Hobbies

So yesterday BFF Meljean and BFF Jill and I were gossipping through the email and crying and moaning about how we all weren’t “feeling” our novels.  (That’s writer shortspeak for omg, I am tired.  Despite moaning, we all managed to make our wordcount, except me – I only did 1 K yesterday.)

So when a bunch of writers get together and talk about novel troubles, a lot of times it degenerates into “Who is sicker?” competition.  You know, when a bunch of older people sit there and try to outdo each other with their illnesses?

It went somewhat likes this:

Meljean: Having issues with my nookie. (She lies, btw.  Her smex scenes are always good.)

Jill:  Having issues with my narrative, it’s all adventure, adventure, oh wait, let’s have smex.  (She lies too.  Her bo0oks have a good narrative flow.)

Me: I just want to knit socks.

Meljean and Jill: …..

Jill: You are seriously burned out.

Everybody needs a hobby.  Kid 1’s hobby is drawing manga and making savage fun of her sister.  All I need to do is to say, “Oh that’s so kawai!” and Kid 1’s face turns green.  She hates that.

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Duchess’s hobby is food.  Also to stare deeply in great disapproval.

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My Hobby is knitting.

upload1I was never much of a knitter.  I mosly crocheted and crossstitched.  Cross-stitch I dropped because in the end it’s not practical.  Aside from making pretty things to put on the wall, it had no practical value.  Crochet I dropped because no matter how hard I worlk on a blanket, once I’m done, it never gets used.  Knittings always seemed to slow for me.

I’m not quite sure what possessed me to decide to take up sock knitting, but I did, and now I am addicted.

This is my latest nightmare creation.

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It’s socks, knitted from the toes, two-at-a-time, on a single needle.  (That’s got to be some sort of a record.)

When I showed this marvel to Gordon, he said, “Looks like two tiny colorful diapers.”  I swear, nobody takes me seriously.

The thing is, knitting keep me same.  And sock knitting especially – it’s fast, portable and I can do crazy colors. And my family can make fun of me while I’m doing it.

Obviously I should just knit everyone a  pait of socks in revenge.  Ha!  That will show them.

So, do you have a hobby?  What is it?  Is there pictures?

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54 people have bellied up to “Hobbies”

  1. Lisa J says:

    I knit and crochet. I have been doing more crochet lately.

    Everyone makes fun of me because I have a closet full of afghans (and I am still adding “closet afghans”) and another closet with towels for the kitchen with a crocheted top on them. My family has decided when I die everyone who attends the funeral will get either an afghan or a towel as a “parting gift”. The better the friend the more likely it is they will get and afghan.

  2. lacrima says:

    Oh wonder, oh wonder, my hobby is reading. It’s what keeps me sane when university and life is trying to drive me crazy. I get cranky and restless when I don’t read for longer than a week, and at least once a month I need a new book.
    So, you see, you guys keep me sane.

    My only other hobby is diving. I love it, but here in Switzerland the lakes are just too muddy and cold for me, so diving is a holiday-only hobby.

  3. fairyfreak says:

    Reading is my main hobby, but I also cross stitch and garden. Cross Stitch isn’t strictly practical, but I like pretty things on walls, so I’m ok with that. :)

  4. B-ster says:

    My hobby is reading. I want to have other hobbies, but whew, who has time! Though I admit that my kid was sick and I stayed home with him on Friday and Monday. So he and I had a Naruto film fest. I want to know where my Naruto on Cartoon Network went! Hulu saves the day!

  5. Meljean says:

    As I predicted, last night my power went out, and I discovered a new hobby: dipping my fingers into the melted candlewax, peeling it off, and then entertaining my daughter by showing her the fingerprints.

    (The sad truth is, I just like putting my fingers in the candlewax. And this morning, they are all soft and shiny. WIN!)

  6. Maili says:

    When I showed this marvel to Gordon, he said, “Looks like two tiny colorful diapers.”

    I’m going to hell because when I saw the photo, I thought: “Breast warmers.” :D

    My current hobby: digital manipulation through Photoshop and similar for a laugh. Such as creating mock book covers and wallpapers, superimposing innocent people’s heads on some images (Meljean’s birthday cover is one example), and perfecting the art of font-making (and failing badly).

  7. Chris says:

    As a knitter, I completely approve. :) Socks are my favorite thing to knit – although that hat is pretty darn cute!

