Arts and Crafts

For some people, winter in particular is a time of coziness, which may involve indoor activities such as knitting and sewing. Of course, arts and crafts are something you can engage in all year round. We've looked at fine arts before, but today let's look at German words for various creative hobbies.

First of all, we have activities such as knitting, sewing, crochet, and embroidery:

Sie hatte gestrickt und vergessen, ein Mahl zu bereiten.

She had been knitting and had forgotten to prepare a meal.

Caption 14, Janoschs Traumstunde: Der Wettlauf zwischen Hase und Igel
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Er verbrachte seine Tage damit zu nähen.

He spent his days sewing.

Caption 7, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Das tapfere Schneiderlein
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Im Nebenjob sind die Oberkommissare Häkelhelden und häkeln Mützen für den guten Zweck.

In their sideline jobs, the chief commissioners are crochet heroes and crochet caps for a good cause.

Captions 4-5, Häkelhelden: Polizisten im Einsatz
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Sie vertrieben sich die Zeit mit Stickerei, Lesen und Kartenspiel.

They passed the time with embroidery, reading, and card games.

Caption 56, Das Mittelalter im Südwesten: Ritter und Burgen
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Of course, not all creative hobbies involve textiles:

Mittlerweile machen wir eben Schmuck und, äh, es gibt jetzt ein Parfum von Herr von Eden.

In the meantime, we have started making jewellery and, uh, there is now a perfume by Herr von Eden.

Caption 13, Jonathan Johnson: Herr von Eden
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Bauernmalerei, Blaudruckerei, Schmiede, Töpferei, Weberei.

Farm painting, indigo printing, blacksmith's, pottery studio, weaving studio.

Caption 2, Berlin: Domäne Dahlem
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Hier kommen wir nun zum Stand mit der Keramik.

Here we come now to the stand with the ceramics.

Caption 34, Deutsch mit Eylin: Umzug nach Ottensen
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Ach ja, und hier sind natürlich auch noch die Pinsel zum Aquarellkasten.

Oh yes, and here are, of course, the paintbrushes for the watercolor box, too.

Caption 56, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch
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The word "hobby" has been adapted into German as das Hobby, though you also might hear people talk about their Lieblingsbeschäftigung. When we speak about crafts in German, we tend to specify with das Kunsthandwerk rather than simply saying die Kunst.

Further Learning

Do you do any handicrafts or have creative hobbies? In addition to looking on Yabla German, you can use an online dictionary like LEO.org to get a translation for your hobbies.