The world record attempt for ‘most people crocheting at the same time, in the same place’ is currently held by the Singleton Crafters, who set the record with 604 people in Singleton, NSW, in April 2017. 

Victoria tried to beat their record last year but were 10 people short. 

Two people supporting this year’s attempt are Robyn Dowling, who owns Creswick’s Twin Needles and CraftAlive’s Sally Taylor.

Ms Downling has been supporting the world record attempt by holding crocheting classes for people to perfect their skills before the big day. 

She said her shop draws people from all over the state, from places as far as Maryborough, Ouyen, Ararat, Horsham and even people from the coast as not every regional town has a dedicated craft shop. She said Australia is very lucky to have so many male designers and encouraged other men to pick up a craft.

“I don’t get many men taking part in my classes but I have a selection of men who come into the store for supplies.” 

Ms Taylor said a wide variety of people had signed up to participate in the world record attempt, including school children, young adults and older people. She said the attempt required a lot of organising as there must be one steward per 50 people, all exits must be closed off and the entire event must be filmed on a scissor lift. 

People of all skill levels are invited to participate, with crocheting lessons also available at the craft show in the lead-up to the attempt. Participants will be provided with a crochet hook and wool provided by Bendigo Woollen Mills and must be able to crochet a chain and continue crocheting in any stitch for 15 minutes. 

Now in its 28^th year, CraftAlive is Australia’s largest craft event series dedicated to patchwork, card making, scrapbooking, quilting, stitchery, cake decorating and more. CraftAlive Bendigo will take place June 15-17, with the attempt at 2pm on the Sunday.