Goodreads Ireland discussion

As well as reading what does everyone else enjoy doing.

I have mentioned this before but I’m a big knitting nut, I can be productive whilst watching the TV so I don’t feel too guilty about sitting on my bum for a few hours.

Here’s one I made earlier

How cute! :) I make jewelry and I've recently gotten into photography (I'm still a beginner though!).

I have a friend who makes jewelry, she alway makes me a bracelet for Christmas, and I usually make her a pair of socks.

Homemade gifts are always fun. :) I just made 2 new necklaces yesterday as early Christmas presents. It was snowing here, so it seemed like a good time to kick back with some tea and do some crafting!

I've just started doing home food canning, too, so I'm making a bunch of different fruit preserves and canning them in these adorable little jars to send out. It's a lot of work, but it's fun.

I've never heard of that before. I have an Aunt who makes jams and preserves the puts them in a glass jar, and I seen vacuum packed foods, but not canning. I’ll have to look the up on one of the shopping channels.

Oh, it's still using the vacuum sealed glass jars, but the process is called canning. Bit of a misnomer, really. There are different types of "canner" too. With some foods you can just boil the jars to seal them.

Such a talented group. I think gifts made with your own hands are precious. No store can measure up to that.

The sweater is gorgeous I-like-to-read! I really wish I could do that.

That's a lovely cardigan, Kate. Do you make it for someone in your family?

Thanks for your kind comments, it's for me. Most of my jumpers, cardigans and socks are all made by me.

I remember the cool socks you posted before. They had some pretty cool colours too.

Do you use special wool for that, or is there a technique to it?

Bit of both.

I-like-to-read wrote: "As well as reading what does everyone else enjoy doing.

I have mentioned this before but I’m a big knitting nut, I can be productive whilst watching the TV so I don’t feel too guilty about sitting..."

That sweater is so, so beautiful. I love all the colors--just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing that photo. I like to take photographs in my spare time--and I've just started to do a bit of making scrapbooks. I made one as a present, and I liked doing it so much, that I think I'd like to do more of that.

Maybe you could show us a picture of some of your work, Cathleen?

Declan, how do you post pictures on here? I know you told us at one point, but I can't remember which thread it was on....

This should help, Annie.

I am also a dedicated knitter.This year though I am only knitting one gift - a scarf for my son
http://quinceandco.com/store/index.ph...
For 3 years, some of my friends met at 5 am on Black Friday for a 6-8 am 30% off yarn sale. It meant I had to get up at 3:30 am, drive an hour, and wait in the dark and cold for at least an hour. Last year, I had to wait til about 6:45 to get in. So this year we are NOT doing it. All of us have TOO MUCH yarn. Instead we are meeting at the civilized hour of 12:30 PM at the International House of Pancakes for breakfast/lunch where we always eat after our yarn buying. Having said that I went to a 8-10 am yarn sale yesterday and ran into two of my friends I am meeting up with for lunch tomorrow. We all laughed because we had already said we had too much yarn. BUT in our defense, this shop had their high end luxury yarns on special only yesterday morning, and one of these yarns is only sold in a few shops (11 in the US, 1 in London, 1 in Canada and 1 in Japan).

Your not fooling anyone barbara. Your clearly addicted to yarn aswell as books lol

I wish I had a hobby I felt so passionate about.

Seraphina wrote: "Your not fooling anyone barbara. Your clearly addicted to yarn aswell as books lol"

You caught me. But I am better than I used to be:)

@ Barbara

I so understand where you're coming from, the only thing I disagree with is you can never have too much yarn!! You should see my stash I could open my own shop.

I-like-to-read wrote: "@ Barbara

I so understand where you're coming from, the only thing I disagree with is you can never have too much yarn!! You should see my stash I could open my own shop."

Maybe before the new year I should make it my goal to take a picture. I am on Ravelry where I try to keep track of what I have, though I'd estimate 10-20% of so isn't listed there. Just counted - I have 488 skeins of yarn!!

Declan wrote: "I wish I had a hobby I felt so passionate about."

So do I. It would be fun.

@ Barbara

I think you beat me I only have about half that - tee hee

Jamielynn wrote: "Declan wrote: "I wish I had a hobby I felt so passionate about."

So do I. It would be fun."

airsoft is an awesome hobby...

It's still in its infancy over here, Joel, but I do think it would be up my street. I don't drive and whatever's there takes place outside of Dublin... At least for now.

have you heard of the Stirling shield? it's not in Ireland, but it's a heck of a lot closer to you than me.

I just googled it there, Joel, and it looks super. It's way too far away, but usually when stuff takes off in the UK it isn't long until it gets big over here.

Declan, why not take up photography? You've posted some photos for us before and I know we'd all love to see some nice shots of Dublin. One of the things I love most about photography is that I notice so much more when I have my camera with me... walks I've taken a hundred times before suddenly reveal new secrets for me to capture. It also gives me an excuse to go to new places on my own without needing any other reason to go... I've really enjoyed it recently!

Maybe! Photos were always something I took for other people but I could never really get excited about.

I'll post more photos to the group, though, if money and time permit.

Here's an example of what I mean... I've seen the lanterns at my school before, but it wasn't until I took my camera out that I saw the butterfly in the lantern light... :)



And how else would I get up close and personal with the locals?

Great photos Annie :-)

Nice photos.

I'd never get close to a squirrel. The dog would chase them away.

I love both of those photos Annie! Squirrels are so cute! The lantern picture is gorgeous.

Those are great photos, Annie. How did you get the close up of the squirrrel?

Thank you everyone! That little squirrel posed for me for a good long while, but the close ups were made possible by the zoom on my camera. I've gotten lots of great pics of ducks and squirrels with it. :)

Lovely Cardie!

My main hobby for a few years was DJing and making electronic music. This is an old "musical scrapbook" page: http://www.johnbraine.com/music/ I don't think you can hear any of the music though.

I've dabbled in a bit of painting now and then too. But I never have time for it. I do a painting every few years. Here's my latest (unfinished):


I almost forgot about this but I guess you could definitely call it a hobby. I spend a lot of time on http://memrise.com trying to learn Spanish, and whole bunch of other stuff. I was a bit of a messer in school but have really brushed up on geography and stuff via memrise. Great site. Addictive but worthwhile.

@ John

Wow you’re really talented. Is the portrait of someone you know?

I'm pretty impressed by that, John. Great work. It's shame you can't find more time to do it.

I'll be looking into Memrise later. It looks pretty interesting and I need to brush up on my French.

Very nice John. I wish I had your talent. You were born with a gift. As Declan said, I wish you had more time to do more.

Aw shucks, thanks :)

No one I know - just some random photo on the Internet.

To swing it back to books a bit, here's a mashup of Lictenstein and Dorothy Parker I did on my kitchen wall :)
http://www.johnbraine.com/painting/mu...

Anyone could copy a Lichtenstein, good fun though!

John that painting in your kitchen is amazing! U could def sell those, there really cool

Seraphina wrote: "John that painting in your kitchen is amazing! U could def sell those, there really cool"

Well that was a mural painted right on the wall. And we sold that house. So I kind of did sell it :)

That got a laugh out of me, John. Nice caption.

John I have seen people sell things that I can't believe! Put your work on canvas and you could sell for sure.

I know what you mean, Jamielynn. Some awful rubbish ends up on the likes of Etsy.

All you need is a name. Do one masterpiece. Establish a reputation. Then you can draw squiggles and shapes for millions!