THERE are many things that have become uniquely associated with Christmas in Guyana; one such staple is the “chair back” which Guyanese rush to use as part of their decorations at home.
When Guyanese hustle and bustle around the City doing their Christmas shopping and walking around, vendors can often be seen knitting, creating pieces that will soon grace the back of some sofa set.

Those in the business say that, while there has been some decline over the years, for varying reasons, Christmas is still a peak period for business.
“Knitting will always be in demand around this time,” shared 53-year-old Joan Adams.

Joan has been knitting since she was a teenager, most of her work is done on order, customised to the needs of the client; however, she often also markets pre-knitted pieces. She said a lot has changed in the business of knitting over the years, but many persons still enjoy the beauty that knitting brings when used in decorating a home.

“Your home is your castle, and at Christmas time when you finish dressing your home it’s nice to see the knitting craft work. When you look on your chair decorated in all these creative things you feel very proud, you feel that you don’t even want to leave your home; it’s so comfortable and so decorated, you feel your home is like heaven,” she noted.

From adorning the chairs and tables to even the walls, the eye-catching pieces vary in colour, style and sizes, and offer an instant energy to the rooms they decorate.
“When you go through the [vendor’s] Arcade, this is the time you see all kinds of knitting, people just creating things, you see Christmas tree, the ‘God Bless This Home’ patterns, sometimes you create birds, trees, leaves. You can create so many things with your hands out of knitting; that’s why people love it so much,” she told the Guyana Chronicle.

Though initially done as a means of earning a living, for Joan knitting has become more than just a business, it is a passion, and a means of expressing her ingenuity.

ART
“Knitting is about art. It’s about being creative. When you finish doing it and you see the beauty of it you cherish your hands. It’s like when you go by Main Street and see those men doing these carving work bringing something beautiful out of wood; it’s like that and it’s a very special gift from God,” she expressed.

But like any art form, she said knitting is about a lot of intricate work and mistakes can become time consuming.
“If you make one mistake you have to rip out everything, so you have to focus, your brain, your eye, your hands have to be focussed. Sometimes to loose it out you feel so discouraged because of the time you will have to do it all over again… but you have to loose it if you want to economise on the thread,” she said
Also in the business is 61-year-old Volda, who this Christmas enjoyed a peak in orders. However, she points out that customers making untimely orders too close to Christmas often stymie the amount of product that can be created, given the amount of time that has to go into production of the lattice pieces.

“You does get an increase at Christmas, but the knitting orders does got to come in early,” Volda explained, adding: “At Christmas a lot of people does want to order late but when they come in early you would able to do more knitting. Some patterns you can do two pieces in one day, and then other patterns you would take two days to complete one piece because of the design.”
Though many knitting pieces come as part of a set, the pieces can also be sold separately, with the price varying according to several factors.

A LOT HAS CHANGED
Over the years, a lot has changed about the business, including the cost for the material, as well as the amount of work that has to go into a piece. Because of that the pricing for the knitting has changed.
“It used to be like $5,000 for a five piece set, but then the sets used to be single thread, and the knitting thread used to be like $500 a bag, and the thread used to be more compact too. Now it’s like $780 for one thread, and the pieces knitting using double thread [technique], so because of that the price for knitting has gone up,” she related.

“It all depends on how much fine work involved and how much time you spend on it. Now the price fluctuates depending on the pattern the customer wants, more pattern more thread. Long time you used to fix the price [before], but the knitting was single thread, so the thread used to carry you a far way. Like two ball could’ve give you a five-piece, so you could’ve covered your expense, your time and everything, now sometimes you have to charge $2500 [per piece],” she notes.

Both Joan and Volda learnt the trade as part of a vocational training programme at their community centre, on the West Bank of Demerara. The programme was taught among a collection of trades by older women in the community.
“Since I was 16 I knitting, now I’m 61 [years old]. At the village office they had a women’s group where they had big women, and they used to get the little girls them in the village and they used to carry we to learn to knit, and do different, different things, make Chinese sauce, cook, icing cake, sewing,” Volda related.

Joan said she got involved as a means of being independent since the business gave her a chance to make a living.
“Since I was young, like around 17/18 I involved in knitting. I had dropped out of school and I didn’t have any one to give me a financial support in my teen, and that was in Burnham time when he insist that if you don’t have a sound education you have to have skills that you can bring in an income. And that even self your husband don’t want you to work you can make money at home independently,” she said.

Aside from knitting for customers, Joan also enjoys knitting for her own personal use, so she can also enjoy her home as her own little heaven.