Anne: There’s nothing quite like the joy of starting a new knitting project. Luscious balls of brand-new yarn, a vision in my head of something I can’t wait to wear. Reality sets in with the first dropped stitch or miscount, which is why I have an attic full of half-finished projects. There’s the cloud-soft sky blue mohair that keeps slipping off the needles; the lacy scarlet cowl in a fiendish spiral pattern; the pearl-grey shawl that will take approximately ten thousand hours to finish. I used to feel guilty about starting a new project when I hadn’t finished an old one, but I’ve come to enjoy juggling them. It makes for glacially slow progress, but so many delicious choices.
Steve: Twenty five years ago Edoardo Nesi inherited his family’s textile business, which was started by his grandfather in the 1920s. For decades they made some of Italy’s finest fabrics and Edoardo was proud to run a business that mixed commerce with beauty. Then the globalized economy hit Italy and the influx of cheap textiles from China forced him to sell the company in 2004. Nesi has written a wonderful memoir about this saga, “Story of My People,” which won Italy’s top literary prize. It turns out he’s something of a renaissance man; he’s also a filmmaker, politician and translator of American writers, including David Foster Wallace and Stephen King. Now, Nesi and co-author Guido Maria Brera have come out with a sequel, “The Crushing of the Middle Class” — their indictment of the failures of globalization.
Charles: My grandmother was a professional baker in Warren, Ohio. She moved in with us when she retired when I was five. My brother and sister are much older than me and she put most of her attention on little Chucky. And that meant baking: first for me, later teaching me how to bake classics like Mayo Cake and Date Pie. She has a new dessert almost everyday when I got home from school. My favorite was her Spritz cookies. When she died, I got her Spritz Cookie Gun and forms. And inside, the recipe on a index card, in her handwriting. I bake for my kids now. We made German chocolate cookies (gooey chocolate, toasted pecans and coconut) the other day. We use lard. We didn’t use a mixer. “All by hand.” She would say, “all by hand.”
Shannon: My basement is full of canning jars and glass containers of all sizes, waiting for the right moment. I like to give edible handmade gifts, and some have included ginger peach jam, pumpkin spice tea and various herb and spice mixes. Maybe my most successful, based on a friend coming back to me with an empty jar asking for a refill, was an Herbes de Provence mix. It’s easy: Combine two parts each dried basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary with one part dried lavender. It’s delicious mixed with olive oil on roasted chicken and in soups and omelets.
Haleema: I like to think that I live at the intersection of indulgence and being really, really cheap. I make homemade face masks for friends, and my favorite one is made from items that emerge from any South Asian person’s pantry. The mask is a simple blend of turmeric, gram flour, and yogurt, and if you want it to be further removed from a chicken marinade, you can also add rosewater, honey, or sandalwood powder. To make the mask feel more “Pinterest” and less “pantry” I throw it in a mason jar, tie a ribbon around it, and place it in a box with flowers and a Rupi Kaur poem.
Mark: At first, our kitchen remodel gave me ample opportunity to work on something away from a screen, something valuable in my line of work. But the months (yes, really, it's a long story) of work have made it clear that simply working with your hands isn't enough — you have to identify the ones that you really find value in as a de-stressor, and consider hiring professionals for the rest. I don't derive much calm from endlessly sanding and mudding drywall, but designing barn-board shelving and laying down flooring is a perfect zen activity for the weekend.