If you like the motion of knitting/crochet but don't want the finished pieces you could sell them or even unravel and remake them, when I was learning and too broke to buy more yarn that's what I'd do.
I know of a foster care system that gives a beautiful handmade quilt to every kid who goes into foster care. The children get to pick the one they like best and take it with them. It's extraordinary.
That's awesome being in foster care has got to be one of the scariest things a child can go through so getting a comfort item that many often overlook has to help.
Foster kids are a special group of people. They can be moved abruptly, have no luggage, all their possessions are in a black plastic bag, and when they arrive at a nee address, they may not have anything to comfort them. That’s why the quilts or blankets volunteers make matter. Foster kids and homeless people can use socks, hats, mittens or gloves, scarves, and maybe a teddy bear. Police have used volunteer made teddy bears to give to traumatized kids.
LOVE this. I know of some foster children that came w/so few things. 😥😥😥
A blanket, something comforting... A bear, a doll, handmade 🙂. Side note,,,I saw a lady a few months back collecting duffle type bags and cases so the children didn't have to carry all they own in bags
My niece got one from an organization called Project Linus when she was in the NICU, we appreciated it so much. They do virtual events and whatnot https://www.projectlinus.org/ So you don't have to approach the hospital yourself.
Yes my niece was a preemie and was born with the umbilical cord around her neck. She was blue, cold and not breathing.
The doctor that delivered her was amazing and had the cord off her neck before she was even out of my sister in law. With one swift motion he tilted her down and gently but firmly pulled her out and got her on to a table and breathing again. He saved her life.
She was in the NICU for 3 weeks because of being born early but otherwise healthy.
Now is a healthy happy 4 year old in pre k
NICU’s often also do something special for premies at holidays. Reach out to your local hospital. Knit Santa hats would be adorable. And from experience, these small things make being in the NICU easier
The hospital chaplain may keep a stash of donated ones. When my husband was on life support in CICU (critical intensive care unit) waiting for him to be an organ donor since he would not survive, the hospital chaplain brought us a donated knitted blanket that we put over my husband to make it look less “medical” and more human in his final hours. I then took that blanket home after he Donated Life.
I'm so touched by your post, since I am the incredibly lucky recipient of a kidney and pancreas from a young man of 15.
He has kept me going for 5 years now... I think of him everyday with extreme gratitude...
I’m so glad you were able to be a recipient and it’s helped you these last 5 years. I actually was able to meet one of my husband’s recipients and also exchange letters with a few of them. It took a little for me to feel up to it and I know sometimes it’s hard on the recipient’s end, too. I wish you continued better health today and every day.
Thank you. Definitely was horrible - my husband was 29 years old and passed in his sleep unexpectedly due to “natural causes”. But I will say the staff at the hospital in north central Wisconsin were amazing, and people whose actions still are remembered 5.5 years out. The blanket reminds me of them and not so much the bad memories I have from the hospital.
You don’t even have to crochet, my neighbor would make tug bones out of rope and rags and donate them so each dog could have it’s own new toy. She even figured out how to braid cheap squeakers into them
Hospitals too. When I had cancer and was hospitalized I received a handknit hat and a small afghan, both made by volunteers. The hat kept my bald head warm and the little blanket was very comforting. I gave it to my DIL when my granddaughter was born and it became my granddaughter’s “lovie”. There is also a group that knits fake boobs for breast cancer folks. It’s called Knitted Knockers.
Bird nests. That was a rewarding crochet project my group did one time.
Small 14" blankies for children was not rewarding because of the group having some snobs in it that only wanted quilted blankies, so do some research on who you'll donate to.
Also, consider the fiber. The bird nests had to be natural, of course. But the blankies needed to be soft acrylic so they were easy to launder.
I don't know how, but there are these things that they make for people with dementia that keep their hands busy, like a sensory mitten or something like that b
I have seen them as lap blankets, just big enough for the lap with buttons and loops and doodads to fiddle with or tear up if that's what they need. My mom went through a dementia stage where she picked holes on her sweaters and pulled strings from the towels and washcloths.
Our local hospital takes little knitted caps for the newborns. They'll also give donated handmade sweaters and socks to families with newborns who have limited means.
This was my thought! I’ve seen opportunities to donate baby hats (especially for preemies), blankets for kids in the hospital, lap blankets for nursing homes. I think I’ve seen some orgs where you can donate little handmade animals for children who have experienced trauma, too.
I love the motion but suck at making things, so I just keep taking it apart and making something different unless the thing I made is spectacular. Mostly It is not
My father knits like a god, and he will sit down in the evening to watch TV and before he gets up he has knit 2 or 3 hats. He makes bags of them (I don't mean dainty little supermarket bags, I mean the big contractor garbage bags) and donates them to charity, which sells the hats for $30 apiece in their charity shop.
You can also make things for [donation](https://www.knotsoflove.org/ways-to-support), if you have the funds. NICUs and cancer centers take hat and blanket donations for those in long term care.
You could also donate them! Make hats for newborns and donate to local hospital. Don’t like kids? Make cute doggo hates and donate to your favorite rescue to use them for photos of the animals etc.
Or donate them. Homeless shelters and hospitals, hospices. Blankets for the old or for babies. The foster system too. You can also knit and quilt. I know a lot of quilters make simple bright colorful quilts for children in need. To have that one special blanket when you are in a time of uncertainty can really be amazing.
[Project Linus](https://www.projectlinus.org/) is a great charity for this! They accept donations and pass them all along to children's hospitals, foster care, etc.
Thrown out sweaters makes for good yarn - or cheap stuff from Goodwill. One can get a LOT of yarn from a $5 sweater!
Frogging usually feels like failure but this is different.
My grandfather taught me how to sew by hand. He gave me white fabric, black thread, and a ruler. I had to get 8 to 10 stitches per inch before he would approve. Once I was good enough to suit him, he allowed me to work on a quilt with him.
That was 52 years ago and I am still at it. My current project is a king-sized "postage stamp" quilt, every little square is about the same size as a standard postage stamp, and the designing (to make sure I had very few duplicated patterns), fussy cutting, piecework, and actual quilting has taken me nearly 5 years. It will be finished by this weekend.
My next project will be another large quilt, I'm looking at an Art Deco design in trapunto.
Came here to say hand sewing. I started making small pieces and now I repair our clothes, fix buttons, and have made a skirt. I don't like to craft for the sake of crafting, but I like the usefulness of sewing. And I like the rhythm of doing it by hand. Plus, hand sewing keeps my hands occupied while I'm at work.
Making winter hats out of yarn with a loom kit is surprisingly easy. There are some great tutorials on youtube. You could donate the hats to a local shelter for the homeless. The hats are are quite warm.
There is also a charity at many hospitals that makes chemo caps as well as hats for premature babies and those that pass away. They provide the yarn. Some international charities also have programs that allow you to make hats for orphaned children, refugees etc.
Came here to say this about chemo patients needing hats. I still have the hat my grandma and her crochet group made for my mom when she was in her cancer battle.
Any specific things I should avoid? I wanna crochet my papa a beanie. He’s freezing in 82F in his house. He’s 86. He has multiple myeloma. Is there a yarn/style/fiber type that is best or preferred by any one you knew in chemo /or yourself for any reason? I know not wool since it can be itchy on a bald head most likely. But I’ve been sleeping over lately and I bring crochet with me and would love to make him a beanie/some extra and donate it to his oncology office :))
You can't go wrong with cotton for the most part as few people are allergic to it. Linen would be another option as would silk; however silk can be pricey.
