When Pritha Maurya reconnected with an old skill during the pandemic, little did she know that crochet would herald airy, unworried fashion a year later. She learnt tatting as part of her sewing classes in school, and until recently, held on to an instance of gendered language alone from that point in time. “What was called silaai or stitching for the girls, was referred to as crafts for the boys. Funnily, my Hindi-medium school had equipped us in the creative arts despite its use of exclusive language,” Maurya recounts. It happened over a chance video. The 26-year-old watched a crocheter looping comfort in hanks of bright-coloured yarn, and she was keen to give it a shot.

A crocheted Pikachu and pokeball