Great topic, Laura!!
I like to knit, though my hand doesn't always cooperate. Needlepoint, usually cross-stitch, is another biggie; I have a whole group of Kats by Kelly that I've done, and am still doing. No-Sew-Blankies! I made my first three last year as Christmas presents. Like Laura, I love to make things for others to enjoy, as well as just create things in general, plus I enter the annual arts and crafts competition every fall. My mother always says I am to crafty for my own good.
I do leather work as well, though I'm currently out of leather. I've got a half finished tile-top behind the couch-type table I built from scratch. I just need to do the tiling. You can buy alot of the pre-made parts like the legs, table blanks, edging and trim, all you have to do is decide what you want and assemble it.
I used to do beading, but it's gotten to difficult in the last year to work the seed beads on my loom.
I also love to spend time with my critters as they give me a purpose. Last year in June our city decided the local pond was a big safety hazzard, and a water drain, so they decided they were going to rebuild it; of course first they had to evict all the current residents. They decided that if you showed up you could have some of them for free. The pond was full of gold fish and carp and a large colony of red-earred sliders. Now we have two ponds in our back yard, both above ground, that we built. One pond has an 8" turtle, as it's main resident, and currently two smaller turtles, one of which came from the pond and was barely a hatchling at the time. We named him Tiny as he was the same size as a sillver dollar, compared to Calypso whom we got two days latre when she nearly got hit by a car trying to cross the road to find water. In the other pond are fish. There's a 12" long, tri-colored koi; Kaliko Jack. Can you believe he came from the city pond?! There's also an 8" gold/black goldfish my son named "Mr. Cool". Since then I've added a couple more koi: a black and white speckled one named Pepper, and a beautiful pale gold butterfly finned koi named Leopold.
It's fun to go out and sit on the edge of my pond, trailing my fingers through the water. My fish rush up to see if I've brought them goodies, nibbling at my fingers in search of their favorite treats. And just yesterday Kaliko actually let me stroke down his side. With the sound of the waterfall in the background, and the solar sandcastle at night, the pond is one of my favorite places day or night.