What hobbies did you have as a child?

I went through all kinds of hobbies, but I guess looking back most of them had to do with sewing. I started out making pot holders with the loops, hooks and square frame. By eighth grade I started sewing. One year in high school I made all of my Christmas gifts. The highlights were a jumper for Mom and a robe for Dad.

I babysat for a dear woman who spent her child's nap times in the summer teaching a friend of mine and I to sew. It wasn't until I had children of my own that I appreciated what she did for us.

I have lots of fond memories of hanging out at her home.

Meredith, did you make jewelry as a child?

[ January 02, 2005, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

I've been drawing or painting since I was about six or seven.....I was painfully shy and preferred "solitary" entertainments such as sitting in my room and reading or drawing. While I came out of the shyness thing I'm still knee-deep in reading, writing and drawing!

Later on in life I started collecting things but haven't done that in a while. I have a huge collection of cat and pig figurines. Just one of those "stages" of hobbies I guess.

Weren't those pot holders fun?? Makes me want to go out and get a kit, just for old time sakes.

My mother taught me to sew, embroider, crochet the lace around the handkerchiefs. Taught myself to knit, used to sit there knitting a small piece, maybe 5 inches wide, and see how long I could make it.

Now for some reason that reminded me of making those long links with gum wrappers, anyone remember those??

I've always like all kinds of crafts.

As a child I wasn't into anything remotely "girlie" and as such didn't start beadwork until age 15. I did do the pot holder thing, probably in summer camp, and still have the ratty relics to prove it. I just can't bear to throw them out. Other camp favorites: langyards, and those chased copper (ashtrays? wall hangings?) whatevers. I also still have a 5' long woven tail made from wool scraps, on this plastic barrel with 6(?) spokes, with the wool still on the spokes. I'd finish it except I can't remember why I made this in the first place.

In grade school I read read read read read and read. Literally (get the pun??) anything I got my hands on. I also loved to draw, especially with color pencils. Loved painting too, especially because I mixed my own colors. I think creating colors impressed me as much if not more than using them.

Oh yes, and I loved to build things. Dioramas. Little cities made from cardboard. Lincold logs and erector sets. I made up elaborate stories with everything I built.

At a very young age, around 4ish, I use to play around tree trunks...I'd build villages out of sticks and dandelions, leaves, bark, and then take small cars and park them outside of the homes. Talk about imagination...geeish. I would also entertain people by putting on neighborhood shows...charged a penny a piece for getting to see these wonders. I use to browbeat the kids in the neighborhood to perform. They had talent, I had a mouth. I was, of course, Ed Sullivan. I always opened with, "We've got a reallllly big shuw tonight." hahahah...those were the days. I also worked a bazillion jigsaw puzzles...still do. Work um...glue um...frame um...then give them to charities for kids "safe places" etc...

JJ

I used to love being Ed Sullivan too! We'd make pretend televisions out of huge cardboard boxes and put on really big "shoes" for anyone that would stop and pay attention to us!
I always loved to read and still do, my favorites back then were "The Happy Hollisters" I was in the book club and would recieve one every month. They were a family that solved mysteries.
I also liked to make things with clay and play doh.
Did anyone else peel dandelion stems and drop them into water to watch them curl up? For some strange reason I used to do that for hours on end...LOL

Soooo....you were a dandelion dipper, eh? Nope, never did that one. Course you know that everyone in here will try this as soon as they can find some dandelions, don't you? They won't admit it, but they will.

I've never heard of those books you mentioned, but I did read The Bobsie Twins books. Nancy Drew Mysteries...oh what fun! Agatha Christie's, Rex Stout....

And then of course, I'd topped the afternoon off by swapping all the heads of the Barbie dolls....that use to blow my sister's minds...teehee...They would swear they put the evenings dress on their Barbie but when they pulled her out, she had on a bathing suit....hahahahah...what bozo's! hahahah....

what? Why yes, I DID get grounded alot. How did you know?

JJ

Boy I can't wait for dandelions now. Never heard of that before. Gotta' try it.
I always drew pictures as a kid. A teacher told me I was good at it so I did it a lot. We also made toys from the mud in my granny's back yard. We made whole villages.
I wandered in the woods a lot and my sister and my cousins and I noodled for fish in the ditches when the ponds ran over in spring. Also caught crawfish and roasted them over my grandpa's forge then ate them guts and all.
Loved fireflies and my cousins and I would make the neatest light up jewelry out of them.
Started writing in ninth grade. A teacher told me I was good at it and picked me out for all kinds of writing projects.
Obviously I'm a dabbler. Dabble at everything and excel at nothing. But shucks, you gotta' do something.
smile

Smile I think thats referred to as:

Jack of all trades, Master of none!

That description would have fit me then as well. I did love flowers and animals even then, so had what I thought was a beautiful garden full of Lilacs and Sunflowers and all kinds of wildflowers. I bought my own first dog at age 14 1/2 with money I myself earned. She was a Chihuahua named lady. I drew alot and made good grades with extra credit from my drawings...

Hey I did the dandelion thing! they'd look so neat when they curled up. Used to put then under people's chins too, to see if they "liked butter"??

I also did the making little villages for the small cars - we called them "dinky cars" - had to have lots of roads, and rocks...

I collected stamps for awhile.

Went through a phase of getting my dad to cut stuff out of wood so I could paint on it - still have the cat shelf he and I made - he cut it out and assembled and I painted it - it stands about 3' high, a black and white cat with its back arched and tail up - the "shelf" is on top of the tail.

Also read lots - always reading.

One winter I had a pair of snowshoes, and I'd snowshoe around the yard pretending I was a "trapper".......