  8. Laria says:

    Reading is my first love but I also really enjoy playing sports (ultimate frisbee, volleyball, and football), playing card games and Guitar Hero, and watching movies. Pretty generic hobbies. =)

  9. CourtneyLee says:

    I knit too! And crochet, but I was a knitter first. Two-at-a-time socks are something I need to do because I always get Second Sock Syndrome: finishing one, then not casting on the second so as not to ruin the nice feeling of accomplishment. I finished a toeless pedicure sock yesterday, first of a pair for my sister the pedicure junkie, and I still need to cast on the second. I knit other stuff, too.

    Ilona, have you heard of Ravelry? http://www.ravelry.com It’s the ultimate knitter’s online paradise. Aside from being a social hub, it also is something of a clearinghouse for patterns, both free and not. You’d be utterly amazed at how many free patterns are out there, especially for socks. I just looked at there are just under three thousand free sock patterns. Include ones that are in books or can be bought individually and the number goes up to over eight thousand sock patterns.

    And are those purple Knit Picks cables I see in your picture? I want the Harmony Wood Options set for Christmas. It’s even on sale right now. :)

  10. MaryK says:

    I crochet afghans because there’s not much to be done with crochet besides afghans and doilies (which I don’t like). I have ambitions to knit but am waiting ’til I find good instructions for the Continental style.

    Crocheting is very soothing, probably because of the repetition, and it can be done while watching TV. :)

    • Ilona says:

      I can only do Russian style. I don’t get the whole wrap yarn around your needle thing.

      • CourtneyLee says:

        Russian style? The two styles I know about are English (hold yarn in right hand and wrap it/throw it around the working needle) and continental (hold yarn in left and pick it with the working needle), but maybe Russian is just another name for one of them. A lot of crocheters find that learning continental knitting is easier because the yarn is held in virtually the same way. I’ve been meaning to learn continental; I’m a thrower, but it’s always good to be flexible.

        There’s a great site, http://www.knittinghelp.com, that has how-to-knit videos for English and continental as well as videos of a lot of techniques in both styles.

        • Ilona says:

          Ehhhh, I knit Continental but I purl with my yarn under, not over. That’s the way I was taught.

        • Ilona says:

          I guess that explains why occasionally my patterns look different :P

          • CourtneyLee says:

            It could be worse. I have a friend who knits continental, but right handed. She does the mirror of what everyone else does and she didn’t realize it until she was knitting a Christmas hat for her nephew and it ended up saying OH OH OH instead of HO HO HO. :lol:

  11. Yala says:

    Reading, obviously *g*
    But I also do Taekwondo which is great for stress relief and it’s so much fun :) And I’m into RPGs (roleplaying games), the pen+paper kind, which means we don’t run around the woods dressed up as elves and the likes (although I’m thinking about trying that for fun ;) ). We are sitting round a table with junk food and telling/playing a story. Another great thing (with partly the same people) are board and card games – and of late also console games…

    • =A says:

      LARP. I haven’t LARPed in 10 years. Of course, that was running around in hotels at conventions, not the woods, but great fun anyway.
      =A

  12. Christina says:

    I took up loom knitting this year. I blogged about it Yeah, there are pictures (scroll down to see the completed project.

    Eventually, I would like to do socks. I threatened my mother with them. :-)

  13. Brooke N. says:

    My hobby is being a snarky b—-, oh wait, I don’t think that counts as a hobby since it’s kinda my whole personality. Hmm…child rearing? Work? Nope.
    Ooh, reading your latest rockin’ creation. That’s my hobby ;)
    Also, I am sulking that I do not have purty socks in cool colors. ::sniffle sniffle::

  14. Jill Myles says:

    I play video games! Left 4 Dead 2 comes out today!!!

    *cue screaming & running around in circles*

    • Brooke N. says:

      Hubby was up at 3:30 this morning so he could play Left 4 Dead 2 before he had to leave for work. I stumble out of bed and see him on computer and say, What are you doing? He takes off the headset and looks at me and says, Playing Left 4 Dead 2! Like a little boy who just got exactly what he wanted for Christmas. All I could do was shake my head and stumble back to bed.

  15. Laura says:

    I knit and paint and do stained glass, and each have their benefits, but for everyday escapist hobbying, I bead… it is portable, satisfying – cause you accomplished something, and you get the joy of pretty shiny things to collect, put together, take apart, and gloat over like midas… need more pretty, shiny… mine… sorry. Usually I keep those comments inside my head.

