# Low to No Cost Hobbies **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757 "2012-12-02T14:37:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/101 "2012-12-06T03:43:36Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > :eek: It never crossed my mind. šŸ™‚ Only kidding. Hereā€™s some of my quilts. Iā€™m currently working on another hexagon pattern. [Queensize blanket](http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn187/maggenpye/hexquilt005.jpg) This is the one that took years. [Playmat](http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn187/maggenpye/Marysquilt.jpg). This one was much quicker. I recently found out that the (then unborn) baby is heading to school next year and still insists that it stays on her bed. Itā€™s only about one metre (yard-ish) square. [Quilted](http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn187/maggenpye/100_0251.jpg)on machine, cheating! The reverse is the same material in pink. I didnā€™t know the gender of the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/102 "2012-12-06T16:34:05Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > You donā€™t need expensive running shoes to run a marathon, in fact, they will do you more harm than good. Super-padded and ā€œsupportiveā€ shoes cause bad form, which causes injury. > Barefoot running is the way to go. [Abebe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abebe_Bikila), is that you? šŸ˜‰ I used to build and fly Indoor Free Flight air models, [something like this](http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DL0lvKE7jhS0&sa=U&ei=j8fAUN-yIsTXrQeB3YGgCA&ved=0CBcQtwIwAQ&usg=AFQjCNEg3xKBnposUq2dYkZPtARF_YG_3A) is 1.2 grams worth of balsa wood, rubber band and plastic film so you get an idea of how cheap it is as a hobby. Itā€™s also very relaxing and intellectually stimulating at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/103 "2012-12-06T19:14:41Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > Only kidding. Hereā€™s some of my quilts. Iā€™m currently working on another hexagon pattern. OOO, these are all wonderful. Iā€™m always happy to see a fellow hand-worker. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/104 "2012-12-06T20:40:49Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > OOO, these are all wonderful. Iā€™m always happy to see a fellow hand-worker. Pics? Pretty please? ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/105 "2012-12-06T21:31:54Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > You could enter sweepstakes online. All of the legitimate ones are free to enter and it never costs anything to receive your prize, so if you already have a computer and pay for internet access, itā€™s all totally free. There are sites that will teach you how to do it efficiently, and post sweeps for you, broken down into categories like- ones you enter every day, ones you only enter once, Facebook sweeps, etc., and thatā€™s free, too. > > In the past two months I have won a Visa gift card with $192 on it, a belt, some mascara, a $300 hunting outfit (that I will sell or give away for Xmas), and a book. In the past I have won a $500 AmEx gift card, a nice espresso maker, a $250 Victoriaā€™s Secret gift card, and many, many other things. You can do it for as little or as long as you like- from 5 minutes a day to 5 hours, or more. Thereā€™s some fab websites out there: Sweeties sweeps, Online Sweepstakes, Sweepsheet, Sweepstakes Advantage that you can research. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/106 "2012-12-06T21:53:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Low to No Cost Hobbies > [@jasg](#): > > Genealogyā€¦ Does it say anything about me that I read that as gynecology? mmm ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/107 "2012-12-06T22:04:46Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > Pics? Pretty please? Iā€™ll see what I can find this eveningā€¦ šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/108 "2012-12-06T23:53:41Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > Pics? Pretty please? OK, if I did this right you should be able to see five pictures [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/90868696@N06/8250285191/in/photostream/). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/109 "2012-12-07T00:02:44Z")
Sorry for all the posts, but maggenpye, what is your technique for piecing hexagons? Basting them around paper/templates? ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/110 "2012-12-07T04:50:05Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Sorry for all the posts, but maggenpye, what is your technique for piecing hexagons? Basting them around paper/templates? Those are freaking gorgeous! [This](http://www.flickr.com/photos/90868696@N06/8251349518/)is my favourite. I know some of techniques youā€™ve used, but havenā€™t had the courage to attempt them. Did the fabric come in packs or did you colour match yourself (awesome either way). Yes, I baste around templates. I used thin card for the first one because there were many different materials (about 9/10thā€™s of the ā€˜flowersā€™ are made of my familyā€™s old clothes), thicker for the second (diamond pattern) because they were quite large at 3in point to point. Iā€™m using paper now and itā€™s much quicker since all the fabrics are light cotton. Some craft shops sell packs of the hexes in plastic which would be great for re-using, but I kind of enjoy cutting out the templates, too. Considering thereā€™s 14 to an A4 page and Iā€™ll need around 3000, thatā€™s just as well, really! ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/111 "2012-12-07T04:56:07Z")
Dā€™oh! thatā€™s my kidā€™s fave, [this](http://www.flickr.com/photos/90868696@N06/8250282735/)is mine. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/112 "2012-12-07T14:42:55Z")
