On another thread we've found out a few of us have some "different" hobbies or activites.  I thought it would be fun to revisit this and find out what everyone is up to these days.  

I'll start it off.

My current compulsion is socks.  I love to knit socks (then give them away).  I started the usual way - using 4 or 5 double point needles.  Then I figured out how to knit two socks at the same time on 2 circular needles.  I next moved to knitting 2 socks on two circular needles from the toe up!  Now....... my Christmas present from hubby for this year...... an antique circular sock knitting machine!!  I'm just learning on it, but it is really fun to crank and watch it knit a tube.  

Other "activities" include shooting a compound bow.  I don't hunt, but hubby and son do.  I just like to shoot.

And, of course, I LOVE to bike on my recumbent bicycle.   ;D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/AnaisSatin/bigeyes.gif antique circular sock knitting machine?
Can you post pictures of this contraption?

I don't have any hobbies that are "different" per se, ... hm.. it kind of depends on who you ask. Is handwriting analysis considered "different"?

Anais

I used to have so many hobbies. Oil painting and ceramics among my favourites. Oh, it's been an age since I've done any of that now.

At the moment, I've been preoccupied with thinking of a theme or "mural" for the baby's room. I'd like to paint it myself if I could. And I'm trying to get back into playing my guitar so I can play wee songs for the baby too.  ::)

The regular stuff I love to do that I always find time for is scripture study, cooking and baking.  ;D

Does any of that count?

wrote on Dec 11^th, 2004 at 3:02am:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/AnaisSatin/bigeyes.gif antique circular sock knitting machine? Can you post pictures of this contraption?

This is very similar to mine.

http://www.victiques.com/Images_Knit/GH100Frnt.jpg

Handwriting analysis - THAT's an interesting hobby.  I'd hate to have you analyse my signature - they'd put me away!

Rua - painting for baby is fantastic!  I have no artistic talent and have always envied those who do.  I'm sure you will come up with something perfect.

Rua,

Painting a mural for the baby's room?  How sweet!  Do be careful about the paint fumes... even acrylics can be hazardous and slightly noxious to the pregnant woman... ventilate the room carefully!

All right all right.. I know.. I'm being a worry-wart.. but still!

Oh, thank you for your concern! Don't worry, my husband has already given out to me for working too much, so he would go to great lengths to ensure that I don't inhale any paint fumes either.

He's a good man, that husband of mine.  ;)

wrote on Dec 11^th, 2004 at 4:30pm:

Oh, thank you for your concern! Don't worry, my husband has already given out to me for working too much, so he would go to great lengths to ensure that I don't inhale any paint fumes either. He's a good man, that husband of mine.  ;)

and I'm sure he'll be a great daddy too!

I show dogs in 4H, and I want to be a puppy raiser for Guiding Eyes sometime soon. Puppy raisers get the dogs at 8 weeks of age, and for 16 to 18 months they socialize and train them in basic obedience. After that, they go onto specialized training to become a guide dog for a blind person.

Other than that, my hobbies aren't very unusual. I write, play guitar, and horseback ride.  :)

i recently (re)started very seriously with oil painting. but since i paint to be able to sell one day in america, i am not sure it's really "just a hobby" lol.  ;D

as a teen i loved horseback riding. i think it was the greatest hobby i ever had but i lack the courage to restart that one ...
having an arabian thoroughbred probably will stay my unrealized dream numero uno  ::)

I enjoy making mosaic birdbaths.  Here's a link to a page with a picture of one of them.  

http://www.thehealthyhomeschool.com/gardenclub.html

Knitting socks--that sounds cool!   8)  That contraption is very cool!

Lynn  :)

I started dog training out of necessity.  Next summer I hope to start one dog in protection training.  But I want 2 of my 3 dogs fully off leash trained before then.  

wrote on Dec 12^th, 2004 at 1:14am:

I enjoy making mosaic birdbaths.  :)

Very cool!

wrote on Dec 11^th, 2004 at 8:37pm:

I show dogs in 4H, and I want to be a puppy raiser for Guiding Eyes sometime soon. Puppy raisers get the dogs at 8 weeks of age, and for 16 to 18 months they socialize and train them in basic obedience. After that, they go onto specialized training to become a guide dog for a blind person. Other than that, my hobbies aren't very unusual. I write, play guitar, and horseback ride.  :)

Puppy training is great!  Guide and assist dogs are capable making life so much easier for those with disabilites.  

I have many hobbies that I enjoy more or less irregularly.

Including...

Rabbit She's not a hobby, really, but a family member who hops around the house free doing all sorts of wonderful things. I've had a houserabbit as my companion for as long as I can remember.