  16. Addled Alchemist says:

    I knitted a baby blanket once and enjoyed it at the time, but I haven’t tried anything since. Now that I have kids, perhaps I should take it up again, just for the torment factor. :)

    Whenever I can claw out a little me time, I like to read, scrapbook or get completely obsessed with a video game.

  17. My MIL taught me to knit. I knew how to crochet but not knit. Now I have three and a half scarves. :)

    I take pictures when I’m not writing.

    A sunset taken recently.

  18. Wedschilde says:

    oh my god… i have no hobbies. shit. even reading is done for… um… other things.

    um… i cook? does that count? um… oh hell. i can’t think of a hobby.

    i used to do photography. but um… i never have time any more.

  19. Readsalot says:

    LOL I used to knit as a girl. I thought it was pretty fun actually. Never really made anything though, except a really lumpy scarf.

    Reading of course, my # 1 hobby. I will make jewelry. Nothing that you’d see in Macy’s or Kay’s.. but fun, pretty, and relatively inexpensive. (I’m not on my computer, otherwise I’d try to post pictures)

    Krav Maga is fun. While I’ve taken it up for self defense, its rather cool. Sometimes, to throw you off balance, they’ll play music really loudly, or in the evenings, they’ll keep everything dimly lit, so you can’t see.

  20. mikaela says:

    Well, I write. I have made some attempts at making jewellery, which falls on the fact that I don’t use it. :)
    I love to read. Not so much lately, due to being broke and busy.

  21. MinnChica says:

    I read and play World of Warcraft, which has become less of a hobby and more of a way of life…

  22. SylviaSybil says:

    I crochet. I can’t sit still for more than ten minutes without fidgeting. I can’t even watch TV, I get too restless. Crochet to the rescue! I can make a dishrag in a one hour episode of TV and a hat in a Little League game. I have trouble with afghans because they’re not portable so I can only work on them at home. For everything else I can whip my yarn and hook out of my purse wherever I am.

    I jog for stress relief. I work out all my frustrations and then I get a nice dose of endorphines afterwards. The only problem with that, which no one wants to hear me complain about, is that I’ve lost enough weight to make my jeans fall off my hips, and I can’t really afford to replace my wardrobe right now. I also read, and I think by this point “book collecting” can be considered one of my hobbies since I’m about to outgrow my second bookshelf.

    • =A says:

      thrifting! my best clothing all comes from thrift stores
      =A

    • MaryK says:

      Do crocheted dishrags actually work well as dishrags? I have some towels with crochet ends and the crochet does nothing but get in the way. I’d love to have something besides afghan/throws to crochet.

  23. Moonsanity says:

    I love to grow herbs, get my hands in the dirt, but that’s pretty much ended til spring now. I marathon read, and ignore everyone around me. Dinner? What dinner? I do photography, though not that well. Does sex count? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    I’m in awe of those of you who knit socks. Seriously, this just boggles my mind for some reason. SOCKS…that is SO cool. I can’t imagine people wouldn’t want them as gifts!

  24. Misti says:

    Reading and horseriding

  25. I stand ready to support you in all your knitting endeavors.

    Carolyn

    P.S. I like blue and wear a 7.5 shoe okay?

  26. Rebecca says:

    I collect Disney pins. When I’m not spending my money on life’s necessities, I’m online buying some trading pins. It’s actually cheaper to buy your books!

  27. CheeseBK says:

    reading, reading, reading (yeah, BIIIG surprise there, huh?) and writing. And some certain forums you might be familiar with *G*

    I do kickbox-aerobic once a week, not sure if that counts as a hobby… hmmm…

    I like Zoos!!! And traveling.

  28. Bentje says:

    hmm I do some sewing from time to time…
    stuff like that:
    [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/Maeibimathana/costumes/B0000032.jpg[/IMG]
    [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/Maeibimathana/costumes/bilderbentje2064.jpg[/IMG]
    [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/Maeibimathana/costumes/bilderbentje003.jpg[/IMG]

    • Bentje says:

      huh… that img thingy doesn’t seem to work here…

      wonder ift this is goning to work…

      • Bentje says:

        hmm no it didn’t *g*
        somehow I just don’t seem to be able to post a picture here…
        I guess I have to improve my computer skills… *sigh*

        <– I wonder if something will show up there this time… and if something shows up will it be the right thing?