I'm an only child, can you tell

Okay, I'm reading thru these and I gotta know...what the heck is "noddled?" Never heard of it. And did you suck the heads of the crawfish? ewwww....I love crawfish too. If you'll give me your red car, I'll bring you some fresh crawfish. Honest.

JJ

Noodling is catching catfish with your hands. Real noodlers do it for catfish as big as a man under water in caves in the banks of rivers. We just did it in the ditches when the ponds overflowed. Problem is, sometimes snakes would be in the water. One scared me to death once. Pretty much ended my noodling career. Whew!!

Didn't we discuss noodling once before? There's even a movie about noodling.
Maybe not. Sometimes I hallucinate.

And JJ, I cut the crawdad's heads off. No sucking the brains out for me. Yuk.
And you can keep your crawdads and I'll keep my car. I've had enough crawdads to last me a lifetime.
smile

I don't remember reading about it but there was a program on the travel channel about those men the noodle those huge catfish, and I mean huge. I love to skin and deep fry catfish in beer batter but not one big enough to turn around and bite my butt first. These things were humongous....

This post is like a walk down memory lane.

summer, I remember the gum wrappers chains. My aunt taught me to crochet. She also taught us how to make paper flowers out of tissue paper. I loved those things!

Meredit, there wasnoting like a fresh box of colored pencils or crayons with fresh points! Your post about diorama brought back bad memories of school projects. I wasn't the creative type so I couldn't stand doing those things!

JJ, I played around tree trunks too. There always seemed to be bridges from town to town. I put little sticks from root to root and voila...all the little towns were connected.

We also did shows in the driveway. My older sister was the one in charge. She ran the shows. I believe one time we even charged a fee. I think I tap danced in that one.

JJ, I was also a Barbie head switcher. I didn't play with dolls too much, but when I did I goofed off. I was too busy running the neighborhood.

Smile, I also played in the stream. My favorite game ws trying to walk the stream without getting wet.

Thanks for all the great memories!

Hi,
I remember the gum chans and making necklaces for whoever wanted them.
I drew a lot and was encouraged at school never at home.
Mom did a lot of crafts I watched a lot and that's where I think the beginning of mine was.
Collected stamps still have them and add every once in a while.
Maggie

I did the pot holder and don't have any now around. I read and read a lot of books also. I started on day at our library and keep going around the room to read all kinds of books .. Love to draw, but pictures got thrown out for some reason when I put them out for Dad and Mom to look at. Paint buy numbers love that and still do... Not, what else did I do??? I will think about this later, This is fun!

My brother and I used to build the little towns, but we were a little more dangerous. When my parents would leave on Fri nights we would take shoe boxes and build little towns in the fireplace. After drawing little windows and doors on them we would take little plastic army men and place them all around. Then we would light the town on fire!! How we never burned down the house I'll never know. We watched the boxes burn, and the army men melt, and sometimes would take squirt bottles and play firemen.

Now being an adult and knowing that those things don't just disappear, I wonder why we didn't get in trouble for doing that, or maybe I forgot that part. But I know if I went to clean out the ashes and found melted plastic and half burnt army men, there were be an interrogation!!

My next question to myself is, how old were we when they would leave us alone in the house??

I love catfish, had some for lunch today, as a matter of fact!

As for hobbies as a kid, I did the potholder thing because I couldn't knit or crochet. I'm lefthanded and no one could teach me without me turning it upside down. Didn't work for me.

I also read.. still do... a ton. I particularly liked the Boxcar Children, Chronicles of Narnia, Toby joins the Circus, and of course all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. I liked the Laura Ingalls books too.

I had a coin collection started by a family friend that joined the Army and had to go to Vietnam. I still have it. Every month he'd send me money he got from the different countries he was in.

He was my only penpal in Vietnam. I also had a penpal in New Mexico. I guess that was a hobby too.

Reading all these posts sure brought back memories of things I had forgotten. Yep, did the potholders, the embroidery, sewed all my clothes...still have the entire set of Nancy Drew books! My siblings and I used to play "fort" in the small space between the houses - lugging back boxes from the appliance store on the corner to make the buildings. I also played "teacher" in the back patio. Had a big chalkboard and I'd arrange the patio furniture into a school room and "teach" my imaginary students. My mother still kids me about that to this day!

And I wonder how much my old stamp and coin collection is worth now???

Pen Pals, that's another thing I forgot about. YOu mentioned Viet NAm. DId any of your wear those POW bracelets? I think mine is still in the attic.

Wow, I did Dotsie, but I have no clue as to whatever became of mine!

I spent most of my childhood with my nose in a book. I can rememeber being quite young (around 3 or so) and I would read to my Granny. She used to tell everyone, "isn't that sweet? she memorized that book." Dang it, I was reading and no one believed it apparently. When I was in first grade our teacher took us to the library and showed us the "picture books" and "easy readers." I got the impression from that visit that those were the ONLY books that a first grader was "allowed" to read...I always checked out the limit (we could take 7 at a time) and I always tried to make them last. I would resist reading them as long as possible, because I knew that once I began they would too soon be over. I never lasted more than a day or two and it was a whole week until the next library day! Imagine my delight when one day on a whim I picked up a "chapter book" and the librarian assured me that I could check out ANY book in the school library! Woo hoo, I was on my way and I took pains to try and check out one really long book each time so that my classmates would be jealous (LOL) Somehow now that I look back, they probably cared less. My favorite books were the Box Car Children series, The OZ series, Little Women and any kind of mystery. For my 45th birthday, my Aunt Sharon searched through all the Half-Price Bookstores in Austin and presented me with a complete set of the Box Car Children. It was one of those perfect gifts ever.