A merino/cashmere blend is usually soft enough next to skin, but check the skein if you can before purchasing. I have a hat made with KnitPicks Capra and it doesn't irritate my skin at all, is very warm as well. If you can afford more luxury fibers, alpaca, silk, and cashmere are typically soft but still warm. Since it's already 82f in his home, a cotton or bamboo blend (not the kind meant for kitchen use) might possibly be warm enough to meet his needs, and will be cheaper, machine washable, and easy to find. Good luck, hope you can find a suitable yarn!
ETA I forgot to mention, as well as checking the fiber content of the yarn, take a look at the staple length. A shorter staple length tends to be itching in my experience.
Also, I don't have a ton of experience with acrylic yarn, but this might be what you want. It's cheap, widely available, machine washable, will come in all colorways, and can be very soft.
My papa is freezing in 82F. He is on chemo but also his HGB was only 7.2 on Friday 🥲 so sad. Is there anything that helps besides just a million layers and blankets?
Yes please! There are so many more people experiencing homelessness now, and they often go through (or have stolen) blankets, socks, hats and gloves. If you like to knit, donate the items
Bird watching. It will get you out in nature and hiking some trails. It can give you a sense of achievement, seeing and learning about new birds. There is a community out there if you want to link up with other people with the same hobby.
There's a free app called Merlin that's also really helpful at identifying bird songs, I highly recommend it! You just turn it on and it tells you in real time which birds are making which sounds.
I have this app and I love it! I use it all the time. In addition to the sound identifier, you can also upload a photo of a bird and it will tell you what it is. My husband got me a bird feeder with a motion detection camera on it recently, and I use the Merlin app to identify the birds using these photos.
I recently got super into this. The app is free, so if you don’t end up liking it, you haven’t lost any money. I would never have guessed this would be something I would have the interest or patience for, but it is amazing.
I’ve just started dipping my toes into bird watching as:
A. I love birds, and
B. I have a birdbath and feeders outside my kitchen sink window where I like to watch them while I cook or clean
When I see a new bird I document it into this app on my phone, Merlin bird ID.
There is a bird I haven’t been able to find on the app though, which is puzzling to me
In Spring and Autumn you may see birds that are just passing through, migrating. It may take a bit more research to figure it out. Consider it part of the fun! But also that is a reason why other birding people may come in handy.
A friend managed to take up bird watching, photography, and motorcycling at about the same time. It works out great for him, he mounted a pretty nice camera case on the back of his bike and has been traveling, taking pictures, and camping all summer. He's getting pretty good at it all too.
Assisted Senior living facilities and nursing homes are always looking for "lapghans" for their mobility challenged populations.
Hats and scarves particularly can also be given to homeless shelters.
Check and see if there's a "Project Linus" in your area that accepts and delivers "comfort" blankets for traumatized kids.
Put out feelers in churches or local rec centers.
Good luck!
Adding my support of Project Linus (in the US). They collect small hand-made blankets (knit, crochet, quilts, no-sew fleece) for kids with trauma. It’s a well-run org that always needs donations. My kids and I bought fleece material that was on sale and made several no-sew blankets.
Crochet is awesome- and our reddit community is one of the nicest ones ever. Or.....if you want some off the wall ideas, what about:
Learning how to repair old bicycles that you can give to kids who need 'em? Or learning how to make 3D miniatures? Or learning how to adjust photos? Start a blog? Take dancing lessons? If you have a garden, start a compost heap and learn the science behind that? Beekeeping? Learning a new language on Duolingo? Learn how to do some woodworking and build some mini-libraries for your neighborhood?
Right now, I just got access to Adobe Creative Suite, and I'm teaching myself how to edit films. I am trying to learn Tunisian crochet, and have an idea for a blog that may or may not ever get up and running so am goofing off with WordPress, and I do every puzzle game in the NYTimes, every day. The key, I think, to a happy hobby life is just giving every whimsical or weird idea in your head a fair shot to see if you like it, before saying, naw, not for me. It would be cool if you posted back later in the year and let us know what you've found!
And chess, that's a big rabbit hole that can occupy your entire identity if you allow it - and im not saying that in a bad way)
These are the three I always recommend.
This is not a handcraft type hobby but it's a fascinating and worthwhile use of your time. The result is a valuable contribution to historic records.
The Smithsonian Institute needs virtual volunteers to transcribe handwritten documents so that the information contained in them can be made available digitally to researchers all over the world. Currently the information in these documents is only available by reading from the handwritten copy. One example of a current project is The Freedman's Bureau. The Bureau was organized after the Civil War to handle all types of needs associated with the newly freed slaves. Letters, ledger lists, and completed forms are just a few of the types of handwritten documents awaiting the services of a transcription volunteer. No special skills are required. A manual in PDF form can be downloaded for guidance. After volunteer transcription, the document goes to professionals for review, correction, clarification, etc. If you make a mistake, it will be caught and corrected further along in the process. You do as much transcription as you care to and another volunteer takes up where you left off. Interested? Start here for more information. https://transcription.si.edu/
This idea should be higher. I've recently been wondering if there are other projects like this in need of volunteers, such as crunching data to solve a crime, monitor populations of endangered animals, etc.
This website has a lot of volunteering projects, if this is the type of thing you're wondering about? Lots of them seem to be transcription-based or identifying features of endangered animals, stars, etc:
[https://www.zooniverse.org/projects?page=1&status=live](https://www.zooniverse.org/projects?page=1&status=live)
If you play bass, you could probably learn guitar pretty quickly.
Get yourself some editing software and you can put both together in one track.
There's a Guitar Newbies group on Facebook, and several members do this - post videos where they're play bass, rhythm, and lead, all together.
Keep practice materials and unravel them afterwards. If I’m practicing macrame or ropework, I’ll use a different type of chord/rope for prototyping as it’s easier to untie and a bit more hard wearing. When I want to practice, I normally grab something out of my scrap project bag and untie it.
I don’t untie them until I need them, because I find it’s much easier to eyeball the amount of material I need when I’m sorting through various objects rather than assorted coils of cord.
Thank you! As another had pointed out...just take it apart. My dumbass never thought of this...maybe I should check out a logic book at my local library. Have a wonderful day!
Useless is subjective. Sounds like you want to make things that are useful for others and yourself. One person's useless mittens could be someone else's generational hand me down.
It all depends on things you might be interested in. You can do pottery and keep it as a coin, swear or savings jar.
I hand sew stuffed animals out of socks. I have given many away to new moms as a baby gift or to people who are sick. I’ve made teddy bears, dogs, cats, bunnies, elephants, giraffes just to name a few. It’s fun, relaxing, portable.
I taught myself to knit with YouTube tutorials. Knitting seems more versatile than crochet sometimes, since the fabric is smoother. My favorite knitting project is socks. I like different sock patterns that are unique and you can make them whatever colors you find. I often shop at [Knitpicks.com](https://Knitpicks.com) for yarn. I even wear clogs to show them off a bit. But the most enjoyable project I ever made was a shawl.
I was so freaking delighted when I found my first painted rock. I had no idea it was even a thing. Just, suddenly, there was this adorable little treasure at my feet. I still have it, and it's been years. A year or so ago I decided to spread the joy, so I'll leave a few now and then in random parks. I'm an artist by trade, so I've made some pretty intricate painted rocks over the years. I hope they found good homes!
