I am looking for ideas for some sort of craft/hobby that will not require massive amounts of supplies/paraphernalia/space to do. I’ve been spending lots of time playing my guitar and will continue to do that, but I am looking for something new to fill my oodles of spare time. Not too difficult or complex either. I also don’t want anything that involves using a screen (such as Ancestry.com). I spend too much time on devices. I want something tactile to make with my hands.
Knitting. A set of needles (circular or straight) and a few skeins of yarn is all you need to start.
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My D picked up embroidery this summer. She says it keeps her from snacking and spending too much time on devices ; )
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Crocheting. It’s a little more complex than knitting,
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I’ve been filling my spare indoor time during the pandemic with painting, diamond painting (look it up on Amazon), and 3D jigsaw puzzles. I also enjoy knitting and expert/adult Lego sets. I need to use my hands and enjoy listening to music so these suit me well as I can do them while listening to music.
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Love this idea. Etsy has a wonderful selection of embroidery kits. I bought a couple for my D to pass the time this summer too.
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Paint by number! There are lots of nice ones. Each kit is pretty self contained.
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Cooking/baking/bread making?
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Coloring books
Puzzles
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These are very fun. Amazon has some great kits and they are inexpensive.
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Organizing your photos online? Organizing MY photos online?
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Pre-Covid I took a couple needlepoint classes and really enjoyed it. All my supplies fit in a ziploc bag so easy to store or take with me. It sounds like an old-fashioned hobby, but the choice of canvases and things to make are really varied and cute. Very different that what I remember my grandmother making years ago. Some of the women at my local needlepoint store were making the most amazing Christmas stockings for their grandchildren.
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I agree with needlepoint and cross stich. Several years back I was laid up for three months with a broken ankle and spent several hours each day on a small canvas. I had done a decent amount of needlepoint in earlier years. What’s nice is that you don’t have to have extra space (like paint by number) and you can spend only a few minutes at a time or as long as you like. And you get the satisfaction of watching it develop. I’ve made a few eyeglass holders, one of which I use as a cell phone case. I made this to take on a cruise: At the Beach Eyeglass Case - StitchandZipKits.com The company has a lot of cute designs.
Another idea might be making jewelry, stringing necklaces and such, although it might be less fun without being able to go browse the supplies in the craft stores. It looks like there are tons of kits online.
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Thanks for all the ideas! I am not sure I have the capacity to learn to knit or crochet, though I would love to. I want low-frustration, and I can imagine that would be frustrating to me.
Part of my challenge is that crafts/hobbies create “stuff,” and I don’t want more stuff. So puzzles are a good choice. We did a couple of 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles over the holidays, but while the box itself doesn’t take up much room, the puzzle and pieces do while working. We have a board, but having a jigsaw puzzle out long-term is kind of in the way for us. Although one positive about puzzles is that dh and I can work on them together. He picked up a fun little logic game for a stocking stuffer at a Walgreens, and it has been a huge hit while ds is here.
I have done smocking, counted cross stitch, and needlepoint in the past. That glasses case is so cute, @Marilyn! Needlepoint is probably the most appealing to me of all the suggestions from a space/comfort level/what is produced standpoint. I will have a look at that site you linked. As you mentioned, I haven’t looked in years.
And, I absolutely need to go through photos, but that doesn’t seem as relaxing to me!
Thanks, again, for all the thoughts/ideas.
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If you decide to do needlepoint, and you don’t want to create “stuff” for yourself, start making gifts! If you start now, you will have some great holiday gifts by next December.
Early in my retirement, I took a flower arranging class. I’m sure you could find Youtube videos to learn now. I buy a bunch of flowers every so often and have fun arranging them.
If you really want to learn knitting, watch a few YouTube’s for beginners. It’s not that hard, and you might find you actually can do it.
Right now, a lot of my friends are doing watercolor painting. One friend sells hers but all money is sent to her church as a donation. It satisfies her hobby and benefits a charity she chose. Another friend painted all of her Christmas cards. Nothing fancy but really nice to receive.
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How about volunteering? There will be plenty of opportunities, even now, if you look at a website like volunteermatch. For example, in my area a farm is looking for a farmhand. A soup kitchen is looking for a food prepper. Animal shelter looking for someone to help socialize animals.
If you don’t want to leave the house, which is totally understandable, what about clearing out closets and giving away things on a local Buy Nothing page? Or organize boxes of old photos. Make a list of all the niggly (but do-able) little home tasks, such as replacing the scuff pads on your chairs, or the bumper disks that stop cupboard doors from banging.
Which reminds me that I really need to get off CC and do some of those things.
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I picked up watercolor in April. There’s so much to learn, but from day one you can pick up a brush some inexpensive paint and paper and create…with your own hands! It’s relaxing, stimulating and time slips by when I paint. I’ll watch YouTube tutorials (yes, I know screen time) and then try myself. There are books you can review for techniques, and honestly, even the most basic paintings get oohs and ahhs from me, and others.
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Look into Diamond painting! I just asked for and received a kit to try at Christmas. It looks really fun and not a big space hog.
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I took up crocheting because it was the easiest thing, just a single hook and some yarn. When I was in high school, my aunt taught me three basic stitches, and I was off. I’m now the club leader for the “stitchers” (crochet, knit, needlepoint, embroidery, cross-stitch, anything to do with hooks, needles, thread, or yarn) in our community. We used to meet for three hours weekly, but have been on hiatus since March.
I agree with @thumper1 that if you’re interested in trying either knitting or crocheting, it’s very easy to get started. Online videos or a single course at a place like JoAnn’s (post-COVID) can teach you all you need to get started, and you will expand the skill naturally with experience. Don’t dismiss it out of hand thinking either is difficult, because neither one is, but I think crocheting is the easier of the two to learn. Either skill can produce some beautiful simple or complex things; you get to decide how far you want to go.
I agree about the “stuff”, but @thumper1’s comment about gifts has taken care of that for me. Among other things, our club produces newborn hats and blankets for the local hospital, and I have a never-empty chest of baby things to gift to any new moms who pass my way. I also crochet purses that I sell at our annual craft fair (cancelled this year), the proceeds of which go back into supplies.
Anyway, I’m enjoying the good suggestions here. Let us know what you try! 
ETA: One thing I like about the thread/yarn arts is portability, so easy to take a project with you when you travel and a nice way to while away the hours on a plane. It floors me, though, that you can use only plastic eating utensils on a plane, but knitting needles and crochets hooks are just fine. 
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