A few bird photos of mine:
The last one was a freak snowstorm we had in April. the Robins were already back. They were NOT happy.
Posted on 10/24/2025 6:09:28 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
There's probably a lot going on in your life that can be turning you into a ball of stress (guilty!). But what if all it took to help you unravel that stress ball was a little yarn, a favorite feel-good book, or a great cookie recipe? If you're looking for a low-cost, high-reward self-care treat, taking up a grandma-inspired hobby may be just what the doctor ordered to help you unwind after a busy or stressful day.
And it turns out, knitting, baking, and other cozy pursuits can have plenty of benefits for you (beyond a cute scarf or a delicious batch of cookies). Get the scoop on granny hobbies, their benefits—and how to find the best one for you.
What Are Grandma Hobbies?
Generally, "grandmacore" hobbies are the kinds of quiet, slow hobbies you can take your time doing. They also tend to be on the crafty and creative side—such as sewing and crocheting.
Sewing - Quilting - Crocheting and Knitting - Embroidery and Needlework - Baking - Canning - Gardening - Reading - Birdwatching - Board Games - Jigsaw Puzzles
Why Are Cozy Hobbies Popular Now?
Honestly, these pursuits never went out of vogue entirely—who ever stopped baking goodies? But granny hobbies like knitting and baking really took off in 2020, when everyone was spending more time at home. Even if your sourdough starter died off years ago, the passion for some of these cozy hobbies has continued to thrive, as they're not only relaxing pursuits, but also activities that can be shared, whether you're creating a homemade quilt to give as a gift or working on a jigsaw puzzle with your loved ones.
And it doesn't hurt that people are posting plenty about these pursuits on TikTok and other social media, too! This buzz is only increasing the interest in these hobbies.
Mental Health Benefits of "Old-Fashioned" Hobbies
While enjoying freshly baked bread or some pretty flowers from your garden is one big benefit of these hobbies, there are also some science-backed reasons to try these relaxing pasttimes, says Tiffany C. Ho, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at the Brain Research Institute at University of California, Los Angeles.
Cozy hobbies can bring you joy
"Hobbies, by definition, are activities that evoke pleasure, so it makes sense that individuals who are inherently drawn to knitting, crocheting, embroidery, etc., would experience improvements in their mood when engaging in these activities," Ho says. But even if you haven't tried knitting before or are tackling a new and more involved recipe, the novelty of something new can come with a big dopamine hit—which can help you feel good.
They can help calm you down
Ho points out that activities like these can help people unwind, especially after a difficult or stressful day. "Working and creating with their hands brings a sense of calm. It helps divert ruminative and internally focused energy that we often see in anxiety, depression, or burnout."
These hobbies can become meditative
The repetitive nature of many of the grandmacore hobbies—embroidery, knitting, and kneading dough, for instance—can help you slow your breath and find your balance. "The repetitive movements and present moment awareness mimic mindfulness meditation in a lot of ways, which may explain why they could help improve mood and mental health," Ho says.
How to Choose the Cozy Hobbies That'll Bring You the Most Joy
If you're looking to add a few of these activities to your self-care routines, it can be tricky to figure out which ones to choose. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
Decide what you're hoping to get out of it
Different hobbies provide different benefits, Ho says. "Hobbies that help you connect with nature, promote social interactions with others, provide an outlet for creativity, offer skill learning, result in a tangible product, and where accomplishment scales with effort, are all good places to start."
Consider your own talents
If you're all thumbs, you might get more frustrated than fulfilled with trying a complicated embroidery pattern—so perhaps something that's a little less exacting, like gardening, would be a better choice.
Don't neglect your other self-care needs
While granny hobbies can definitely help you chill out, you can't neglect the other ingredients for good mental health. "I would recommend staying physically healthy and active," says Ho. "That means getting enough sleep, eating well, and engaging in daily movement and regular exercise."
Good call right there! People in the Age of the Dishwasher have forgotten the therapeutic and calming effects of hand-washing dishes. And there's that real feel of accomplishment when the rack is full.
Birdwatching...always...when fishing, hunting....
I do most of the “granny” hobbies. I have been knitting since I was about 10! I find it is the process that is relaxing, not the final product. I just ripped apart a flower I crocheted because I wanted to use the color for something else. It was as much fun the second time I used that yarn as the first!
