One
month back on this day, I was running around , trying to be a good
organizer..the occasion
3rd Edition of Kuwait
WWKIP day
Worldwide Knit-in-Public
Day (WWKIP Day) was started in 2005 by Danielle Landes as a way to bring
knitters out of isolation. What started out as a very small movement
(with only 25 local events taking place that year) has grown substantially with
Knit-in-Public (KIP) events now taking place all around the world.
The KIP Day slogan of “better living through stitching together”
reinforces the well-documented benefits of crafting, such as alleviating
stress, anxiety and depression. It is
really about showing the general public that crafting can be a community
activity in a very distinct way.
Each KIP event is solely organized by volunteers. I found out
about this event in 2015 shortly after I joined my current craft group Kuwait
Crafters . Though I didn't that time, I thought of celebrating the
day to get a chance to meet new crafters. It was the first time Kuwait was
registered for the event. You can read about it here. A small write up on 2016's event can be
found here.
This year I wanted to have a bigger event with some fun
activities. We have had new members joining the group which means more people
know about a crafting group in the country where usually the information isn't
available.
Preparations started well ahead in time with looking out for
venues, sponsors , number of attendees. We came up with idea of giving door
prizes to everybody who attends the event. Registration and publicity were the
main tasks to ensure we reach out the intended audience.
This is how the invitation looked like
What came as a surprise
was how the small hand crafting businesses stepped up to the occasion when big
LYS refused to offer any assistance. Door prizes were made by the members of my
craft group. Last two years I made small souvenirs/badges to mark the occasion,
this year I thought of going big and got the badges printed . The badges were
liked by all and worn during the event.
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| Doilies made by Z for door prizes |
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| Door prizes for all |
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| Contents of the door prize bag |
We
used social media like Instagram, Facebook and event websites to spread the
word.
I
still can't believe that we had turnout of 40 crafters from Kuwait, almost 70%
were/are not the existing members of my group. The event was so much fun , with
lucky draws for which the prizes were sponsored by Needles & Yarn, Whiskers & Yarn , Zephyr and Made by Mrs Q.,yarn swap and a freebie table at
the venue.
It was a wonderful to see how crafters of different
nationalities, race , religion came together to celebrate the love of craft. I
feel so proud to say that this year we outdid the attendance by 5 times of last
year. This success wouldn't have been possible without all the hard work put in
by fellow crafters.
The cherry on the cake has been the coverage we got in
the media this year, two national newspaper in English , two in Arabic
published article about the event .For more pictures , check out the link below
for work done by official photographer of the event,a fellow crafter :
https://salsphotographie.com/2017/06/12/wwkip-kuwait-2017/
I'm
adding a link to the articles published in local papers if anyone is interested
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/2017/jun/21/24.pdf
http://news.kuwaittimes.net/pdf/2017/jun/14/p30.pdf