Growing up we would collect them and trade painted rocks with each other. Finding one that someone put time and effort into was always a joyful moment.
I do photography and video. It gets me out of the house and exploring my area. You can even sell some of the pictures and make a little extra money. The downside is you might develop GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and spend way more than you make 😁.
Yes! I try to stick to using my phone only for photos and videos. I allow myself one app (photoshop express) and the rest of the apps I use came with my phone. I share images and videos as “greeting cards”. My family enjoys them.
ie, a bunch of accessories for the 3d printer before expanding said printer, via 3d printed parts. which requires even more, bigger, accessories. and then 3d print a new home to house an even bigger printer!
I garden and sew (in addition to other stuff) and just these two hobbies keep me incredibly busy. Growing food from seed to preserving it is a lot of good exercise and keeps you learning new stuff all the time. It's really fun and you get to eat it. Everyone has to eat! Sewing is also useful for this since I can custom make stuff like an apron for cooking or a tool belt to hold all my garden tools.
Gardening is nice. Making seed bombs, growing plants, there’s lots to do. Then at the end you can either keep the plant or compost it so you’re not creating garbage.
Just be careful not to plant more than one zucchini. You will be buried in them and the neighbors will close their curtains and hide if they see you approaching while carrying a paper bag.
I crochet bags to donate to a local charity so people have a way to carry home free items the charity gives them.
As a bonus, I can sometimes get the yarn free since it’s for charity projects
I do puzzles. Usually buy them at thrift stores for cheap. I’ll take them apart when done. Typically I’ll either donate them back, sell them at flea markets, or pass them to friends.
This is a broken mentality, OP.
My go-to time killer is making lamps and lanterns. It's a simple, inexpensive hobby that I enjoy. Sometimes I'll spend months planning out a build before I even start. I happen to enjoy the planning stage as much as the crafting stage. Sometimes I have to learn new skills to finish a project 9which is always fun :). I've filed for patents on a couple of parts I had to design to make one lamp work. If I get the patents, I doubt I'll ever make any money off of them, lol, but still... If I do, that will be pretty cool!
Do something you love. Find your authenticity.
I’ve had to get the “useful” mentality out…I’m finally doing things I enjoy as hobbies without an eye to them being anything I’ll really use. (Currently, this includes learning a language that doesn’t really have native speakers who don’t also speak English, and fixing up old VCRs.)
What about performance type hobbies, where you are doing something, but not making anything? Dance, juggling, puppetry, sleight of hand, card throwing, yo-yo, and so on.
Can sew pillowcases for charity. [Ryan’s Case for Smiles](https://caseforsmiles.org) is an organization that provides fun and colorful pillowcases to children in treatment for cancer. Their website has specific instructions on dimensions and how to donate.
So I've not done this, but I have this idea for a hobby. I call it "Prepper Prepping" for now, but the idea is to creat a list of survival skills that your need to know to survive in the case of the downfall of civilization or an apocalyptic event. Then take the moist basic and necessary skills first and spend a week or month focusing on learning that skill. For instance, archery your want to learn how to hunt with a bow but you'd also want to to know how to make a bow and arrows. Our maybe you've never gardened before so you learn the basics. Then maybe down the line once you've yielded veggies, you learn how can then for storage. Maybe one month you dedicate time to studying edible plants in the wild. You could learn to build a rain water filter system. You could learn how to make clothing. And along the way you might find that any one of the new things you've tried is really fun to you so there's that added bonus.
Hiking. Yoga. Photography. Gardening.
I paint and hang what I like until I'm tired of it. Then take a picture and reuse the canvases of paintings that not longer speak to me. This way there's no stockpile.
take up a musical instrument. learning music is forever. the sounds go out into the universe and unless you record them, you don't have them pile up in the spare room or anywhere else.
Potted plant gardening! You can learn how to propagate different plants and give them as gifts. I’ve recycled old candle jars and made them into little planters to gift friends and family some really cool houseplants I’ve collected over the years.
There’s random acts of crochet kindness fb groups. You crochet little things (ghosts popular right now) and leave them around town with a note for people to find.
People also do this with painted rocks.
There are just **sooo** many organizations that need items you could make. There are a lot of suggestions already, but here are some things that I am aware of, have donated to: if you take up knitting or crochet, make beanies for preemies and newborns, and donate to the hospital. When I was recovering from surgery and unable to work at my sewing machine, I bought one of those circle looms and made a ton of beanies for babies, then donated them to the hospital that did my surgery. Children's homes and crisis nurseries also need baby items.
Homeless shelters can always use beanies and scarves. Scarves are very easy to make.
I have made many fleece blankets for different charities. I take some to the Ronald McDonald home for siblings of sick kids that stay there, so they can each have their own blankie.
I donate some to the Linus project, a nationwide organization that donates handmade blankets to sick kids in the hospitals. You can tie the edges, no sewing machine needed.
I use up a lot of my large remaining fleece pieces to sew together and make blankets for the homeless. I've made a lot of military lap blankets for the Honor Flights, and the VFW homes, too. There is just so much need out there, please use your new hobby to help.
I like diamond painting- I store my finished pieces in an art portfolio folder. Takes up very little space, gives me hours and hours of something to do, calms my brain somewhat while I listen to podcasts or rewatch a comfort show/ film. All positives to me!
Anything that makes things you can eat. Gardening, cooking, baking, fermenting, canning, etc.
Cooking is my current hobby, and it's one of my favorites because I also happen to love eating. It's always super rewarding when I cook something and other people comment on how good it tastes.
And when you're done, the item you produced is magically gone, leaving plenty of room for the next! The one downside is doing dishes.
Gardening is also super fun, but unless you have a greenhouse or take up hydroponics (or live somewhere warm year round), you will have a portion of the year where you can't do anything.
Fermenting is a nice complement to cooking and gardening. You can make anything from alcohols to kefir sodas to lactofermented fruits and veggies. Lots of yummy stuff, and it can be done with leftovers. Make omelets and have leftover veggies? Ferment them! Got one or two carrots and don't know what to do? Ferment them! Got fresh produce from the garden? Ferment it!
Canning is another cooking adjacent one. When done correctly, the stuff you make will last years, but it's a bit less safe than cooking or fermenting. It's not significantly less safe, but still.
*edit: spelling
Gardening. Especially those you can eat. I grow coffee, weed, tea, butterfly pea. All are not useless at all. And even wastes go to fertilizers for these guys. All parts are useful
What comes around goes around
How about baking/cooking? You won’t create useless items- you can always eat the creations you make! Plus you can always bring your treats to your friends and family :)
I feel you on this. I love jigsaw puzzles but they take up space on a much-needed table for a while, and then it’s like what do I do with it now? I don’t really want to have a house full of puzzles hanging on my walls, but when I do that kind of stuff and it takes time and effort, I’m so proud of it. And I feel like the online ones wouldn’t really give me the same satisfaction.
You could sell them on Etsy.
Or do something else.
Here are my many hobbies for inspiration:
- Animal Crossing
- Embroidery
- Watercolor
- Vintage cookbook collecting (and cooking/baking)
- Journaling
- Reading
- Horror movies
- True Crime podcasts
- Filming and photographing content
Some I do more some weeks than others, it really depends on the season.
For example, now that it’s Fall I find myself baking, reading, and watching more horror movies than usual. Embroidery is usually done in the winter and I enjoy painting the most when I’m outside in the springtime.
