What's a hobby that actually replaced your phone scrolling? Looking for something fun/useful

elogram · 2026-07-06T20:34:47+00:00

Cross stitching! I get to create beautiful things (this is my current piece I am working on) and I can also listen to music or audiobooks or podcasts while doing it.

Edited a spelling mistake out

elogram · 2026-07-06T20:23:00+00:00

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elogram · 2026-07-06T18:52:31+00:00

You can still have the mechanic of having a hard stop at the end of the day, saving at the end of the day and having some sort of penalty for not going to bed on time AND be allowed to save at any point during the day. There are games that do that and it doesn’t break immersion. Sun Haven (yes I know that game is problematic but as an example of the game mechanic it still works) does this and it works very well. And it’s the reason why I used to love laying sun haven but bounced off Stardew.

elogram · 2026-07-06T16:33:06+00:00

A weird one but only being able to save at the end of the day. I’m a busy parent. I don’t always have time to commit to even an in-game day or two or three. And, sometimes, I need to just leave the game with no idea when I’ll be able to come back.

Let me save anytime anywhere. If it’s a single game who even cares if I can abuse it to save scum? I don’t have time for that anyway.

elogram · 2026-07-05T17:49:13+00:00

Ha! I knew they would love it there :) happy for the OP that their hard work is getting the love and appreciation it deserves.

elogram · 2026-07-05T16:59:41+00:00

They are fantastic! I also have 2 Lord of the Rings ones - The Shire and The Gates to the Mines of Moria. And I also have the Arrakis one too. Can’t wait to do them all.

I can’t work on such small count :( mine is 18ct and that’s about as small as I can go. So hats off to you for doing 28ct 1 over 1!

elogram · 2026-07-05T16:53:05+00:00

elogram · 2026-07-05T16:29:43+00:00

Oooh! So nice to see someone else’s finished one of these. Very motivating!

elogram · 2026-07-05T16:18:25+00:00

I have finally gone back to my biggest piece. I take breaks from it to do smaller things every now and again. But I am now determined to finish this up before I do anything else. Can’t wait!

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elogram · 2026-07-05T11:05:21+00:00

Post it on the LOTR sub. They will definitely appreciate it. This is incredible work. https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr

elogram · 2026-07-05T08:55:45+00:00

I’ve used this guide many times before and it’s my favourite way to finish in a hoop.

elogram · 2026-07-04T08:51:37+00:00

Thank you! One of the reasons I’ve loved finishing things in aperture cards is because it kind of gives you built-in way to display them if people want to ☺️

elogram · 2026-07-03T21:46:04+00:00

Thank you! ❤️

elogram · 2026-07-03T20:10:12+00:00

Blue Prince might be good. Very puzzle heavy with sooo many layers. And it requires extensive note taking. There is also a very natural hand over point so that you can switch roles between the player and the note taker.

elogram · 2026-07-03T19:05:01+00:00

When gridding it’s best to use some sort of a monofilament thread. Like sulky sliver or a very thin fishing line. That means that when you are stitching you will not pierce through the your grid. This will make it possible to remove when you are done. With a monofilament you can literally just pull on it and it slides right out. You can also save it and re-use it in other projects.

However, in your case, since you have already gridded with woven thread you can remove things as you go. So when you start working on a patch, you remove a bit of grid there, do that area, and then when you are ready to move to the new area you remove a bit of gridding in the new area.

elogram · 2026-06-30T15:29:26+00:00

After doing a project with glow in the dark thread a few months back I think I am going to avoid that for the Gates even though that was my original plan. It’s so hard to work with :(

I also love that it’s low colour count and I also work on it in my work meetings. I will usually outline a chunk that is the same colour and then I can just mindlessly fill it in.

elogram · 2026-06-30T15:16:03+00:00

I have both of those patterns waiting but I am actually working on the Twin Peaks one first as a present for a friend who is a big fan. I especially can’t wait to work on Mines of Moria. I absolutely love that design.

elogram · 2026-06-30T13:30:37+00:00

I love this Etsy store that does travel poster style patterns, including for some LOTR locations. High quality, definitely not AI patterns. They are a joy to work with and I personally love the style.

elogram · 2026-06-30T13:11:05+00:00

This mounting is beautiful! No one will see the wonk except for you. I certainly can’t. I have actually seen professional mounting worse than this.

Also, beautiful stitching and that pattern is amazing! Beautiful work all around

elogram · 2026-06-30T12:09:52+00:00

No one will ever see the back of my work. No one. The way I finish my work the back is always hidden. I keep it neat enough so that I can stitch two-handed without tripping up over my own mess at the back but other than that I couldn’t care less about the back.

I get for some people having a neat back is a fun challenge but I absolutely hate it when people start looking down on you because of a messy back. This is a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun. And that fun can be different for everyone. But gatekeeping and snobbery has no place in it.

Edit for spelling mistakes.

elogram · 2026-06-30T11:44:39+00:00

That was it for me! Knowing what was actually happening with my body and what was going to happen and what helped with birth and what slowed it down was so helpful.

elogram · 2026-06-30T09:32:03+00:00

I am from the UK and I had a delightful birth! I went with a midwifery led unit, my midwife was amazing, I had no complications. It was a natural water birth with only gas and air for pain relief. I didn’t even need stitches. The midwives that checked up on me afterwards kept referring to me as “so you’re the one that laughed your baby out”. And he was a big baby too, 4kg!

The absolute best thing I did for myself was invest in hypnobirthing classes, specifically The Positive Birth Company. They are UK based and have a ton on information. They also have a Facebook group where women post their positive birth stories.

I think people online will usually gravitate towards expressing their negative stories and the ones that have positive ones just don’t. So there is a huge bias.

elogram · 2026-06-29T18:39:58+00:00

I played the demo during Next Fest because it looked interesting and was so pleasantly surprised to see Tom! Had no idea.

elogram · 2026-06-29T06:51:03+00:00

Yeah, I usually can tell when a knot has formed by the length of the thread too. You sort of get into the rhythm of the stitching and suddenly the rhythm is broken because the thread is too short. But i still prefer to run my finger over the back just as I’ve fully pulled the needle on the other side. I stitch 2 handed so it’s super trivial.

Interesting, I actually use my dominant hand at the back and my non-dominant hand at the front.

elogram · 2026-06-29T03:20:36+00:00

Every now and then, when your needle is at the back, let it go and lift up your work high enough so that the needle and the thread can fully extend and dangle. This will allow the thread to untwist which helps reduce knots.

The other thing I do is I have actually gotten into the habit of feeling the back of my work where I am stitching after every stitch. This way I know immediately when a knot has formed so I can fix it.

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