Aquarium Right now my aquarium hobby is not at its most intensive, but as I have a well-balanced and problem-free aquarium, I can mainly just enjoy watching the funny life of my fishies. To reach this stage, however, I have studied aquaristics, and when I get a bigger apartment, I dream of mounting Amazonia-tank that replicates nature as accurately as possible (not to mention a puffer tank, a mini reef and...and...and)  ::)

Knitting My winter hobby. I have knitted woolen sweaters, but during past few years I have mainly knitted socks. My socks are very popular among my friends and relatives. I like to make them as colourful and ornate as possible and use even dozens of different colour in a single sock. Bikerbraid, I'd love to discuss with you about knitting socks sometime :)
 In summer, I also like to crochet lace and do cross stitch works.

drawing Before I started to study philosophy, I worked as an illustrator for a while. Nowadays I don't have much time to draw, but when I get the inspiration, I enjoy it. My most recent picture-making work was actually a painted little wooden cupboard for keys. It became very, very ornate (very unlike that those sold commercially), representing World and elements in medieval style. It is a work of which I'm still very proud of.

berry and mushroom picking Finland's forests grow wonderful berries and mushrooms and several times a year I pack my spouse and sandwiches and go to spend half a day in a nearby forest picking berries and/or mushrooms and greens for the rabbit. Silent, green forest is a lovely place to be and the food I cook from our findings afterwards is very tasty too. Besides foodstuff, the forest is full of interesting plants and animals, so I often pack a butterfly or a plant book as well.

I also enjoy reading, movies, hair care and long walks if weather is good.

Anais, I think analyzing handwriting is a great hobby.  I like studying palm reading.  Do you find that handwriting analysis crosses cultural boundaries or that for different cultures and languages the analysis is slightly different.  I have always wondered how much of an impact culture has on things like this.

Analyzing handwriting sounds really interesting to me and it's something I may look into someday as a hobby. I find it very interesting how much (intended or not) a person's handwriting can say about them. I've heard it takes quite a while to get the hang of it though.

Personally, I don't really have any really different hobbies, just basic things. I tend to write quite a bit. I've tried my hand at poetry, short stories and some longer works and it's something I enjoy and would love to make a career out of someday.
Other then that, when the weather permits and I have company I like to go kayaking. I enjoy the exercise and it's a great way to see some wildlife and relax with friends.

Woooow more artists than I knew were around here on LL! We folks are always in hiding. FB and I dig acrylics.

Bardic Love, You're right, it does take awhile to get the hang of it. I've been studying handwriting for more than 6 years and collecting for more than 5, but I'm still amazed with each sample I collect.  

As for handwriting, it does depend on culture. I've focused especially on collecting handwriting from foreign visitors, exchange students, or refugees... or people who are simply very traditional when it comes to their  culture. Asian cultures tend to write more meticulously (i.e. dot their i's in the right place, crossing t's at a reasonable height, correcting mis-strokes etc..) because for example, Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji tend to be VERY position specific when it comes to strokes. Vietnamese has accent marks that have to go in the right place.. but meticulousness in writing is less pronounced in VN people because the accents are still pretty loose. In Chinese or Kanji, you miss one stroke or get one in the wrong position and it becomes either (a) nonsense or (b) something you don't want to say (e.g. "seven", "eight", and "nine" in some order vs. "inappropriate liar to be fired soon" Okay so I exaggerated with that fired soon part)

French colonial countries also tend to write with a very unique style, including what I like to call the "couture f"... lol. Haitians have a very unique writing style too... and the British and French write more upright than the Americans, who are taught to write with a slant (degree of slant signifying assertiveness or expression).

I think this is just like with spoken language, how people who speak tonal languages almost NEVER sing off key! lol  Culture plays a HUUGE part in handwriting among many other things. This is just a small sample.  ;)

If any of y'all from anywhere, not just non-US
(and whom I've "MET" please. Last time I had a stranger send me an email) want to send me a handwriting sample for analysis or simply to add to my massive collection ;D please PM me and we'll work something out.

Hugs,
Anais

I read, I sew, paint ceramics and probably the most ambitious thing I do is build miniature dollhouses. I also do furniture refinishing, I just love working with wood and that kind of thing.  :D

wrote on Dec 13^th, 2004 at 6:28am:

I also do furniture refinishing, I just love working with wood and that kind of thing.  :D

My mum used to do that. She would buy old pieces of beaten up antiques off people second hand. Half the time they didn't know they had a good piece. They would paint layers and layers of this god-awful colour on it. My mum would then strip it down and redo everything on it.

All of the pieces she got ahold of came out beautiful, and she would turn around and sell them for what they were worth, which was much more after being refinished. She loved that...but had to give it up due to health problems. Gotta be careful with all them chemicals!  :-/

Let's see: Hobbies.....

