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.   

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. 

Does any of that count?

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.

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. 

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 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  

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Very cool!

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.

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.

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. 

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

Anais, those are BEAUTIFUL! WOW! 

Did you using acrylics or oils to do those paintings?

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

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!

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

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.

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!

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.

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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,
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!

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