As the global coronavirus pandemic continues to rage on, people are forced to spend most of their time in their homes and families have exhausted almost all pastime activities. Finding new ways to pass time has been a challenge but for the majority of women in central Turkey’s Sivas province, knitting has been the perfect cure to alleviate boredom while being productive.

The talented women of Sivas have found their calling in knitting and significantly boosted the sales of yarn, as they knit an array of colorful sweaters, baby shoes and various other clothes for themselves and their families. Some have turned the hobby into a source of income by selling the items locally, contributing to the family budget under pandemic strain.

The yarn business in Sivas had been stagnant prior to the pandemic, according to Yıldırım Yalçıner, a local shopkeeper selling knitting supplies.

"Civil servants and women spending more time at home under lockdown reanimated yarn sales," he told Ihlas News Agency (IHA).

Yalçıner also said that there were various new equipment and yarn types being sold as a result of this rise in popularity. According to Yalçıner, children have become the primary beneficiaries of this new knitting craze.

"Our client base has grown, and our catalog has grown accordingly. The most popular yarn type has become the ones intended for baby clothing, with mothers knitting usually for their children or grandchildren," he added.

Dilek Purutcuoğlu, a knitting enthusiast, said that it was a great creative and productive activity for people locked in their houses for the majority of the time.

"We can’t go out, so to spend that free time well, we knit," she said, adding: "I have mostly made vests and other clothes for my babies."

Yalçıner said that the tradition of knitting has always been one of the trademarks of Sivas. "The love of knitting that Sivas women possess is a well-known fact. That love has never changed but recently it has increased," he added.