How did you find your hobby? (needle, outdoor, motorcycle, watch)

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

Originally Posted by EarthBound?

I've always loved the smell and feel of wood.

So you became a wood carver? furniture maker? house builder? . . . ? lol

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

I didn't know anyone who could /would teach me how to crochet . . . so . . . one day when shopping with my mother I spotted a softcover book with instructions & pictures for both right & left handed crotchet. . . . I bought it, & some yarn, & a set of hooks, & began teaching myself using that book right away. (It was really the size of a magazine, and my aunt gave me some simple patterns to start on, but it was one of the best things I ever bought for myself!) I can make warm hats & afghans to use or give away, & I enjoy doing so much more than purchasing something as a gift!

[twinkletwinkle22]

Painting, both abstracts and realism, has been a longtime hobby and became more concentrated after retirement.

Gardening got restarted during Covid, much more enjoyable now with better North Carolina soil (Florida was so hard to grow things organically). Winter garden of collards and kale is started plus adding iris plants for next spring.

Cooking! I love making and eating good food and restaurants are expensive, even junk food has gotten pricey. My mother was not a good cook so I started to learn in my 20s from books. 60 minute Gourmet book started the obsession. Just went to an orchard and picked enough apples to last all winter.

Woodworking started because of needing it for my painting. I am not naturally talented with this but do love power tools. I joined a woodworking group that has tools I don't own and older members will watch and tell you informally if you're doing something wrong or dangerous. Youtube is great resource.

Hiking started with our move to North Carolina. Short hikes in local parks and in the neighborhood once a day. Have not achieved close to 10,000 steps on any day yet but it's a goal.

[Ted Bear]

Originally Posted by 2Q&Lrn&Hlp

I didn't know anyone who could /would teach me how to crochet . . . so . . . one day when shopping with my mother I spotted a softcover book with instructions & pictures for both right & left handed crotchet. . . . I bought it, & some yarn, & a set of hooks, & began teaching myself using that book right away. (It was really the size of a magazine, and my aunt gave me some simple patterns to start on, but it was one of the best things I ever bought for myself!) I can make warm hats & afghans to use or give away, & I enjoy doing so much more than purchasing something as a gift!

You reminded me a of a nice memory. My mom was left handed and taught herself how to knit and crochet. She sort of did things upside down and backwards with regard to the "instructions," and made a whole gaggle of hats, gloves, sweaters and everything knitable over the years. I was always in awe of her ability to translate right handed instructions into left handed application. She used to sit and knit while listening to Mets baseball on the radio. A good memory which had not crossed my mind in years. Thanks for reminding me.

[Kidderr]

I always liked such thing as gaming. So from my childhood i have this hobby

[CCS414]

I was forced to find something new - I'm a thrill seeker but my job took me from AZ to KS so no more skiing/snowboarding, hiking in the mountains and few/infrequent motorcycle trackdays. I tried mountain biking and it seemed to suit my stubbornly determined engineer mind so it wasn't long before mountain biking became as much of an addiction as my previous passions. The Kansas City area has a surprisingly good mountain bike scene, despite the fact that the weather makes the trails unrideable about 60% of the year.

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Hobbies are fantastic, and an extension of the play we had as kids. Becoming interested in one is great. Having learned what it offers to you and moving on to a new one is also great. Life would be utterly boring without them.

That's definitely the case for me. The other roles that I have to play in life, (father, husband, engineer) require me to be a certain type of person. But when I'm playing outdoors I get to be a kid again.

[skippercollector]

Even as a little girl in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I fantasized about having tons of Barbie stuff. I could envision a whole town with the houses and cars and shops. My sisters and I had a lot of stuff even then.
After college graduation and I started working and earning money (about 1985) , one day I was at a flea market and saw a Malibu Barbie and a Twist N Turn Casey for sale cheap. I bought them, and that was the start.
My specialties are Barbie's sister Skipper and all of their umpteen family members and friends. I have stuff from the 1960s to the 1990s. I stopped collecting new stuff after 1999 because I ran out of room. When the Internet arrived, I finally found an outlet for all of the minute trivia I had discovered myself over the years, details that were never mentioned in the reference materials that were available. I started a Barbie blog in the early 2000s, progressed to Yahoo groups (no longer in existence), Twitter and now Pinterest.
I have dolls from all over the world and have corresponded with people all over the world.
And yes, I finally have the town of Willows, WI, that I envisioned as a child, one for each decade.
Here are some pictures of my 1970s items.

[skippercollector]

To answer your first question, no, I don't own a Number 1 Barbie. In 40 years of collecting, I have seen a Number 1 TWICE; that's how rare they are. But I do have two 1959 outfits.
I compare owning a Number 1 to winning an Academy Award or going into outer space. Theoretically, anyone could do it, but the chances of 99.99 percent of the population doing so are almost nil.

[leeba]

I've found new hobbies in roughly 3 ways.

One is being open to invitations. A friend invited me to play chess and then attend a local club. I'm not gifted at chess but it's a healthy challenge and social.

Another is a decision to reinvent. After retirement I took the local master gardener class because I had no gardening ability but my wife has a green thumb. It would be something to share. She's still vastly better with plants but now I kind of understand and can help more.

The last is to repair an old frustration. When trying to help a child with a tabletop robot competition (small, battery-powered) I really wished I could fabricate plastic parts of my own design. Enter an inexpensive 3d printer and learning how to use it.

[perennial millennial]

Just... keep on trying new things. Sooner or later, you'll find something you're good at and/or enjoy


Perhaps take some adult classes? See what activities are going on around town