The Atlantic

Getting Through a Pandemic With Old-Fashioned Crafts

Like many others in these times, I’ve turned to arts such as crochet and knitting to make sense of the chaos around me.
Source: Mondadori / Getty

If the new coronavirus sends us back, somehow, to olden times, I’ll be prepared not with fresh-caught food and firewood, but with doilies. I’ve been crocheting them, obsessively, when I don’t know what else to do. Two weeks ago, as the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in my hometown, I began a circular floral pattern in a thin, wine-colored cord. By the time , I’d made hundreds of tight, tiny stitches, and my wrist ached; events were one by one, and I switched to using a larger hook. Supermarket shelves emptied, and, and I ran out of black yarn.

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