Sad but satisfying hobbies

[scheherazade_79]

I was sorting through an old cupboard today, and I came across my old stamp album. I haven't touched it in around 15 years and nearly all the stamps had fallen out into the plastic bag that I'd kept it in. As I flicked through the pages and looked at the stamps, I suddenly remember how much I used to enjoy collecting stamps. I used to buy huge packets of international stamps from the local craft shop, then spend hours sorting them out into countries and arranging them neatly in my album.

By nature, I'm a pretty chaotic person. I can be untidy, disorganised and forgetful, but for some reason I've fallen in love with the idea of collecting stamps all over again.

I've already spent 2 hours at it today, and by the time I was done I felt completely stress-free - like the whole world had been lifted off my shoulders.

I once knew a lady who built walls (with proper bricks and cement) whenever she was stressed.

Does anyone else out there have a geeky or slightly unusual hobby that they resort to whenever they need to clear their mind?

 

[Guest]

erm.. no... not me

well
not really...




kinda sorta...

i spin wool, and then knit it into sweaters or what have you...does that count?

 

[scheherazade_79]

That definitely counts, Vella!

 

[Guest]

That definitely counts, Vella!

YES!
i knew i fit in somewhere, just didnt ever know what category.
thanks, babe, for showing me the light.
v~
rumplestilskins got nuffin on me!

 

[scheherazade_79]

YES!
i knew i fit in somewhere, just didnt ever know what category.
thanks, babe, for showing me the light.
v~
rumplestilskins got nuffin on me!

Anyone else willing to make their confessions?

 

[carsonshepherd]

I just write. And until you make money at it, it's just a hobby.

 

[matriarch]

I had a thing a year or so ago, for collecting leaves in autumn, beautifully coloured ones, of all shapes and sizes. I became almost fanatical about it, even going so far in a coffee break to collect some from a tree at work I had seen through the window.

Then I would take them home, place them between sheets of kitchen paper, and press them under books until they were completely dry and flat (and also very brittle).

I had envelopes full of them, one whole shelf in my study, but I loved looking at them, the colours, the shapes, the textures.

Then I had the brilliant idea of making pictures out of them, partly because I was going to a housewarming party for a blind friend and wanted a tactile gift for her. The picture idea came in a blinding flash of inspiration, I arranged a whole set of them on card, overlaid, then glued them into place, and spray varnished, then placed in a frame.

The friend? She adored it, kept telling everyone to look at it but they weren't to touch it, it was only for her to touch.

The leaves? *sigh*, unfortunately when Imoved, I had to make the painful decision to get rid of them. It was very hard.

Too late now to start again, I'll have to wait until next Autumn.

 

[English Lady]

I used to collect stamps as a kid, still love stamps. I was never organised enough to put them into albums.

I mostly write now but I will do cross stitch from time to time, I find it soothing.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I collect old books. I prefer an interesting read, but at heart, I just love the way an old book feels and smells, the way the pages are brittle and the bindings crackle when you open them. Ilove looking for old notes in them, or dedications and wondering what the people were like.

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

I collected stamps, rearranged and rearranged my dad's baseball card collection, pounded nails into wood and that pink and blue styrofoam stuff in my dad's workroom, color in coloring books (i still do that!), and i'm sure there's more, but it's escaping me right now.....

 

[Evil Alpaca]

I play a sport sometimes where I hit people with foam sticks. Does that count?

 

[scheherazade_79]

Everything counts! Wow! This is such an enlightening thread! Suddenly everyone seems so much more real and... human!

 

[matriarch]

I play a sport sometimes where I hit people with foam sticks. Does that count?

*chortle*......most definitely.

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

I play a sport sometimes where I hit people with foam sticks. Does that count?

*gentle nose kisses* Now now alpaca, drop the stick.

 

[nikkijames]

I am working on a scrapbook of the 'adventures' my daughter and I have gone on. Simple things like going to the zoo or when we went to watch the hot air balloons lift off.

I take pictures almost everywhere we go and this way when she gets older she will have a scrapbook of everywhere we went when she was a child.

 

[cloudy]

I crochet - afghans, mostly, but occasionally other things. I have ADD, so it's nearly impossible for me to just sit and watch tv. If I don't have something in my hands to do, I'll drive everyone else in the room nuts bouncing my leg or whatever, so I keep my hands busy.

Everyone gets handmade afghans for Christmas, and there's usually enough that I have a really big box to send to Pine Ridge, like I did this year.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

*gentle nose kisses* Now now alpaca, drop the stick.

