Handicrafts such as crochet, knitting, and embroidery—traditionally practiced by women and by the elderly—carry passive associations.

Counting the movements of hooks and needles, row after row, requires patience, focus, and persistence. This, combined with the mental health benefits of ...

• In Ireland, during the famine of the 1840s, crochet schools were established to train impoverished farming families to make lace for export that grew into an art form.
• During World War I, French peasant women cross-stitched military scenes that were sold to raise funds.
• Af...

Many have turned to yarn crafts as a form of stress relief.

You can learn too. To crochet, or knit, or cross-stitch is to make something and to make sense of it, creating something lasting out of solitude.