Whoa, 3000. > [@maggenpye](#): > > I know some of techniques youā€™ve used, but havenā€™t had the courage to attempt them. > > Did the fabric come in packs or did you colour match yourself (awesome either way). No techniques here ā€“ I trace plastic templates for the pieces, cut individually with scissors, and then hand-piece. The machine is too intimidating for me! > [@maggenpye](#): > > Dā€™oh! thatā€™s my kidā€™s fave, this is mine. Thanks! That one actually won ribbons at one of the NH fairs. :o The two prints were from my momā€™s stash and the yellows and oranges from Jo-Ann fat quarter bundles. On the orangy one, it was mostly from the same collection, with a couple of others thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![slightly\_askew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@slightly\_askew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slightly_askew)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/113 "2012-12-07T16:30:46Z")
[Pysanky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka) AKA Ukrainian egg decorating. Basic supplies, you can find them online, will set you back $15-30. Eggs are cheap at the grocery store and you can empty out the egg innards from the shell before you start dyeing and cook and eat them. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/114 "2012-12-07T16:38:37Z")
> [@QuarkChild](#): > > Yeah, it gets to the point where you walk by your neighborā€™s yard when they put their leaves / clippings out for collection and you think, ā€œYouā€™re throwing those AWAY?!?!ā€ Well, where I live, if you put yard waste out for collection, theyā€™re not going into the landfill. Theyā€™re going into the cityā€™s humongous composting operation, and then you can buy the resulting compost back in bulk or in 25-pound bags. Pretty good prices, too. But just yard waste, not kitchen waste and the like, so itā€™s not as thorough as source reduction as DIY. > [@](#): > > I teach at a college, so I have an entire institutionā€™s worth of coffee grounds & food waste to take my pick of. (ā€œYouā€™re throwing away coffee grounds?!?!ā€) Yeah, thatā€™s a lot of coffee grounds. Iā€™d just feel odd trying to transport it off campus, especially in quantity. I do DIY composting at home, but rather lazily. Still, composting poorly (i.e., not turning often enough, really) doesnā€™t mean the compost pile is broke; it just means itā€™s going to do its job very slowly. Iā€™m basically OK with this. As it is, the bottom of the bin is full of mature compost I canā€™t even use right now (winter and all). When I harvest that, Iā€™ll have even more room to drop in waste and forget about it. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/115 "2012-12-07T16:39:54Z")
> [@slightly\_askew](#): > > [Pysanky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka) AKA Ukrainian egg decorating. Basic supplies, you can find them online, will set you back $15-30. Eggs are cheap at the grocery store and you can empty out the egg innards from the shell before you start dyeing and cook and eat them. Celtling and I have three of Askewā€™s eggs, and they are among our most prized posessions. They are incredbly beautiful and intricate! [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14583733&postcount=109](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14583733&postcount=109) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/116 "2012-12-07T17:05:26Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Celtling and I have three of Askewā€™s eggs, and they are among our most prized posessions. They are incredbly beautiful and intricate! [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14583733&postcount=109](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14583733&postcount=109) Those are incredible. I canā€™t imagine that kind of precise tiny hand-work! ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/117 "2012-12-07T18:06:46Z")
Writing. Non-fiction sells and fiction is fun. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/118 "2012-12-07T19:19:57Z")
Get a dog and take him/her hiking. We keep our dogs on long leads, attached to a padded belt (used for skijoring in the winter). Keeps our hands free and lets them roam about a bit as we walk. I get outside with my dog way more than before I had him. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/119 "2012-12-07T19:26:10Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Whoa, 3000. > > No techniques here ā€“ I trace plastic templates for the pieces, cut individually with scissors, and then hand-piece. The machine is too intimidating for me! Oh, I only meant creating stars out of triangles and squares.I have magazines etc that have similar patterns and how to achieve them, I did a nice table runner by machine, but I feel I have more contol with hand piecing. The machine turns micro errors into major faults while Iā€™m watching! Also - love those eggs, **TruCelt**. Love the packing assistant, too. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757/120 "2012-12-07T19:28:41Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Well, where I live, if you put yard waste out for collection, theyā€™re not going into the landfill. Theyā€™re going into the cityā€™s humongous composting operation, and then you can buy the resulting compost back in bulk or in 25-pound bags. Pretty good prices, too. But just yard waste, not kitchen waste and the like, so itā€™s not as thorough as source reduction as DIY. > Yeah, thatā€™s a lot of coffee grounds. Iā€™d just feel odd trying to transport it off campus, especially in quantity. > > I do DIY composting at home, but rather lazily. Still, composting poorly (i.e., not turning often enough, really) doesnā€™t mean the compost pile is broke; it just means itā€™s going to do its job very slowly. Iā€™m basically OK with this. As it is, the bottom of the bin is full of mature compost I canā€™t even use right now (winter and all). When I harvest that, Iā€™ll have even more room to drop in waste and forget about it. šŸ˜› My compost pile was too large to turn as often as I would have liked so I built it with plastic drainfield pipe layered in every 12" or so. The pipe not only allows oxygen to get in but also allows insects and other composters easier access to turn the pile for you. Much less sensitive to overwatering with good aeration. I have always liked the way a chipper processes compost and builds the pile. They really heat up after going through a chipper and getting all that fresh air. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-to-no-cost-hobbies/642757.md?page=7)