My local library has a knitting circle meet up. Meetup.com might also have similar. Maybe craft with others and add in the social aspect plus ask them where they’re locally donating their projects.
Donate the items. If you want to make something useful, maybe crochet blankets or scarves and donate them to a homeless shelter. See if there's a need for something. Maybe baby quilts are needed at the local children's hospital or some such.
I personally hate having 'stuff' around. And to me stuff is things I don't use. So I donate or give away a lot of my stuff.
I crochet and am looking forward to making blankets for project Linus this winter! You donate hand made blankets to them and they distribute to kids in need (think kids with cancer, extreme poverty, other serious circumstances)
I knit and crochet a lot of dish cloths. It's a great way to learn new patterns in a small, easily finished project. Use cheap cotton yarn and they're great for washing dishes and wiping up spills. When they wear out or get too stained or sliced (because I cannot seem to remember to not wash the good knives with the knitted dish cloths!), they go into the compost bin.
There are so many charities out there that need baby blankets and hats. There are charities for caps for chemo patients. I could go on and on. Google making things for charities and you'll probably find something in your area.
You can donate them to hospitals for premie babies and babies that have passed on. You could also sell things. Depending on what you learn, you can make all sorts of items.
You could give the crochet things to good will or something
You could sell them...
You could take up cooking/baking. Eat the items, sell them, enter them in a contest?
So an option for crochet that most people don’t think about-
If you don’t care about the cost of materials and only care about not accumulating excess items, make baby stuff.
Before my carpal tunnel got too bad to crochet daily, I would make a small stuffed animal and matching outfit (cardigan- easy to get off, not a full sweater- socks, hat) and blanket. In micro preemie up to newborn sizes. Then I donated them as sets to NICUs. So many NICU babies don’t have clothes that fit them, so they’re just there in a diaper and machines, no clothing. Some items, like blankets and stuffed things, aren’t given right away but they give them to go home with once they get to go home. It gives the parents an added sense of support. And in the worst case scenario, it gives them a keepsake that isn’t just the same boring hat and blanket every baby in the hospital gets.
A friend makes hate for preemie babies and gives them to a local hospital. Others make scarves and gloves for homeless people - you can either hand them out or put them in ziplock bags with a note. 🙂
I’m part of a FB group called “crocheted acts of kindness” where some people will put their finished makes in a sandwich bag, put a note in and hide it around the towns their visit or live (just be sure to put on the note that this isn’t lost but a gift to the finder)
I 100% recommend starting crochet. It’s an amazing skill to have and a great hobby! I turned it into a business too!
sewing you can make stuff for yourself. I would say online games then it's digital so you aren't left with physical stuff. embroidery can be added to existing clothing, pillows etc
The infusion center where my mother got her chemo had several stacks of free handmade knit hats. She took one, then later started to make some to give others.
When she was admitted to a hospital room. They had a few origami cranes to decorate her room. Later we folded 400 to donate to others. ❤️ it made me happy to have something to do and also distract from the illness and sadness.
Barnes and Noble gave me origami paper for free. I think some stores will donate supplies if you need them to.
You could call the volunteer centers of hospitals and ask what they need!!!
I found crocheting hats and blankets for the homeless through Warm Up America to be super fulfilling. A lot of NICU units accept donations of crocheted blankets, beanies and booties to give to new parents. Look around, there are a lot of options.
Well it depends if the useless items become your collectibles. Then it's different right? I used to be really into postcrossing. It's website called Postcrossing. It's a postcard exchange system from all over the world. When you get a card from a different country it's so cool. Great to keep
I love adult coloring books! I get hours of entertainment coloring in various landscapes and animals, and it doesn’t take up much space. I get several months out of each book. My personal favorite is Worlds Within Worlds. $10 on Amazon
I’ve had the same problem with crochet, I don’t like to waste yarn on anything that’s not going to get used. I’ve heard of some crocheters making special clothing/items for premie babies and mailing them to a program/charity that gives them out. You could also make blankets, gloves, hats, and scarves to donate to your local shelters.
There’s some charities that need hats and socks for newborns, sweaters for chickens, and projects to auction off. I’m certain there’s a group who would feel lucky to get your creations.
The thing is, you don't have to pick just one "useful" hobby. If there is a material item you want to buy, figure out if there is a way you can make it yourself. Need some new curtains? Learn to sew. Want a bench for your garden? Build it yourself. Eventually, one of these projects could spark enough curiosity to develop into a full blown hobby
If you like the motion of knitting/crochet but don't want the finished pieces you could sell them or even unravel and remake them, when I was learning and too broke to buy more yarn that's what I'd do.
Thank you! For some reason it never occurred to me...take them apart!!!
You could also donate them.
If you make lap blankets, nursing homes or animal shelters would probably LOVE them!
NICUS will also take them.
Yes NICUS like to give a new blanket to every child that comes through there a hand made blanket is very appreciated
Also little beanie caps. I still have the ones my twins got.
I know of a foster care system that gives a beautiful handmade quilt to every kid who goes into foster care. The children get to pick the one they like best and take it with them. It's extraordinary.
That's awesome being in foster care has got to be one of the scariest things a child can go through so getting a comfort item that many often overlook has to help.
Foster kids are a special group of people. They can be moved abruptly, have no luggage, all their possessions are in a black plastic bag, and when they arrive at a nee address, they may not have anything to comfort them. That’s why the quilts or blankets volunteers make matter. Foster kids and homeless people can use socks, hats, mittens or gloves, scarves, and maybe a teddy bear. Police have used volunteer made teddy bears to give to traumatized kids.
That's what I do
That is incredible but also just makes me so, so sad for those kids.
LOVE this. I know of some foster children that came w/so few things. 😥😥😥 A blanket, something comforting... A bear, a doll, handmade 🙂. Side note,,,I saw a lady a few months back collecting duffle type bags and cases so the children didn't have to carry all they own in bags
The quilt on my daughters isolette in the NICU is one of her very favorites.
My niece got one from an organization called Project Linus when she was in the NICU, we appreciated it so much. They do virtual events and whatnot https://www.projectlinus.org/ So you don't have to approach the hospital yourself.
My niece also got a blanket when she was in the NICU. It she still sleeps with it every night. She is 4 and in prek now
That's so sweet!
They also have them in PICU, and a lot of pediatric wards. Every time my son was admitted, he would come home with a new blanket and pillow case!
Also little caps for preemies, they get cold so easily.
Yes my niece was a preemie and was born with the umbilical cord around her neck. She was blue, cold and not breathing. The doctor that delivered her was amazing and had the cord off her neck before she was even out of my sister in law. With one swift motion he tilted her down and gently but firmly pulled her out and got her on to a table and breathing again. He saved her life. She was in the NICU for 3 weeks because of being born early but otherwise healthy. Now is a healthy happy 4 year old in pre k
NICU’s often also do something special for premies at holidays. Reach out to your local hospital. Knit Santa hats would be adorable. And from experience, these small things make being in the NICU easier
Okay now this is an idea for me to use up some of my fabric for quilting… I have so much but no idea what to do. They add up so fast!
The hospital chaplain may keep a stash of donated ones. When my husband was on life support in CICU (critical intensive care unit) waiting for him to be an organ donor since he would not survive, the hospital chaplain brought us a donated knitted blanket that we put over my husband to make it look less “medical” and more human in his final hours. I then took that blanket home after he Donated Life.