I kept trying to get my daughter to learn how to crochet to no luck. Then at age 51 just a few months ago she asked me to teach her, and she is hooked (pun intended)
She says the 30 minutes of crochet she wants to do before bed is the best 3 hours of her day!
Fly tying.
My granny hobby would be sewing if my dog could climb stairs. My major at the university was home economics (human ecology). I could teach all sorts of granny hobbies. 😄
My main hobbies now are collecting Bibles and feeding squirrels and birds.
Reading is my hobby.
Plating bullwhips.
Sounds fun, when I’m done powerlifting.
>> Baking - Canning - Gardening - Reading
REF: Your tag line. :-)
>> First of all, this struck me as HILARIOUS as all of these ‘skills’ were what KEPT US ALIVE back in the day! And now, it’s ‘trendy’ and ‘good for our mental health.’ Oh, You Kids! ;)
Just for fun, y’all, do a websearch on “GenZ cottagecore”.
The kids are all right. Pray revival and restoration into that generation that is turning out to be surprisingly conservative...
.
RE: Washing dishes is my ‘Zen Time’ after supper...
Someone said once that if you want people to stop annoying you and leave you alone then start washing the dishes. People will try to stay away so they won’t have to help you.
For me reading, of course.
But also stamp collecting.
I did it in childhood, gave it up for decades, then tried it as one of the antidotes to my rages about the new DC power couple Bill and Hillary Clinton.
My late wife fully supported the idea and I asked her if she was making fun of me or something but she said no, it got my mind off my excessive news watching and yelling at the TV when Bill and Hillary were on.
I’ve been thinking of taking it up again.
Watching the sun rise over the ocean as the waves roll in, with my butt plopped on the sand calms gamma brain waves for the entire day.
...learned this at the Overthinkers Anonymous meeting
And I’m going to include hanging laundry outside.
Great excuse to get out in the sun and fresh air, the laundry smells great, and it saves money on drying, especially heavy stuff like jeans and towels, although towels should be brought in a tad damp and dried the rest of the way or they get stiff.
Gardening is also another thing. Nothing beats the satisfaction of eating food fresh out of the garden that you grew yourself.
And that can save money, too.
Yep. Mom and her roommate (her BFF of 50+ years!) always have a puzzle or two going, year round. They have dedicated tables and all the accessories that go with their hobby. And they have to be HARD - as you said - 1K pieces, or no border to work with, or all the same color pieces, or it ends up being an Eagle in the shape of...an Eagle!
Wish I could get into it. I just don’t have the patience for it. And then when you’re done? W hat do you do with it? Only so much wall space for framing - but usually you just take it apart and pass it on to some other unsuspecting person to torment, LOL!
My ‘thing’ is crossword puzzles. Beau like Sudoku - but we’ve talked about that before. ;)
I do daily puzzles at least 4 a day on my laptop. And I try to do them as fast as possible. Then there is daily 3 or 4 mahjong games and a flip over and match game. Also I do most eveything else on that list.
A few bird photos of mine:
The last one was a freak snowstorm we had in April. the Robins were already back. They were NOT happy.
Madame Thérèse Defarge is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. She is a ringleader of the tricoteuses, a tireless worker for the French Revolution, memorably knitting beside the guillotine during executions. She is the wife of Ernest Defarge. Some historians have suggested that Dickens based Defarge on revolutionaries Théroigne de Mericourt, who played a key role in street demonstrations, and Olympe de Gouges, known as Fury and founder of apocryphal Club of Knitting Women.
LOL! Loved that quote!
I am a Crocheter, too. I learned to knit in 4-H, but it just didn’t stick. Crochet is wonderful. I make Baby Blankets for ‘Project Linus’ and ‘Comfort Mats’ for dogs and cats at our local no-kill shelter and Premie Caps and Scarves for ‘Warm Up America’ and about eleventy-thousand of those cotton kitchen dish cloths. Family and friends demand them of me!
Mom had an elderly friend who was giving up on her yarn crafts and I got FIVE big, black trash bags full of yarn! It all went to use in the above projects - took me a good two years to get through it all. What a blessing that was! :)
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