If you look in one corner of my living room, you will see a pile of crafting stuff that goes unused. For the moment, it is collecting dust while I collect more hobbies. And if anyone asks about it, my answer is simple, hobby hoarding is a hobby.
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When I was a teenager, I was “a bit of a rebel”, which is a polite way of saying I was an absolute pain in the ass with no real respect for anything. As I grew older, I grew out of this rebellion as my day was filled with working and parenting my children. However, as my children have become more independant and don’t need me 24/7, the trouble maker in me is rearing it’s head once again. Let’s be clear, I’m too old for mischief and can’t be annoyed with the drama. Still, the itch to fill my day with something other than the routine which has held me in place for the last 20 years could become a problem if left unchecked. This is where my hobby hoarding comes into play.
Collecting hobbies has always been my thing as I have constantly searched for activities to keep my idle hands busy. It started with art when I was a teenager. I was pretty good and wanted to go to New York to attend art school. That was sidelined when I became pregnant with my eldest child, to this day I still wonder if I should have packed our bags and set off across the water to the Big Apple. In the years that followed, I had to put down the brushes to focus on being a good mum and working full time. Besides, my partner at the time wasn’t best pleased that I could out-earn him with a single painting, but that is a story for another time.
Cross stitch became a bit of an obsession during lock down in 2019, and I’ve amassed a lot of supplies in the years that followed. From subscription boxes to random patterns, I have hoarded a rather large collection of floss and fabric that will keep me going during my retirement. While some people think it is a dull hobby with flowers and cute animals, I’ve discovered the darker side of cross stitch. Gothic patterns and lots of black stitching across my aida causing my fingers to blister as I work tiny X’s into a shape that becomes a beautiful picture. I have quite a few “works in progress”, however, the unfinished projects keep me busy when I have a moment to work on them.
One skill I’ve never been able to master is crochet. I can knit a basic pattern and have attempted to learn some new stitches. Creating the magic with two needles is easy, removing one needle to make the craft into crochet makes it even harder. It is such a shame that I haven’t managed to get this craft, mainly because there are many beautiful patterns out there. Want a cute stuffed animal? There is a pattern for that. Want a new top? There is a pattern for that too. Even if you want to be brave and crochet a bikini for your next holiday, there is a pattern for that too.
Reading is one past time that I have been able to keep up with over the years. If you follow the blog or my social media, you will see the latest reviews and new books that I have collected. Reading is one of those past times that is for anyone, I don’t care if you believe that you can’t read (or as some people have told me, “too stupid to pick up a book”) there is something for everyone. Reading is one of my passions that I will do at least once a week. I may not get the time to devour a book in one sitting now, but even a few pages a day is enough to fill my mind with something other than mischievous thoughts about how to take over the world. If it is a really good book, it might give me some new ideas though.
In the last few weeks, one of my oldest friends introduced my husband and me to D&D, now I’m hooked on the quests and brawls of a fantasy world. Now my parcels of happiness have dice. These strange additions to my hobby hoarding corner have raised some eyebrows. My mother questioned them, asking “what’s with the weird crystals?” Having been used to my odd desire to collect crystals and witchy stuff over the years, she believed that I was hopping down a rabbit hole when dice with tiny plastic rabbits appeared, possibly wondering if it was for some bizarre lunar ritual that I had planned. Alas, they are just pretty math rocks for my pretend rabbit person who slays dragons.
These are only some of the hobbies that I have collecting in the forgotten corner of my living room. This doesn’t include my husband wanting to add to his gaming consoles so I can play online with him, the National Trust membership that gives us access to beautiful locations around the UK for free, or the ever growing collection of cooking and baking books that that I dust off from time to time in an attempt to cook like a grown-up.
The saying goes, “the Devil makes work of idle hands”, so Satan will have to schedule some time with me between D&D and my next cross stitch project.