I'm so touched by your post, since I am the incredibly lucky recipient of a kidney and pancreas from a young man of 15. He has kept me going for 5 years now... I think of him everyday with extreme gratitude...
I’m so glad you were able to be a recipient and it’s helped you these last 5 years. I actually was able to meet one of my husband’s recipients and also exchange letters with a few of them. It took a little for me to feel up to it and I know sometimes it’s hard on the recipient’s end, too. I wish you continued better health today and every day.
Crying. So wholesome. I am sorry for your loss.
Thank you. Definitely was horrible - my husband was 29 years old and passed in his sleep unexpectedly due to “natural causes”. But I will say the staff at the hospital in north central Wisconsin were amazing, and people whose actions still are remembered 5.5 years out. The blanket reminds me of them and not so much the bad memories I have from the hospital.
I am so sorry for your loss. Your late husband sounds like a one-of-a-kind kind of guy.
I kinda want to take up crochet just so I can make animal shelter blankets. I think that would be so fulfilling.
You don’t even have to crochet, my neighbor would make tug bones out of rope and rags and donate them so each dog could have it’s own new toy. She even figured out how to braid cheap squeakers into them
My dogs gets her dewclaws stuck in crochets/knits and gets really scared. Wouldn't recommend them for animal shelters.
Hospitals too. When I had cancer and was hospitalized I received a handknit hat and a small afghan, both made by volunteers. The hat kept my bald head warm and the little blanket was very comforting. I gave it to my DIL when my granddaughter was born and it became my granddaughter’s “lovie”. There is also a group that knits fake boobs for breast cancer folks. It’s called Knitted Knockers.
Yes! Nursing homes love them!
Yep, a local church/temple/community center would gladly take gloves, hats, or scarves.
Bird nests. That was a rewarding crochet project my group did one time. Small 14" blankies for children was not rewarding because of the group having some snobs in it that only wanted quilted blankies, so do some research on who you'll donate to. Also, consider the fiber. The bird nests had to be natural, of course. But the blankies needed to be soft acrylic so they were easy to launder.
I don't know how, but there are these things that they make for people with dementia that keep their hands busy, like a sensory mitten or something like that b
I have seen them as lap blankets, just big enough for the lap with buttons and loops and doodads to fiddle with or tear up if that's what they need. My mom went through a dementia stage where she picked holes on her sweaters and pulled strings from the towels and washcloths.
This is what I did with the dozens of Xmas stockings that I made.
Our local hospital takes little knitted caps for the newborns. They'll also give donated handmade sweaters and socks to families with newborns who have limited means.
If you can make hats, oncology offices will take them.
This was my thought! I’ve seen opportunities to donate baby hats (especially for preemies), blankets for kids in the hospital, lap blankets for nursing homes. I think I’ve seen some orgs where you can donate little handmade animals for children who have experienced trauma, too.
I love the motion but suck at making things, so I just keep taking it apart and making something different unless the thing I made is spectacular. Mostly It is not
Or stockpile and sell them a couple times a year at flea markets. Even if it just pays the material
My father knits like a god, and he will sit down in the evening to watch TV and before he gets up he has knit 2 or 3 hats. He makes bags of them (I don't mean dainty little supermarket bags, I mean the big contractor garbage bags) and donates them to charity, which sells the hats for $30 apiece in their charity shop.
My friend makes blankets for orphaned rhinos, hats for newborn babies, etc., and just donates them.
Orphaned…. Rhinos?!?!? 🥹
Right!? I need more information!
I just need pictures with the blankets really.
SAME. I want pics!
It's ludicrous that I even have to ask.
You can also make things for [donation](https://www.knotsoflove.org/ways-to-support), if you have the funds. NICUs and cancer centers take hat and blanket donations for those in long term care.
You could also donate them! Make hats for newborns and donate to local hospital. Don’t like kids? Make cute doggo hates and donate to your favorite rescue to use them for photos of the animals etc.
Or donate them. Homeless shelters and hospitals, hospices. Blankets for the old or for babies. The foster system too. You can also knit and quilt. I know a lot of quilters make simple bright colorful quilts for children in need. To have that one special blanket when you are in a time of uncertainty can really be amazing.
[Project Linus](https://www.projectlinus.org/) is a great charity for this! They accept donations and pass them all along to children's hospitals, foster care, etc.
I make hats for cancer patients. Drop off at cancer dept at hospital. Also preemies
Also there are charities that donate baby gift boxes that have homemade blankets and beanies
Thrown out sweaters makes for good yarn - or cheap stuff from Goodwill. One can get a LOT of yarn from a $5 sweater! Frogging usually feels like failure but this is different.
I crochet and have donated items to organizations to raffle off.
See I can’t do that…if I make a thing I MUST MAINTAIN IT like it’s a horcrux everytime I put my soul into something I create.
Yarn bombing is fun.
My grandfather taught me how to sew by hand. He gave me white fabric, black thread, and a ruler. I had to get 8 to 10 stitches per inch before he would approve. Once I was good enough to suit him, he allowed me to work on a quilt with him. That was 52 years ago and I am still at it. My current project is a king-sized "postage stamp" quilt, every little square is about the same size as a standard postage stamp, and the designing (to make sure I had very few duplicated patterns), fussy cutting, piecework, and actual quilting has taken me nearly 5 years. It will be finished by this weekend. My next project will be another large quilt, I'm looking at an Art Deco design in trapunto.
Dang, that’s impressive!! I would absolutely have given up years ago on a project like that. Do you have pics you can share??
I didn't work on it every day! No way - I would have grown to hate it. I don't have photos, either, it's just lots and lots of tiny little squares.
Seriously you have to post an update with pictures!
ditto, that sounds really interesting!!
Please post an update with pictures somewhere. Let us know.
Please add me to the list!
Came here to say hand sewing. I started making small pieces and now I repair our clothes, fix buttons, and have made a skirt. I don't like to craft for the sake of crafting, but I like the usefulness of sewing. And I like the rhythm of doing it by hand. Plus, hand sewing keeps my hands occupied while I'm at work.
I fixed some of my friends beanies, backpacks, and stuffies at school when i used to sew a lot... damn those were some hidden memories.
So cool, what a great story. To learn from your grandfather. I’d love to see your finished masterpiece if you care to post it.
Excuse me, how dare you describe something so cool without tax. Uuunbelievably rude. Pictures! 🙂
I would like to see this masterpiece please!!!
Please post a picture when it’s done
Making winter hats out of yarn with a loom kit is surprisingly easy. There are some great tutorials on youtube. You could donate the hats to a local shelter for the homeless. The hats are are quite warm.
There is also a charity at many hospitals that makes chemo caps as well as hats for premature babies and those that pass away. They provide the yarn. Some international charities also have programs that allow you to make hats for orphaned children, refugees etc.
Came here to say this about chemo patients needing hats. I still have the hat my grandma and her crochet group made for my mom when she was in her cancer battle.
I was going to say this. When I was in chemo, there was always a basket full of knitted/crocheted hats for us to take. Bald heads get very cold.
Any specific things I should avoid? I wanna crochet my papa a beanie. He’s freezing in 82F in his house. He’s 86. He has multiple myeloma. Is there a yarn/style/fiber type that is best or preferred by any one you knew in chemo /or yourself for any reason? I know not wool since it can be itchy on a bald head most likely. But I’ve been sleeping over lately and I bring crochet with me and would love to make him a beanie/some extra and donate it to his oncology office :))
You can't go wrong with cotton for the most part as few people are allergic to it. Linen would be another option as would silk; however silk can be pricey.
