Last spring, I walked into a needlepointing shop in my neighborhood and asked how long it would take to turn my newly finished canvas into a belt. The woman behind the counter laughed apologetically. “There’s a bit of a wait,” she said. “Ever since COVID, we’ve been swamped.”
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had picked up a craft in the last few years. Engaging in pioneer-style activities such as knitting, needlepointing, and sewing during the early days of the pandemic was almost as cliché as learning to bake bread. But unlike the sourdough starters, the crafts seem to have stuck around.
