Ricardo de Miranda Rodríguez is 34 years old, works in radio, studies Social Communication, and practices crochet openly. At the Santa María Hotel in Camagüey, he knits with needle in hand while people pass by, watching him, and he continues without stopping.
His journey with textiles began during the COVID-19 lockdown, when he sought something to occupy his time during the hours spent at home.
First, she tried embroidery —she was given a hoop and some baby sheets— but it didn't capture her interest. Then she discovered crochet through tutorials on YouTube and learned on her own, with a borrowed hook that didn’t even match the yarn she had.
From the very first moment, I was enchanted and captivated, he recalls.
The paradox is that Ricardo identifies as impatient and restless—he has made vinegar and pasta from scratch, he has embroidered, he researches and creates without stopping—and yet he found in weaving a discipline that forces him to focus on a single project.
He has taught me to be patient, to distance myself from problems, to focus on a specific project, not to start many things and leave them unfinished, but to concentrate.
Since April 2026, he has been participating in the workshop of the project Las Hormigas Locas, which meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Casa de la Diversidad Cultural Camagüeyana.
He started at the beginner level and is now at the advanced level. He is the only male in the group, which initially made him somewhat anxious about how he would be received.
In Camagüey, it is said, there are few men who publicly knit. He is well aware of the question that arises before any judgment: "A man knitting?". Therefore, when he talks about crochet, he is not just discussing stitches and threads, but also about breaking molds.
Let everyone know that it's for everyone, he states.
As a Social Communication student, I help manage the Facebook page of Las Hormigas Locas and believe that showcasing men's manual work is a way to challenge the traditional division between "men's work" and "women's work."
In Cuba, women take on almost all domestic work and manual crafts like weaving have historically been associated with the female sphere.
So far, Ricardo has not sold any of his pieces. He has knitted scarves for his colleagues at the radio station, a small backpack for his coworker Marian Tejedor, and he is finishing a purse for his mother, who will receive it as a birthday gift in September.
He wants to present both pieces at the final exhibition of the Cuban Association of Artisans and Artists.
"I have imposter syndrome. I still don't believe that I can create a piece good enough to sell," she admits.
Outside the workshop, Ricardo has been with Radio Cadena Agramonte for two years, where he hosts the news magazine Camagüey al día from Monday to Friday, from six to eight in the morning.
On Saturdays, he hosts Camino a la plaza, a historical program. He also directs Ritmo joven and created Notas al aire, a space for instrumental music.
Between the radio, the university, research, and the thread, he hardly sleeps. Sunday is his only day of rest.
At the end of August, the members of the workshop will have a fashion show: they will make the clothing, and Ricardo will create the accessories. He is knitting a pom-pom bag for the occasion.
"I never thought I would find this community in the course, which for me is much more important than the crochet itself," says someone who arrived with fear and ended up discovering, stitch by stitch, something they weren't looking for.
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