Cross-stitch, needlepoint, knitting, and crocheting have seduced a new generation that's desperate to disconnect.

Mary Ellen Winnicki, a needlepoint instructor at A Stitch in Time in Bethel, Conn., shows what the finished product will look like during a class held Friday, Nov. 10, 2017.

A stitch in time used to save nine. But bands of underground grannies have started stealing stitches online, rocking the genteel world of needlepoint and threatening to tie the industry in knots.