Old Posts- Hobbies 08/28/08

I have found that I have large chunks of time lately and decided I should find a hobby or two. I suppose this is "my blog". Here are my findings...

Knitting- I learned to knit at a young age. The only stiches I know are knitting and pearling. Which means I'm really great at making scarves and baby blankets. Since these are the only stiches I know it makes it very difficult to make anything else. My extended family is great at knitting almost anything: sweaters, mittens, slippers ets. One of my cousins even takes knitting lessons, every week. Hmm, there's a more to knitting than I realized if you can take classes every week and still learn something new. I do not know how to drop a stich or pick one up. Trying to decode the instructions for learning a new stich is like trying to break a code the secret service set up. I don't know that I'm willing to continue down this path.

Sewing- I picked up sewing while in high school. A friend of mine sewed most of her own clothes and they looked great. It's a wonderful skill to learn for those of us who have a difficult time finding clothes that fit just right. Adult clothes are too long, and kids clothes are too short, and don't have enough room in the hips. Wow, now you know my whole life! Anyway, she and I made several dresses together. After I graduated she moved out of state. There goes my sewing buddy :( I continued in the effort to make my own clothes, but I didn't understand the lingo... what does bias, basting and backstiching mean? I knew what to do after watching her, but we had only made a few dresses and I lacked the higher eduction. As I progressed I learned I could piece the clothes together, but they never turned out quite right. I didn't know how to insert zippers, so I used buttons, or squeezed myself in. I would take the fabric and a pattern that was several sizes too large and make it into a dress, or what looked somewhat like a dress, without a zipper, and take it to my seamstress. She would insert a zipper and tailor the dress which was 1 foot too long, and make it fit. I felt like I was admitting defeat when I visited the seamstress. I now skip a step- I buy something that is too large and then take it to the seamstress!

Gardening- I started a garden when I moved into our first house. The plot was only 5X12, not very large at all. I planted a row or two of corn, and some green beans. I will admit I SEVERLY neglected my garden. I watered it, but didn't touch the weeds because the ground was so tough to work. After planting it I realized I had started my garden on top of an old gravel driveway- not the best ground for producing plants. After that experience my husband and mom were suspicious of my enthusiam towards starting a garden this year. To their suprise and my own the garden has produced many different crops. My favorite parts are planting, watching the first plants break the surface of the ground, and when each individual crop is ready to harvest. The weeding becomes tedious, and once the plants have been producing for a period of time I'm ready for the next crop to come in. I've started planning my garden for next year and with my recent findings about myself, I'll have to plant things so a new crop is ready to harvest every other week. I will be making Jelly with my mom tonight and have asked her to help me in canning once my tomatoes are ready. I have always been an advocate for "living off the land" and strive towards that goal. Maybe livestock is next.

Games/Puzzles- Games are really difficult to play by yourself, so I tried thinking of other "solitare" ideas. I purchased a puzzle a year or so ago at a garage sale, so who knows if all the pieces are there. I started the puzzle 2 years ago and got sick of it sitting on the table in my living room so I put it away, but I put it away very carefully. When I got it out last night, 1/3 of the puzzle is already put together. James was entertained last night when I was debating myself about whether I was cheating, or not. After15 minutes I came to the conclusion that I did the work before, so it's not like I had someone else to my work. I also gave some thought to my tendency to quit something if I don't see some progress being made, I made a lot of progress last night! I quit working on it at 11pm and have the frame done (except for a few missing pieces) and most of the area where the moutain meets the water. I've found some games in the internet, but it seems to be a waste of time to play games on the internet for hours at a time.

Cooking/Baking- I have to laugh every time I think about cooking. My version of cooking is to find a recipe I like, take out the ingredients I don't like, and add a few things I do. I get upset when the final product tastes like the things I make on a daily basis. If I could follow a receipe and not worry about the ingredients I don't like, I may find a great dish that I love. I can't relinquish the control!! If I eat a dish that I enjoy, my sister-in-laws peanut chicken stir fry for example, then I have no problem following the directions, knowing I'll enjoy the dish upon completion. Baking is another story, you have to be more disciplined and follow the directions or it doesn't turn out. I enjoy getting the final product of baking, but find I usually bake the same things: banana bread & brownies. However, I did make biscuits for strawberry short cake last night- those were wonderful, a little sweet, but wonderful!

Reading- I love reading. I have found my tastes for reading have changed over the years from romance novels, to the classics. I read the romance novels before I was married, and now I read the classics, and some other forms of fiction. I am in the middle of 3 or 4 books at the moment. Because James doesn't share my enthusiasm for reading I don't seem to make the time for reading that I once did. I could lay in bed all weekend when I was younger to finish a book. Don't bother trying to carry a conversation with me if I am within 50 pages of the end. I finished "The Grapes of Wrath" (a 800-900 page book) within a week after just getting married. James didn't appreciate me being pre-occupied for that long of a time period, so I now try and limit my reading for our marriage's sake. Reading now takes place when he not home, or when he is already asleep.

Exercise- I have been trying to take walks with James recently. This has been very good for us seeing as his work load his significantally increased over the past month. The time carved out for this has been very nice. Our usual route takes us to the gravel road and back to our house, we clocked it at 40 minutes the other day. My normal walk is fairly brisk, so when we walk for exercise we're moving at a fairly rapid pace. I enjoy cardio exercise and don't particularly care for strength exercise. I would rather be moving at a rapid pace instead of sitting in on spot and feeling my "abs burn". We try to play tennis, go swimming, go for a bike ride or take a walk at least 1-2 times a week.

Photography- I try to make it to James' games (he loves softball, soccer and basketball). I believe the psychology world calls this "recreational companionship". Since we purchased a new camera within the past year I've been taking lots of pictures. Example, I turned in 200 photos of the softball team to the church office recently, that was after I deleted many of them. They posted all 200 of them on the church website. If I would have known their intention I would have gone through and deleted more of them. Oh well. We (James and I) have found I don't take photos of people as well as "stuff". To help with this epidemic I have been taking photos of James' sporting events. This has proven to be a definate challenge for me. Learning to anticipate movement, & look for facial expressions. One of the most important things I've learned is... if you can't see the persons face the photos is useless. You need to be able to see their expression, anticipation, agony, and sheer joy. This has been a worthwhile endevor.

Writing/Journaling- I've kept a journal since 3rd grade. As the years have come and gone the depth of the entries into the journal has deepened. It's amazing how the suject of "my cat scratched me" doesn't really apply today. The journal I keep today is written in when things are extremely stressful, or joyous, but not much inbetween. My sister-in-law keeps a blog which is very interesting and insightful. I thought about writing my own blog, but I couldn't think of what I would say every week, and wouldn't be boring to the readers. So here I am writing "notes" on facebook instead. I'll try this for now- how am I doing? Are you bored?