That Which Amuses

Today has found me engaged in two of my favorite hobbies - watching classic films (today it was Shadow of a Doubt and Rear Window - it's a Hitchcock sort of day) and knitting.

Some of y'all like to good-naturedly tease me about my near constant talk of knitting and I'll admit that I do tend to go on and on about it. But knitting is pretty much the only hobby I've had where I felt not just entertained but really fulfilled by it. I have other hobbies and interests but instead of it being something passive like watching films or reading - two of my other hobbies - this hobby is active. It's something that I get better at the more I do it. It's something that challenges me and I need the challenge. Too often I get a little too comfortable with being content. I forget to push myself to do something that's not going to be easy for me right away. I need that nudge once in a while to set a goal - something currently beyond my reach - and then attempt to accomplish it. While not everything I knit is a challenge, knitting gives me the opportunity to try a new skill or attempt to make something that I'm not certain will turn out but will at least be a learning experience.

I think any of us who have active hobbies - knitting or cooking or photography or painting or writing - have one added bonus that passive hobbies don't usually give. We have the opportunity to see a garment or a meal or a picture or poem and say "I made this. This exsists because of me.".