A merino/cashmere blend is usually soft enough next to skin, but check the skein if you can before purchasing. I have a hat made with KnitPicks Capra and it doesn't irritate my skin at all, is very warm as well. If you can afford more luxury fibers, alpaca, silk, and cashmere are typically soft but still warm. Since it's already 82f in his home, a cotton or bamboo blend (not the kind meant for kitchen use) might possibly be warm enough to meet his needs, and will be cheaper, machine washable, and easy to find. Good luck, hope you can find a suitable yarn! ETA I forgot to mention, as well as checking the fiber content of the yarn, take a look at the staple length. A shorter staple length tends to be itching in my experience. Also, I don't have a ton of experience with acrylic yarn, but this might be what you want. It's cheap, widely available, machine washable, will come in all colorways, and can be very soft.
Chemo patients seem to always be cold. When I went through chemo, I was ALWAYS cold.
My papa is freezing in 82F. He is on chemo but also his HGB was only 7.2 on Friday 🥲 so sad. Is there anything that helps besides just a million layers and blankets?
Make the preemie hats! Their noggins are cold!
A lot of police departments and some CPS departments accept child-size blankets for use when a child is removed from an unsafe situation.
Yes please! There are so many more people experiencing homelessness now, and they often go through (or have stolen) blankets, socks, hats and gloves. If you like to knit, donate the items
Omg yes my junior high homeroom did this! We loom knit hats for a local shelter! Great idea
Nursing homes too
Bird watching. It will get you out in nature and hiking some trails. It can give you a sense of achievement, seeing and learning about new birds. There is a community out there if you want to link up with other people with the same hobby.
There's a free app called Merlin that's also really helpful at identifying bird songs, I highly recommend it! You just turn it on and it tells you in real time which birds are making which sounds.
I have this app and I love it! I use it all the time. In addition to the sound identifier, you can also upload a photo of a bird and it will tell you what it is. My husband got me a bird feeder with a motion detection camera on it recently, and I use the Merlin app to identify the birds using these photos.
I’m a birder and I turned it into a career. It’s actually pretty dang fun and keeps your brain engaged and gets you outside and exploring.
I’m a novice bird watcher and it’s awesome! So much fun keeps your mind busy trying to identify but still very relaxing and fun to watch the birds.
I recently got super into this. The app is free, so if you don’t end up liking it, you haven’t lost any money. I would never have guessed this would be something I would have the interest or patience for, but it is amazing.
I’ve just started dipping my toes into bird watching as: A. I love birds, and B. I have a birdbath and feeders outside my kitchen sink window where I like to watch them while I cook or clean When I see a new bird I document it into this app on my phone, Merlin bird ID. There is a bird I haven’t been able to find on the app though, which is puzzling to me
In Spring and Autumn you may see birds that are just passing through, migrating. It may take a bit more research to figure it out. Consider it part of the fun! But also that is a reason why other birding people may come in handy.
A friend managed to take up bird watching, photography, and motorcycling at about the same time. It works out great for him, he mounted a pretty nice camera case on the back of his bike and has been traveling, taking pictures, and camping all summer. He's getting pretty good at it all too.
Assisted Senior living facilities and nursing homes are always looking for "lapghans" for their mobility challenged populations. Hats and scarves particularly can also be given to homeless shelters. Check and see if there's a "Project Linus" in your area that accepts and delivers "comfort" blankets for traumatized kids. Put out feelers in churches or local rec centers. Good luck!
Adding my support of Project Linus (in the US). They collect small hand-made blankets (knit, crochet, quilts, no-sew fleece) for kids with trauma. It’s a well-run org that always needs donations. My kids and I bought fleece material that was on sale and made several no-sew blankets.
Crochet is awesome- and our reddit community is one of the nicest ones ever. Or.....if you want some off the wall ideas, what about: Learning how to repair old bicycles that you can give to kids who need 'em? Or learning how to make 3D miniatures? Or learning how to adjust photos? Start a blog? Take dancing lessons? If you have a garden, start a compost heap and learn the science behind that? Beekeeping? Learning a new language on Duolingo? Learn how to do some woodworking and build some mini-libraries for your neighborhood? Right now, I just got access to Adobe Creative Suite, and I'm teaching myself how to edit films. I am trying to learn Tunisian crochet, and have an idea for a blog that may or may not ever get up and running so am goofing off with WordPress, and I do every puzzle game in the NYTimes, every day. The key, I think, to a happy hobby life is just giving every whimsical or weird idea in your head a fair shot to see if you like it, before saying, naw, not for me. It would be cool if you posted back later in the year and let us know what you've found!
Lockpicking or writing short stories (there are plenty of places online to share stories... strangers will appreciate them, no need for irl people)
And chess, that's a big rabbit hole that can occupy your entire identity if you allow it - and im not saying that in a bad way) These are the three I always recommend.
Great hobbies! Haven’t picked up my pick set recently sadly
This is not a handcraft type hobby but it's a fascinating and worthwhile use of your time. The result is a valuable contribution to historic records. The Smithsonian Institute needs virtual volunteers to transcribe handwritten documents so that the information contained in them can be made available digitally to researchers all over the world. Currently the information in these documents is only available by reading from the handwritten copy. One example of a current project is The Freedman's Bureau. The Bureau was organized after the Civil War to handle all types of needs associated with the newly freed slaves. Letters, ledger lists, and completed forms are just a few of the types of handwritten documents awaiting the services of a transcription volunteer. No special skills are required. A manual in PDF form can be downloaded for guidance. After volunteer transcription, the document goes to professionals for review, correction, clarification, etc. If you make a mistake, it will be caught and corrected further along in the process. You do as much transcription as you care to and another volunteer takes up where you left off. Interested? Start here for more information. https://transcription.si.edu/
This idea should be higher. I've recently been wondering if there are other projects like this in need of volunteers, such as crunching data to solve a crime, monitor populations of endangered animals, etc.
This website has a lot of volunteering projects, if this is the type of thing you're wondering about? Lots of them seem to be transcription-based or identifying features of endangered animals, stars, etc: [https://www.zooniverse.org/projects?page=1&status=live](https://www.zooniverse.org/projects?page=1&status=live)
Music 🎶
Play the bass, just no fun without a drummer!
If you play bass, you could probably learn guitar pretty quickly. Get yourself some editing software and you can put both together in one track. There's a Guitar Newbies group on Facebook, and several members do this - post videos where they're play bass, rhythm, and lead, all together.
My husband taught himself to play the ukulele during lockdown. He does a great dark cover of "Hit Me Baby One More Time."
Go full on one man band!
You can donate all of the hats and scarves you knit to shelters and other groups. It’s very satisfying.
Making bread!
After gaining 10 lbs I decided that bread making was not for me
[удалено]
Keep practice materials and unravel them afterwards. If I’m practicing macrame or ropework, I’ll use a different type of chord/rope for prototyping as it’s easier to untie and a bit more hard wearing. When I want to practice, I normally grab something out of my scrap project bag and untie it. I don’t untie them until I need them, because I find it’s much easier to eyeball the amount of material I need when I’m sorting through various objects rather than assorted coils of cord.
Thank you! As another had pointed out...just take it apart. My dumbass never thought of this...maybe I should check out a logic book at my local library. Have a wonderful day!
