Hobbies!

[Mele]

We had a thread that talked about our hobbies in the chat that disappears, but I thought it might be kind of cool to make a nondisappearing one to show off our hobbies. I know Lirith makes pretty awesome stuffed things with crochet and Formyndare has posted a cool thing he made in player pictures, Lysha and Melusine and Estrild draw/make funny character parodies as a hobby, Tyeslan also crochets. (CALLING YOU GUYS OOOOUTTTT) I have been on a crochet kick, pumping out a blanket in less than a week!

SO. LET'S SPAM COOL THINGS WE DO, OKAY? HERE ARE MINE!

[Tyeslan]

Since I got called out , I figured I better show a picture of my latest project.



My son wanted a blanket, so I took him to pick out his colours. It's a ketchup/mustard/rainbow blanket, but has turned out to be pretty cool. Now if I could get the time to work on it repeatedly instead of being so busy.

I bake a lot too. It's something that comes natural for me. I can look at a recipe, mix and match, and just come up with whatever, and toss it in the oven.

[Lysha]

Well, my art isn't very good. It's just fun to do.

You can see a few pieces here. There are a few NSFW, but they are clearly marked. Also, I like to think I've improved some...maybe.

[Beskytter]

As a hobby, I'm a trained silversmith. I make jewelry as often as time allows, with a real love for fine chainmail works. If I had a website I'd post pics, maybe I'll eventually update this thread with a link to stuff I've made.

[Ungtar]

As a hobby, I'm a trained silversmith. I make jewelry as often as time allows, with a real love for fine chainmail works. If I had a website I'd post pics, maybe I'll eventually update this thread with a link to stuff I've made.

Have you considered selling on Etsy?

When I was making knives and swords as a blacksmith, that's where I sold them. Did okay and it's less of a hassle than some of the other sites.

[Mele]

I used to make these forever ago. :)

[Terageld]

I like beekeeping.

I also fix cars and motorcycles.

[Aishe]

Terageld, have you checked out Flow Hive? I think that's the only option I would use to keep bees cause I'm too scared to disturb them
the normal way.

[Ungtar]

I like the old Langstroth hives. I've worked on the newer designs that are supposed to be better for the bees but they are certainly not better for the beekeeper. A huge hassle getting anything out of them.

I've got about 140 hives but only 3 of them have colonies. We've had a lot of problems and the drought here in Texas is clobbering us.

The other problem is that I've cobbled together those hives from multiple vendors and free sources so I've had to spray paint numbers on the side to identify which sets "fit" with each other. It looks like beekeeping NASCAR out there in the field.

[Terageld]

Terageld, have you checked out Flow Hive? I think that's the only option I would use to keep bees cause I'm too scared to disturb them
the normal way.

Sadly, I'm one of those skeptics who distrust the Flow Hive. The greatest keepers prefer harvesting honey themselves. Also, the flow hive just squeezes the honey out, regardless of the condition of the honey. Honey has to be sealed off with wax in the comb to remove moisture before it can be eaten. Flow Hive honey might end up too moist. Too moist honey is deemed unfit by Battle-Father Uthgar and his great heroes, and no mead may be made from it.

[Aishe]

Too moist honey is deemed unfit by Battle-Father Uthgar and his great heroes, and no mead may be made from it.

That's a damn fine reason.

[Ungtar]

If you want to keep bees, Aishe, you ought to try it. Not a very expensive hobby to get started with and you may find like I did that once you get going it pays for itself and a whole lot of other things. When my hives were booming I was making about $400 per hive per year for the 15 or so hives I designated as "for profit" hives.

As for getting stung, well, you're going to get stung but the more experienced you get the less it happens. I generally only get stung when I'm going through extraction and I don't smoke or use equipment. I did for probably the first five or so years of beekeeping but after that I found it just got in the way. The safety gear is HOT and bees always find their way inside anyway. Only then they're trapped, angry, and scared and in your armpit.

Plus you tend to develop a bit of an immunity to it to where the venom doesn't impact you much. I only swell when they get me on the neck, face, or ears.

[Aishe]

The safety gear is HOT and bees always find their way inside anyway. Only then they're trapped, angry, and scared and in your armpit.

Plus you tend to develop a bit of an immunity to it to where the venom doesn't impact you much. I only swell when they get me on the neck, face, or ears.

*Blink*
This kinda makes it sound worse than I thought.

[Terageld]

If you're at it long enough, you get to wear the hive on your back and control the bees with your mind. Just look at the world's greatest beekeeper, The Pain.

*No, not really. That doesn't happen. I take no responsibility for any injuries caused from this.

[Ungtar]

Heh.

Bees don't WANT to sting you. They die when they do, and they know it. So they try to scare you off.

Each beehive has a sound, a sort of humming at a certain pitch which I call the "happy bee sound". It means there is about 50k-80k bees in there doing the bee thing and they aren't bothered by your presence.

But if you aggravate them then the pitch changes to an alarmed sound. At that point they will start flying at your face and trying to scare you away. They won't sting you until you reach the third stage, which is when a bee has been killed either by accident (squished between the frames in the hive) or if they died while stinging you. The dying bee releases a ton of pheremones which trigger all the other bees to come and attack you.

Generally I will work a hive until the pitch changes and I've alarmed them, then I back off for about 4-5 minutes and they settle right back down. Some bee varieties will get alarmed a lot faster than others. Italian bees are very laid back and you can do pretty much whatever you want without them going to an alarm state. German bees are very hostile and they'll react poorly to any manipulation. Carniolans (Eastern European stock) are kind of middle of the road. I've had one hive of the Minnesota hygienics and they were easy going too but they didn't produce any honey and didn't survive a tough winter.

In addition, you learn what days you can mess with them and what days you can't. Warm sunny days with lots of flowers all over? Great time. They're busy working and they're happy. Third dreary, rainy day in a row? They're going to be mad.

Plus, certain colors bother them (Hawaiian shirts make them angry for some reason) and if you've recently eaten certain foods they will get angry with you more quickly (Green chili enchiladas, for one example). They are very scent-driven.

And for some reason I've never been able to explain, they can tell when you're in a bad mood and will sting you more readily.

[Harroghty]

Some shooting practice at one of the family farms.

[Ungtar]

Skeet?

[Harroghty]

Yes, that was skeet at the moment of the picture. It was pistol, rifle, and some other stuff before though. (You can see the targets down low for other stuff.)

[Larethiel]

As some will know, my most avid hobby is cooking and everything connected with good meals and good food experiences That being said, I am -always- interested and eager to share and exchange recipes and food stories!

[Alitar]

Can confirm. Larethiel is always mentioning some crazy food thing that sounds yummy but I've never heard of before.