice, I guess, to make something you’re proud of.”
From May through December 2022, Rolewicz said she had a crochet business on Depop where she sold things like water bottle holders and bucket hats. As she got busier, she stopped running the business and focused entirely on personal projects for herself, her family and friends.
Third-year Allison Quist, another Crochet Club member, said she started the activity after receiving a starter kit over winter break. She said she reused the kit’s hook and needle to continue her newfound love for the hobby, which has helped with her mental health.
“I’m pretty anxious,” Quist said. “So it’s really helpful to do something with my hands and then while I do [I] can talk or watch TV or something. It’s just nice to stay occupied. It calms me down.”
Quist said learning to crochet has allowed her to have a greater appreciation for the work that goes into making clothing. From the harmful chemicals used in production to the transportation of goods and the non-biodegradable packaging used to ship the clothes, many customers are becoming more conscious of where their clothes are coming from and how the production of their fashion is impacting the environment, according to the Associated Press.
“With fast fashion you don’t really pay attention to the amount of work that’s been put in behind the scenes,” Quist said. “Crocheting is more of an art, but I think it’s important to think about where stuff is coming from and the fact that people’s hands are working behind it.”
Chavez, a third-year public health major, said she initially started crocheting when she was 10 years old as a way to pass time while she accompanied her dad, who builds lowrider cars, at work.
“I would go sit with him at the car shows and they would last for hours and some of the women there to pass time would crochet baby blankets and hats,” Chavez said. “So I would sit with them and I just grew really interested watching them.”
After taking a break from crocheting in high school, Chavez said she revisited the hobby at Loyola. She co-founded the Crochet Club in spring semester 2023 with Rolewicz to connect with other students who share the same interest.
Crochet Club members occasionally participate in community projects, according to Chavez. They’ve crocheted granny squares for baby blankets and made yarn from plastic bags to make mats for people without housing.
Rolewicz said she considers crochet to be very beginner friendly and encourages anyone interested in the craft to visit Crochet Club meetings where attendees are provided with all the supplies they will need for their projects.
Featured image taken by Hunter Minné / The Phoenix.
