Thriving at Home : Why You Need a Hobby

"She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight."  ​-Proverbs 31:13 (NASB)

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My Nanny taught me to crochet when I was five years old.  I loved making things for my dolls.  But when I grew out of the dolls, I put the skill on the shelf too.

And then one day, something magical happened.  I became a mom.  

Suddenly I had someone small that I wanted to make things for again.

My first thoughts went to my Nanny and to hooks and yarn.  But crocheted clothes had never appealed to me, so I needed another solution...

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I went to the store (remember bookstores?) and brought home a book about knitting.  It was pretty and it made me want to make pretty things.

Now, in the interest of integrity, I should tell you it had been a long time since I had wanted to learn something new.  And I was sleep deprived.  I had baby brain.  
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I had no idea where to start.  I was clueless about what yarn to get (or how much I really needed).  Reading patterns was like staring at the Rosetta Stone; I knew the blasted things meant something, but I had no idea how to read them.

I tried anyway.  I did not know what was “right,” so I often did not discover my worst mistakes until I had gone past them with hours of knitting.  That meant I got to frog the thing, pulling out yard after yard after yard until I had undone the error.  Yup.  I cried.  Great big baby tears, too.  

I'm not really sure why I kept trying.  Maybe it was because I checked out more books and read blogs.  There are some seriously funny/quirky knitters out there, and I was driven by the fact that these were women that I clicked with.  I wanted to be part of the club.  Maybe it was just the fact that I refused to be out-smarted by a dumb pair of sticks and some string.

But I think what really sold me on knitting was the way it made me feel.  I started looking forward to watching football with my husband (Knitting season! Yay!).  I loved being able to point to something and say: Look!  I finished something!  And it will stay done!  And I especially loved it when my children snuck over to my knitting basket and whispered, "Is that for me?"

Learning to knit taught me that every full-time mama needs a creative outlet.  

Yes, I am totally saying you need one more thing to do.  No, I’m not crazy.  

We were made in the image of God, and there is a spark of creativity in all of us.  Don't ignore it! New skills may take time to learn, but you never know where they will take you or who will be blessed by them!

Tips for Choosing a Mom-Friendly Hobby

Stay in your budget.  Crafts are suppose to restore your sanity, not erode your peace of mind by maxing out your credit card.

​Choose a hobby that creates finished objects.  As a full-time mother, your world is filled with tasks that are repeated endlessly. You NEED to be able to point to that batch of cookies/baby blanket/knitted hat and say “Look what I did!”

That's me: Inventor of the Butt Sweater (a free pattern)!

You have some use for those finished objects.  Yeah. You are not trying to fill your house with clutter.  Pick something that you can wear, give away, sell, or eat!

You can set it up and take it down fairly quickly.  If it takes you twenty minutes just to set it up, you, dear Mama, are never going to bother with it.

Think kid-friendly.  Is it going to wake up the littles?  Are you going to live in terror that they might get into your supplies and maim themselves?  You might want to wait to learn glass-blowing until they're grown...

Start small.  If you try something with an easier entry, you don’t have to feel guilty if you hate the craft and want to ditch it.  “Honey, I gave my ball of yarn and that crochet hook to Judy,” sounds a lot better than: “Hey, Hon?  Make sure you write off our donation when you do the taxes… What donation?  Oh, I’m sure I mentioned it… Well, I wasn’t really all that fond of the industrial grade kiln I thought I had to have…”  

Choose something you can do at home. You want to be able to pick up your hobby in the quiet moments and work at it for a bit.

And last, but not least,
Choose something that appeals to your senses. What do you enjoy? The scent of apple pie in the oven?  The sight of flowers arranged perfectly? The taste of tomatoes from your garden?  The sound of the violin? The feel of soft or silky yarns?  Your hobby must appeal to the way God designed you.

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But How am I Supposed to Learn Something New?

• It is AMAZING what you can learn from books, blogs, and YouTube, all from the comfort of your home.
• Taking a class is a great way to get started.
• Ask someone.  Most people are passionate about their hobbies.  Tell someone you’re curious about their hobby and they will likely trip over themselves in their eagerness to share.  Just be honest about your level of interest and budget.

Now, get out there and try something!

Want to get into the quirky world of knitting?
​Here’s a great way to start:

What Do You Think? Say Something:

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Copyright 2016 by Anna Travis.  All rights reserved.
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