Rhiannon had been crocheting for only a month when she walked into the Yarners, a weekly knitting group in Mayfield, East Sussex. She was 35. She had separated from her husband, moved a few towns away, and was "absolutely terrified" they would judge her for being a beginner. "But they didn't care."
The group became a fixture. "No matter what is happening at home, I know for two hours a week I can just sit in a calm and supportive space with people who share my hobby," she said. "It's more than just a group. It's a real community." She now has people nearby she could call if she were in trouble.
Research from the Institute for Public Policy Research found that the number of young people in England with no close friends has risen fivefold since 2014. One in 20 reported having no close friends at all.
People did not begin by hunting for friends. They began with a craft, a class, a game or a cup of coffee.
Ria, 27, moved from Mumbai to London, then to Reading, and found it hard to keep the friends she had made. In May she started a group chat. Friends of friends joined. "It just blew up. There are 70 people in the group now." Her London Coffee Club meets in cafes in groups of five to 10.
Chris, 32, had no local friends. He found board and card game nights at a nearby shop for 3 pounds a session. He calls a place like this a "third space": not work, not home, a room where people can meet without depending on a job or a partner to fill the week.
Rebecca, 31, works from home in Bristol and missed ordinary face-to-face contact. She joined pilates, weights and body conditioning classes at her local leisure center about three times a week, as a way to make friends.
When Chloe, 27, moved back to Hertfordshire, she wanted someone to go for coffee or to the cinema with. She and her friend Sarah, 30, started the Girls Collective. Their first event drew 65 people. The community chat now has 500 women, and more than 250 have come in person. Sarah said some of them now meet outside the group as well.
They did not go out to collect friends. They went out to do a small thing together. The friendship came after they had a reason to come back.