Sasa – Her Passion For Knitting Finds an Outlet

It is not often that one’s job and passion find a common ground. Sasa, a member of the Muezart team was lucky to see this happen. Her responsibilities in Muezart include creating new knitting and crochet patterns and designs. She also helps with creating videos.

How did she find Muezart?  How come she loves Knitting? Let us find out.  Hope you have read our other stories on the Muezart makers.

Ready for Sasa’s story? She joined Muezart on the 20th of December 2019. The Pandemic was round the corner, but it did not come in the way of Sasa upgrading her skills and contributing.

Born and Brought up in Jowai, Meghalaya, India

Sasa – a creator of knitting and crochet designs at Muezart.

My name is Ioanizza Talang, but the name I am called by is Sasa. I was born and raised in Jowai, the biggest city in the West Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.

I live with my mom, my uncle, and my siblings - two brothers and two sisters. I am the third among them.

My dream is to become an IAS officer (Indian administration services). I am studying for a degree in Bachelor of Arts (B. A.) in Political Science. 

Sasa was introduced to Muezart by Miranda who takes care of Marketing. She spotted Sasa’s passion for knitting and thought her a right fit to create designs for Muezart’s newly launched Eri silk knitting yarn.

Secrets From Sasa’s Knitting Journey

I learned knitting from my mom - she taught me when I was just 7 years old.  But, a few years later she stopped me from knitting. ☹

You are wondering why? Well, when my mother saw my love for knitting growing, she felt scared that I would neglect my studies. So, one fine day she took the knitting needles away from my hand and broke them into pieces. I was devastated. More ominous were her words “You will never knit again”. Her reasonings were - by knitting all I would gain will be body pain! And, if people were to give me an order to knit a sweater they would not pay. I guess she was seeing the world only through her experiences.

Did that stop me?

No! From that day onwards I never knitted in front of my mom, and I did not take the knitting needles too from my Mom’s room. As my love for knitting was compelling me to knit, I used refills of pens as needles and continued to knit secretly.

After 3 years, that is in the year 2008, my Grandmother came to live with us. Guess what. I found out that she continues to crochet and knit daily for her customers, even though she was old. I helped her sew the parts. One day, while I was doing that, I asked her “what about your body? Does it pain because you are knitting?”

Her clear reply was an emphatic “No”! In fact, she told me that she could feed the whole family just by knitting.  She could afford to send her children to school only because of she had customers who gave her orders to knit.

This was music to my ears. I asked her to teach me too but not to tell my Mom. My grandmother used to pay me for my help. I enjoyed helping her and collecting some money. Unfortunately, I had just a very short time with her as my parents put me in a convent which meant I had to live there. I got to spend very few days with my grandmother and to learn to crochet, that too in secret. But before I went to stay in the convent my grandmother gave me one of her crochet needles. I took it with me, hiding it in my pencil box.

 The only money I had was what I had collected from my grandmother – all of Rs. 30 – all as change. I gave it to one of the cooks in the convent and asked her to buy me a skein of yarn.  She bought me a skein for Rs. 22.

I crocheted a baby beanie on the same day. While I was crocheting one of my classmates asked me if I would sell it to her for her baby sister. She was ready to pay me cash immediately. I quoted Rs. 60 and got it! That was a big amount for me. I had never handled so much money and I was over the moon!

From that day to date, I have continued to knit for my family and for my customers. So, I learnt how to knit from my Mom, and learnt to crochet from my grandmother. I have my grandmother’s love for this art.

Sasa’s Creations with Eri Silk Knitting Yarn

Muezart introduced Eri silk Knitting yarn in May, 2020 and Sasa was assigned the responsibility of not only testing the yarn, but also to create new designs.

Sasa was in her elements and created some lovely things. Here are a few of her creations using Eri silk knitting yarn .

You can even see how much yarn she used. In case you want to make one of these items using Eri silk knitting yarn , you will know how much yarn to order. 

She enjoyed creating every one of them, but the easiest to make, according to Sasa, were the Baby blanket and the triangular scarf.

Knitting with Wool and Knitting with Eri Silk Knitting Yarn – the Difference 

Wool is a yarn that I knit only during the cool weather or in the winter season. Eri silk yarn can be used to knit throughout the year as it feels soft.

What did she imagine Muezart studio would be like?

Before I joined Muezart my expectation was that the office would be full of beautiful butterflies. And, I was worried that I would have to speak in English and not in Khasi. Both turned out to be incorrect expectations!

Any interesting stories about your work in Muezart

Working in Muezart opened up a new life for me. I learnt a lot – different types of yarn (I knew only about wool), learnt to use technology to write patterns, and so on. The atmosphere here is like that of a family.

Sasa has dreams of travelling to Australia and other countries.

Sasa’s is one more life touched by Muezart, and in turn Sasa is adding value through her creativity.

Do you have a question for Sasa? Do you want to share a creation of yours using Eri Silk knitting yarn? Reach out to us.