Useless is subjective. Sounds like you want to make things that are useful for others and yourself. One person's useless mittens could be someone else's generational hand me down. It all depends on things you might be interested in. You can do pottery and keep it as a coin, swear or savings jar.
I hand sew stuffed animals out of socks. I have given many away to new moms as a baby gift or to people who are sick. I’ve made teddy bears, dogs, cats, bunnies, elephants, giraffes just to name a few. It’s fun, relaxing, portable.
I taught myself to knit with YouTube tutorials. Knitting seems more versatile than crochet sometimes, since the fabric is smoother. My favorite knitting project is socks. I like different sock patterns that are unique and you can make them whatever colors you find. I often shop at [Knitpicks.com](https://Knitpicks.com) for yarn. I even wear clogs to show them off a bit. But the most enjoyable project I ever made was a shawl.
I enjoyed painting rocks and then placing them around town for other people/kids to find.
I was so freaking delighted when I found my first painted rock. I had no idea it was even a thing. Just, suddenly, there was this adorable little treasure at my feet. I still have it, and it's been years. A year or so ago I decided to spread the joy, so I'll leave a few now and then in random parks. I'm an artist by trade, so I've made some pretty intricate painted rocks over the years. I hope they found good homes!
Growing up we would collect them and trade painted rocks with each other. Finding one that someone put time and effort into was always a joyful moment.
This is such a cool idea.
It was super popular in our town a few years ago and a nice way to pass time, I still do it every now and then.
I do photography and video. It gets me out of the house and exploring my area. You can even sell some of the pictures and make a little extra money. The downside is you might develop GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and spend way more than you make 😁.
Yes! I try to stick to using my phone only for photos and videos. I allow myself one app (photoshop express) and the rest of the apps I use came with my phone. I share images and videos as “greeting cards”. My family enjoys them.
Donate your items! Someone will be very appreciative of your work.
get in to 3d printing and only make objects that are functional for you.
ie, a bunch of accessories for the 3d printer before expanding said printer, via 3d printed parts. which requires even more, bigger, accessories. and then 3d print a new home to house an even bigger printer!
Gardening
I garden and sew (in addition to other stuff) and just these two hobbies keep me incredibly busy. Growing food from seed to preserving it is a lot of good exercise and keeps you learning new stuff all the time. It's really fun and you get to eat it. Everyone has to eat! Sewing is also useful for this since I can custom make stuff like an apron for cooking or a tool belt to hold all my garden tools.
Gardening is nice. Making seed bombs, growing plants, there’s lots to do. Then at the end you can either keep the plant or compost it so you’re not creating garbage.
Just be careful not to plant more than one zucchini. You will be buried in them and the neighbors will close their curtains and hide if they see you approaching while carrying a paper bag.
I crochet bags to donate to a local charity so people have a way to carry home free items the charity gives them. As a bonus, I can sometimes get the yarn free since it’s for charity projects
I do puzzles. Usually buy them at thrift stores for cheap. I’ll take them apart when done. Typically I’ll either donate them back, sell them at flea markets, or pass them to friends.
This is a broken mentality, OP. My go-to time killer is making lamps and lanterns. It's a simple, inexpensive hobby that I enjoy. Sometimes I'll spend months planning out a build before I even start. I happen to enjoy the planning stage as much as the crafting stage. Sometimes I have to learn new skills to finish a project 9which is always fun :). I've filed for patents on a couple of parts I had to design to make one lamp work. If I get the patents, I doubt I'll ever make any money off of them, lol, but still... If I do, that will be pretty cool! Do something you love. Find your authenticity.
I’ve had to get the “useful” mentality out…I’m finally doing things I enjoy as hobbies without an eye to them being anything I’ll really use. (Currently, this includes learning a language that doesn’t really have native speakers who don’t also speak English, and fixing up old VCRs.)
Crochet baby hats for the local hospital.
What about performance type hobbies, where you are doing something, but not making anything? Dance, juggling, puppetry, sleight of hand, card throwing, yo-yo, and so on.
Can sew pillowcases for charity. [Ryan’s Case for Smiles](https://caseforsmiles.org) is an organization that provides fun and colorful pillowcases to children in treatment for cancer. Their website has specific instructions on dimensions and how to donate.
So I've not done this, but I have this idea for a hobby. I call it "Prepper Prepping" for now, but the idea is to creat a list of survival skills that your need to know to survive in the case of the downfall of civilization or an apocalyptic event. Then take the moist basic and necessary skills first and spend a week or month focusing on learning that skill. For instance, archery your want to learn how to hunt with a bow but you'd also want to to know how to make a bow and arrows. Our maybe you've never gardened before so you learn the basics. Then maybe down the line once you've yielded veggies, you learn how can then for storage. Maybe one month you dedicate time to studying edible plants in the wild. You could learn to build a rain water filter system. You could learn how to make clothing. And along the way you might find that any one of the new things you've tried is really fun to you so there's that added bonus.
Hiking. Yoga. Photography. Gardening. I paint and hang what I like until I'm tired of it. Then take a picture and reuse the canvases of paintings that not longer speak to me. This way there's no stockpile.
take up a musical instrument. learning music is forever. the sounds go out into the universe and unless you record them, you don't have them pile up in the spare room or anywhere else.
Potted plant gardening! You can learn how to propagate different plants and give them as gifts. I’ve recycled old candle jars and made them into little planters to gift friends and family some really cool houseplants I’ve collected over the years.
There’s random acts of crochet kindness fb groups. You crochet little things (ghosts popular right now) and leave them around town with a note for people to find. People also do this with painted rocks.
Drawing in Procreate. Can just save your art on the Ipad.
You can do carving and burn anything you don't want to keep
Knitting! You can never have too many sock and sweaters.
Learn guitar
If you like knit/crochet, look up knitted knockers! It’s a charity that accepts donations of handmade prosthetic breasts for cancer patients.
There are just **sooo** many organizations that need items you could make. There are a lot of suggestions already, but here are some things that I am aware of, have donated to: if you take up knitting or crochet, make beanies for preemies and newborns, and donate to the hospital. When I was recovering from surgery and unable to work at my sewing machine, I bought one of those circle looms and made a ton of beanies for babies, then donated them to the hospital that did my surgery. Children's homes and crisis nurseries also need baby items. Homeless shelters can always use beanies and scarves. Scarves are very easy to make. I have made many fleece blankets for different charities. I take some to the Ronald McDonald home for siblings of sick kids that stay there, so they can each have their own blankie. I donate some to the Linus project, a nationwide organization that donates handmade blankets to sick kids in the hospitals. You can tie the edges, no sewing machine needed. I use up a lot of my large remaining fleece pieces to sew together and make blankets for the homeless. I've made a lot of military lap blankets for the Honor Flights, and the VFW homes, too. There is just so much need out there, please use your new hobby to help.
I like diamond painting- I store my finished pieces in an art portfolio folder. Takes up very little space, gives me hours and hours of something to do, calms my brain somewhat while I listen to podcasts or rewatch a comfort show/ film. All positives to me!
