"And it's kind of fun to stab something for a while... I don't know, it feels good," said Angie Holycross with a laugh.
Holycross, a local nurse and artist known online as the Savage Stitcher, isn't talking about violence. She's talking about cross-stitching — the rhythmic, meditative act of pushing a needle through fabric that's experiencing a renaissance in Southwest Ohio.
Even though the pandemic has passed, Holycross said many people are still looking for community connections.
"I think that a lot of people are feeling isolated after COVID." She said, "A lot of people are feeling like maybe they're alone or maybe their family doesn't have the same thoughts or values that they do, and so I think they're looking for community."
Every month, Holycross co-hosts a public crafting meetup at The Barrel House in the Oregon District for anyone who wants to create and connect.
"There's no RSVP, no cost, you just bring your project, you show up," she said.
The crowd is always a mix, from first-time stitchers to lifelong makers like Kat Jones-Shank from Fairborn. Jones-Shank said she has been cross-stitching since she was eight years old.
"My Grandmother taught me. She was a big stitcher," Jones-Shank said. "I just don't remember a time in my life that I didn't cross stitch all the time, and I still have a lot of her projects that she never finished."
But both women also said stitching offers something beyond the final product.
"I always call it meditative," Jones-Shank said. "It brings you down, it brings, it calms you down. It's just, it's kind of a repetitive motion while you're creating something beautiful, and there's that satisfaction of, 'I made this.'"
Holycross said some crafters are using their needlework to make bold statements that could be considered a form of activism. She called it "craftivism."
"There are a lot of people who are losing their rights, or there are a lot of people who are scared to speak up. There are a lot of people who feel like they can't speak up," she said, "and anytime that we have the privilege to say something, even if it is in art or craft, we should if we can."
Cross-stitching's growth isn't just happening around Southwest Ohio. According to some market research, the global needlecraft patterns market will be worth $34 billion in 2025 and is expected to nearly double by 2035. Some of that growth is likely due to online communities.
"I think a lot of that is thanks to YouTube," Jones-Shank said. "There's what's called FlossTube, where people make YouTube videos talking about their cross-stitching."
The online crafting community extends beyond YouTube to platforms like TikTok and Twitch, where people stream their cross-stitching sessions and discuss their projects.
"It also helps that a lot of the patterns nowadays, they're more modern," Jones-Shank said. "It's not your grandma's 1980s teddy bears and bows. You can find something that appeals to everybody."
That online popularity is part of what has given Jones-Shank the confidence to turn her childhood stitching memories into a business. With her brother, she's co-founding Nook & Needle, a cross-stitch and bookstore boutique opening inside the historic Dayton Arcade downtown this fall.
"The audience of cross-stitch and bookstore has a lot of overlap," she said. "One of the things that we're going to feature is what we call a stitching table that's going to be right front and center, right by the windows where everybody walking by will see: 'what are these people in here doing?'"
Jones-Shank said she's hoping to build more than a craft store. She wants to create a space where people can stitch, share, and even spark a little curiosity.
And maybe that curiosity is exactly what keeps the needle moving forward.
This story was produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO. Culture Couch is supported by the Ohio Arts Council.