Beachcombing:
I have collected ocean-tumbled sea-glass most of my life.  I love the opaquely beautiful colors - and have antique mason jars of them all over my house (grouped by color hues and sizes.

Quilting:
Once an avid quilter, early aches and pains of arthritis have slowed my fingers - and I seldom have the patience to do it an more - Have dozens of my own quilts and many bought from other ladies.  Even am fortunate to own a genuine Amish quilt - purchased when on the historic tour of Washington DC 2 years ago with my son's 8th grade class.

Clocks:
My grandfather, my father, and myself collect/repair/enjoy antique key-wind clocks.  Our homes at noon and midnight are quite challenging for company - the chiming from the many of my 27 clocks (in our upstairs part of the house)and my father's 43 (in their downstairs part of the house) can be quite 'loud'

Insulators:
My love of colored sea-glass was instrumental to my 'collection' of glass insulators - (you know, those things that sit on telephone poles)... not a window in my home is without a row of bright, colorful glass.

Painting:
When ill one month 3 years ago, re-kindled my love of painting.  Started by painting antique game boards on my 6x3 foot oak coffee table (we use them often), then painting with 10 bristle brushes tiny scenes of serene farm life, amish buggies, and covered bridges on small wooden boxes.  My latest painting project is realistic flowering plants on ocean-tumbled, palm-sized sea-stones.

Rocks,Minerals, Fossils:
Our (my son and my) greatest hobby -
Collecting (me) rough mineral specimens, fossils, etc and (my son) polished, faceted gemstones.  Each summer we go to South Dakota to visit family and become bonified 'rock-hounds' coming home with hundreds of pounds of "finds".  Also go excavating with a paleontologish friend - finding ancient teeth, bones, and opalized sea-shells.  Our collection is staggeringly large.  my son will pursue the gemology as a side line to his future geological engineering major in college (2 years off)

Lately, work has been too overwhelming to participate in most of my pastimes - but that will hopefully resolve soon, and I'll be back to my artistic side!

What a fun subject, Bikerbraid!
nightowl

WOOOOW More painters than I imagined! Can we share photos of paintings?? Here are some reproductions I've been doing:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/AnaisSatin/horses_painting.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/AnaisSatin/royo.jpg
next project: a Vermeer! ;D

Nightowl, I would LOVE to see photos of your painted sea stones!

Anais

Anais, those are BEAUTIFUL! WOW!  :o

Did you using acrylics or oils to do those paintings?

Fabulous! You gotta put up more pictures of your work. Love to see them!

Such talented people we have here!  Long hair must inpire the creative artisit in the soul.

Hello again everyone, I bet you all thought that I fell off the face of the earth- no such luck!  My work gets very demanding around the holidays being a florist, this is definetly the start of our busy season and I just haven't made time to check in on the boards lately, but I'm still here!  I have also been dealing with the death of a dear loved one in our family, it has been very difficult accepting, and does not make me too eager for the upcoming holiday season, but I continue to plug away as life does go on.  Anyhow...painting and sketching is a dear love of mine as well, my paint style is somewhat abstract and it usually helps me to deal with feelings of sadness or anger, actually I find that is really the only time that I pick up the brush, when I feel that I need to "release" and let loose, it is really therapeutic.  I love sketching eyes and women's faces just with pencil, nothing fancy.  I think that all women are so very beautiful and delicate in their own individual ways, and sometimes it's the features that she may hate the most that make her so beautiful and special, and I just love to try to capture that.  Crocheting is a newfound hobby for me, I began learning on my own a few years ago, but don't have much time to spend practicing since I opened up my shop, I should really stay at it, it's so relaxing and rewarding when you follow a project through!  I love reading Stephen King books, I used to love playing the piano, but that's another love lost to lack of personal time (oh yeah, and lack of a PIANO, that might help!), any type of creating or crafting with my hands - I was on a 'dreamcatcher' kick a while ago, I made so many of those things it was rediculous!  No house needs that many dreamcatchers!  And of course.....Flowers!  How could I forget the hobby that makes a living for me!  Whew!  Ok, with that I think I've said about enough, the above mentioned activities pretty well sum up what maggie's all about!

Anais--those are gorgeous!!!

Heeey Thanks everybody! post your work too!!!!
and yup, that's acrylic.

MAGGIE! Good to see you back.. I hope you've been well and I'm sorry to hear about your loss.... And you're a florist :) Flower arrangement is fine art and the Tao combined. Do you tend to have a "personal style" when it comes to arranging flowers? And you MUST tell me more about your dreamcatcher run. I went through the same run a couple Christmases ago. I'm still obsessed with dreamcatchers. Here's mine from beside the bed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/AnaisSatin/anaissatin_dreamcatcher.jpg and golly I play the piano and do the occasional crochet too. We must have been separated at birth ;D ;D ;D

Bikerbraid, the tube knitting machine is too cool! 8) 8) 8)

Anais, you do beautiful work!  I am impressed.  Don't you also throw pottery?