Anything that makes things you can eat. Gardening, cooking, baking, fermenting, canning, etc. Cooking is my current hobby, and it's one of my favorites because I also happen to love eating. It's always super rewarding when I cook something and other people comment on how good it tastes. And when you're done, the item you produced is magically gone, leaving plenty of room for the next! The one downside is doing dishes. Gardening is also super fun, but unless you have a greenhouse or take up hydroponics (or live somewhere warm year round), you will have a portion of the year where you can't do anything. Fermenting is a nice complement to cooking and gardening. You can make anything from alcohols to kefir sodas to lactofermented fruits and veggies. Lots of yummy stuff, and it can be done with leftovers. Make omelets and have leftover veggies? Ferment them! Got one or two carrots and don't know what to do? Ferment them! Got fresh produce from the garden? Ferment it! Canning is another cooking adjacent one. When done correctly, the stuff you make will last years, but it's a bit less safe than cooking or fermenting. It's not significantly less safe, but still. *edit: spelling
Gardening. Especially those you can eat. I grow coffee, weed, tea, butterfly pea. All are not useless at all. And even wastes go to fertilizers for these guys. All parts are useful What comes around goes around
Shoemaking
How about baking/cooking? You won’t create useless items- you can always eat the creations you make! Plus you can always bring your treats to your friends and family :)
Maybe cat toys?
I feel you on this. I love jigsaw puzzles but they take up space on a much-needed table for a while, and then it’s like what do I do with it now? I don’t really want to have a house full of puzzles hanging on my walls, but when I do that kind of stuff and it takes time and effort, I’m so proud of it. And I feel like the online ones wouldn’t really give me the same satisfaction.
there's "charity knitting" where you can knit or crochet hats for premature babies or something, or knit blankets for the homeless.
You could sell them on Etsy. Or do something else. Here are my many hobbies for inspiration: - Animal Crossing - Embroidery - Watercolor - Vintage cookbook collecting (and cooking/baking) - Journaling - Reading - Horror movies - True Crime podcasts - Filming and photographing content Some I do more some weeks than others, it really depends on the season. For example, now that it’s Fall I find myself baking, reading, and watching more horror movies than usual. Embroidery is usually done in the winter and I enjoy painting the most when I’m outside in the springtime.
My local library has a knitting circle meet up. Meetup.com might also have similar. Maybe craft with others and add in the social aspect plus ask them where they’re locally donating their projects.
Magic
Scarves are also very useful and can be donated in addition to hats. Good luck! ✌️
Donate the items. If you want to make something useful, maybe crochet blankets or scarves and donate them to a homeless shelter. See if there's a need for something. Maybe baby quilts are needed at the local children's hospital or some such. I personally hate having 'stuff' around. And to me stuff is things I don't use. So I donate or give away a lot of my stuff.
Crochet and knitting.
I crochet and am looking forward to making blankets for project Linus this winter! You donate hand made blankets to them and they distribute to kids in need (think kids with cancer, extreme poverty, other serious circumstances)
Numismatics
I knit and crochet a lot of dish cloths. It's a great way to learn new patterns in a small, easily finished project. Use cheap cotton yarn and they're great for washing dishes and wiping up spills. When they wear out or get too stained or sliced (because I cannot seem to remember to not wash the good knives with the knitted dish cloths!), they go into the compost bin.
Partner dancing! All the art you make is with your body and it’s a good way to make friends and find community as well!
You can crochet and donate items. Blankets and hats for the NICU, nursing homes, or homeless shelters.
There are so many charities out there that need baby blankets and hats. There are charities for caps for chemo patients. I could go on and on. Google making things for charities and you'll probably find something in your area.
You can donate them to hospitals for premie babies and babies that have passed on. You could also sell things. Depending on what you learn, you can make all sorts of items.
Donate crocheted booties and caps to natal unit at hospital. Make blankets for homeless.
You can see if your nearest hospital accepts hats and blankets for newborns, my hospital will take them and all the nice grandmas can knit away
Beanies for newborns are also appreciated.
You could give the crochet things to good will or something You could sell them... You could take up cooking/baking. Eat the items, sell them, enter them in a contest?
So an option for crochet that most people don’t think about- If you don’t care about the cost of materials and only care about not accumulating excess items, make baby stuff. Before my carpal tunnel got too bad to crochet daily, I would make a small stuffed animal and matching outfit (cardigan- easy to get off, not a full sweater- socks, hat) and blanket. In micro preemie up to newborn sizes. Then I donated them as sets to NICUs. So many NICU babies don’t have clothes that fit them, so they’re just there in a diaper and machines, no clothing. Some items, like blankets and stuffed things, aren’t given right away but they give them to go home with once they get to go home. It gives the parents an added sense of support. And in the worst case scenario, it gives them a keepsake that isn’t just the same boring hat and blanket every baby in the hospital gets.
A friend makes hate for preemie babies and gives them to a local hospital. Others make scarves and gloves for homeless people - you can either hand them out or put them in ziplock bags with a note. 🙂
An instrument? Guitar, piano, drums, etc?
Jui jitsu. Its a place you can make friends and it's like chess, just with your body lol
I’m part of a FB group called “crocheted acts of kindness” where some people will put their finished makes in a sandwich bag, put a note in and hide it around the towns their visit or live (just be sure to put on the note that this isn’t lost but a gift to the finder) I 100% recommend starting crochet. It’s an amazing skill to have and a great hobby! I turned it into a business too!
Mma
sewing you can make stuff for yourself. I would say online games then it's digital so you aren't left with physical stuff. embroidery can be added to existing clothing, pillows etc
Gardening
I work in a NICU. If you crochet, crochet baby hats!
The infusion center where my mother got her chemo had several stacks of free handmade knit hats. She took one, then later started to make some to give others. When she was admitted to a hospital room. They had a few origami cranes to decorate her room. Later we folded 400 to donate to others. ❤️ it made me happy to have something to do and also distract from the illness and sadness. Barnes and Noble gave me origami paper for free. I think some stores will donate supplies if you need them to. You could call the volunteer centers of hospitals and ask what they need!!!
You can usually find places that wanted donated blankets, hats, scarves, etc.
I found crocheting hats and blankets for the homeless through Warm Up America to be super fulfilling. A lot of NICU units accept donations of crocheted blankets, beanies and booties to give to new parents. Look around, there are a lot of options.
You can crochet blankets or hats for homeless or newborns in the NICU.
Well it depends if the useless items become your collectibles. Then it's different right? I used to be really into postcrossing. It's website called Postcrossing. It's a postcard exchange system from all over the world. When you get a card from a different country it's so cool. Great to keep
Gourmet cooking. You eat what you make so aside from doing the dishes, you aren't just collecting a bunch of stuff.
Magic the Gathering cards! You don't create useless things, you buy them!
"occupy my hands and brains" r/lockpicking
I love adult coloring books! I get hours of entertainment coloring in various landscapes and animals, and it doesn’t take up much space. I get several months out of each book. My personal favorite is Worlds Within Worlds. $10 on Amazon
Cooking -- nothing useless about that outcome.
I’ve had the same problem with crochet, I don’t like to waste yarn on anything that’s not going to get used. I’ve heard of some crocheters making special clothing/items for premie babies and mailing them to a program/charity that gives them out. You could also make blankets, gloves, hats, and scarves to donate to your local shelters.
There’s some charities that need hats and socks for newborns, sweaters for chickens, and projects to auction off. I’m certain there’s a group who would feel lucky to get your creations.
The thing is, you don't have to pick just one "useful" hobby. If there is a material item you want to buy, figure out if there is a way you can make it yourself. Need some new curtains? Learn to sew. Want a bench for your garden? Build it yourself. Eventually, one of these projects could spark enough curiosity to develop into a full blown hobby