I need a hobby.

[swan_tower]

No, really.

I say this now because today kniedzw and I will be hosting our annual Outrageous Clothing Mockery Oscars party, and that means a lot of time spent sitting and watching the TV. And when I do that -- or anything else that engages my eyes and brain, but not my hands (i.e. books are exempt) -- I find myself very restless, needing to do something with my hands. If I'm table-top gaming, I keep rearranging my dice, not out of superstition but a need to occupy my hands. If I'm watching TV . . . let's just say I know over a dozen varieties of solitaire, but after a while that gets boring.

I need a hobby.

The problem is, the obvious hobby -- knitting -- is not really useful here, because kniedzw already has our knitting needs (such as they are) covered. We have all the scarves we need, and aren't in desperate need of hats or gloves or sweaters or suchlike. I could knit things for my cousins' kids, maybe, but that moves it from the category of "random thing to do while watching TV" to "obligatory thing I must finish by X time because someone's waiting for it/will outgrow it otherwise." I don't want to take on any more obligations. I want this to be something where if I don't finish it for six months it's no big deal. Crocheting is too similar to knitting, and we already have sufficient afghans in the house. Embroidery? It's a possibility -- especially if I learn more than the three stitches I presently know -- but I'm not sure what I would make. We've already got embroidered dish towels, courtesy of my mother, and I don't have any costume pieces in foreseeable need of it. (I think I was embroidering during the Oscars a couple of years ago, for the Changeling game.) Ditto inkle weaving, though I'd like to make use of the looms currently sitting around uselessly. I could learn to card weave, as I've been meaning to do for years, but at least in the short term it's likely to occupy too much of my attention to be suitable for this situation. Maybe once I know the basics, it would work. And cross-stitching is once again covered by my mother. The only patterns I like are much too complicated for me to attempt, so I leave them to her.

Other possibilities? Maybe even ones that don't involve textiles? (No, I don't know why I default to thinking of Things Involving Thread.)

Comments

[c0untmystars.livejournal.com]

Things involving thread really lend themselves to "keep your hands busy while you watch TV" projects... at various times I've crocheted, tatted, knitted, embroidered/cross stitched (embroidery is good for throw pillows and the like) and quilted, because I am damned fidgety. One non-thread-y thing I do is beading/jewelry making... stringing beads is good for the fidgeting and doesn't require a lot of concentration.