I guess my only current hobby is doting on and grooming my three Persian showcats.  They are retired for the most part but one can still be shown.  They are shaded silver with aqua eyes, shaded golden with aqua eyes and blue-cream with deep orange eyes.  All three girls; Missy, Lilly and Sassy.

Some of my past and hopefully future hobbies again, have been/will be piano, gymnastics, ballet, tap dancing, sewing, counted cross stitch, ceramics, cheerleading, embroidery, drawing, oil painting, studying French, German and Spanish.  I'd really like to pursue French and German again and more extensively.  Hairstyling and braiding, acrylic and silk nails and hand painting on nails, working with pageants, make-up consulting; this was several jobs but too much fun to be work.  I like selling jewelry and gemology.
Gosh, I'm old.  So, what?
I love to read.  But if someone dies in the end of a book or a movie, I won't watch or read it.  It's just a thing.
I like spending time with my dad.  He's a Korean war veteran, disabled, and very precious.
Reading scripture and watching reruns of Last Of The Summer Wine on BBC.
Getting married used to be a hobby; staying married, unfortunately, was not.

This is a great thread, Bikerbraid!

strawberryfine

awwwwww ... isee someone in here is into painting horsies as well ... here's a very old aquarel i did in my teens:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stygxx/detail?.dir=8167&.dnm=87f9.jpg&.src=ph
i am willing to ignore my mistakes in that one lol.
i started recently another one but since i am too busy painting a huge stuff these days i can't finish it. i have a good underpainting of it though, but no photo yet.

Anais, I'm impressed, your work is beautiful!!
Styg, I like yours too!

I'm not very creative, But my hobby is reading, which I
don't have enough time to do.  I like to read all kinds
of books, I also like to study Scripture and theology.
I also like music and used to play piano, but I haven't for awhile.  Everyone sounds like they are so talented!

Wow! This thread is hopping!

Maggie - welcome back! And I'm so sorry for your loss.

Styg - fab work! I used to love sketching horses many moons ago. Mine could never compare to that, however!

And it's interesting there are 3 lassies who are scripture studiers here. Most people see it to be such an old fashioned thing to do. I've often felt like I was the only one! I just thought it was cool that I'm not!  :)

Maggie, sorry for your loss!

Yes, Rua, I like to study Scripture, that's cool that you do.
I'm also a Sunday School teacher.

Styg! That's a fantastic piece! I am soo in awe! :o :o :o :o I would post in some dancing bananas but this particular computer won't take it :P. The piece is flawless. .. what in the aitch ee double hockey sticks do you mean by "mistakes?! LOL
Strawberryfine, yes I also do work in clay.. my specialty is combination slab building/ handbuilding/ coil work. .. my most recent work was an orca whale leaping out of a box. weird!

Anais

wrote on Dec 20^th, 2004 at 3:31am:

Styg! That's a fantastic piece! I am soo in awe! :o :o :o :o I would post in some dancing bananas but this particular computer won't take it :P. The piece is flawless. .. what in the aitch ee double hockey sticks do you mean by "mistakes?! LOL

thankies!! by mistakes i mean mostly the too sharp edges on the ears. but most of what you do in water paint is incorrectable and well, i just didn't notice that at the time i did the painting  :)

Maggie, so sorry to hear about your loss. ((((BIGHUG))))

Maggie,
It's nice to have you back.  I'm so sorry for your loss.

And Styg! That horse is incredible!  Did you say it was watercolor?  I could never do watercolor because I make too many mistakes.  Guess that's one reason I like working in oils.  You can fix anything and I usually need to.

Rua and Babyfine,
I used to teach Sunday School, too, a long time ago.  I was 20 and I taught 5th grade girls.  It was an experience I will never forget!  Those girls were great!

Mine are 6-8th grade, now.  

Ladies...
I, too was a Sunday school teacher - 4's and 5's.  I also was the director of our church AWANA cubbies department - kind of like a church group 'scout troup' where the kids earn badges for scripture memorization.  I've also spend many years in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) where my mom was the teaching leader.  Work constraints and scheduling have made all of these things go onto the back burner for the time being - and am only participating in "grown-up" church regularly now- how nice to see other ladies with similar interests!

The paintings are beautiful Styg and  Anais - my great grandmother used to "paint" with pastels and watercolors, and my grandmother in pastels and oils.  Mom has done charcoal drawings, pencil drawings and oils - So - we have multi-generational artistry - by comparison, I just "play around" with acrylics - I can copy most anything, but lack the ability for spontaneous creativity, I'm afraid.  

nightowl