Do I have to?

*whine*

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

Do I have to?

*whine*

Your alpacaness makes you too cute to be hitting anyone with foam sticks.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I went through a frenzy of bead-stringing many years ago. I've always been attracted to little shiny things, just like a savage, and I would happily go to bead stores and buy all these beads and sit with my needle and waxed thread and make long, elaborately patterned strings of beads. I started going to rock shops and buying bits of crystal and semi-precious stones and incorporating those too. I thought of the strings as one-dimensional stained glass or sculpture.

Finally I took them all and made one fantastic, surreal 3-D bead curtain for my bedroom window. It's up there to this day, a forest of little mirrors and crystals and beads and lenses that flashes and twinkles when the window's open. There are even little brass chimes.

Then one day I just had too many beads and couldn't decide which one to string next, and it all stopped. Haven't touched them since.

I still don't really know what that was all about, but that curtain is really cool. It's probably the most valuable thing I own.

---dr.M.

 

[oggbashan]

I used to collect books - then I turned it into a business. Now I am trying to uncollect them.

I used to collect hand and treadle sewing machines until my wife objected when the 14th one arrived. I would strip them down and repair them if necessary. I gave the collection to a museum and the spares to another collector. I am still finding odd pieces as I sort out my old house. That collection started when my then girlfriend moved into a flat that didn't have curtains. I bought her a treadle machine for two pounds ten shillings (gives age away). It was an early Frister and Rossman for dressmakers and worked very fast. Ideal for curtains but difficult for normal work. Last I heard she still has it because her daughter has borrowed the modern one.

I used to collect Kodak cameras pre WWII. I gave that collection away to another museum.

Also playing cards - mainly with a transport theme - planes, ships, cars. I have given those away to a museum.

I still have:

Foreign coins - French ones back to Louis XIV and several dating from the French Revolution including two made from the bells of Paris; German ones back to 1880; English ones back to George III, Roman coins from 300AD.

Viewmaster - remember the reels of 7 pictures and a viewer? They are still made as children's toys. I have over 2,500 reels mainly of scenery from around the world.

Those two take up only a little space but -

Hornby Gauge 'O' tinplate clockwork trains - two trunks full in loft of new house. When the grandchildren are old enough they can watch but not touch. The newest item is 45 years old. The track extends to about 300 feet. The garden on a very dry day is ideal.

Og

 

[matriarch]

I collect old books. I prefer an interesting read, but at heart, I just love the way an old book feels and smells, the way the pages are brittle and the bindings crackle when you open them. Ilove looking for old notes in them, or dedications and wondering what the people were like.

Ditto. So many secondhand bookshops where I live, and Victorian editions or very early 20th century abound here. I just love the feel of them.

 

[Whisky7up]

Using two VCRs, I made my own video compilations of scenes from movies, comedy sketches, scenes from TV...all sorts.
One or two had sort of a theme running through. Great to watch when bored...but really better than that.
Not much use to me now I moved, what with it being a different format here.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I have to confess that I don't really understand how collecting things qualifies as a hobby. I mean, I can see feeling pride in collecting, and the thrill of the hunt, and the sitting around and admiring the collection, but I always think of a hobby as something you do, like burning plastic soldiers or making model railroad trains crash while you imitate the screams of the victims, or making your own BDSM equipment in your basement.

You know, something that relaxes you.

---dr.M.

 

[impressive]

I collect (decorative) bird cages. (Don't ask me why. I haven't a clue.)

I'm also a genealogy hobbyist.

The only other hobby is writing.

 

[Guest]

Mat, I love your leaves story and felt really sad you had to throw 'em away, but I'm glad to know about the gift to your blind friend. There's a novel there I think, or a novella.

I think now my hobby is digital photography and using PhotoShop to turn ordinary pics into my own idea of the images. I've mostly worked with photos of Venice and many macro shots of flowers and odd objects. Everyone tells me to exhibit/sell them but that would make it like work. (I'm attaching a Venice pic.)

When I was in my 20s to 30s and neurotic without meds I used to knit. I made lots of sweaters but never put them together so then I started knitting scarves which took no time at all so I just made giant rectangles til the yarn ran out. It was a relaxing thing for me and I liked using variegated colored yarns and watching how the patterns emerged. I also liked cable-knitting and seeing how the designs worked. Haven't knitted in years, though I think about it occasionally.

Perdita