We all have our favourite hobbies, and some of my pals have a selection of them.  We count amongst ourselves miniaure railway buffs; woodworking wonders; boating folk etc.   Our wives are also active with their crafts, some to an almost industrial degree and feeding these obsessive hobbies does call for quite a high level of bargain hunting and product seeking excursions.  There are a few fantastic craft emporiums out there, not just the major high street chain one that we all know of.  There are private firms, family run with an interest in what the customer really wants and needs.  I agree with these fair maidens  . . . .  there is nothing as exciting as going into a massive warehouse full of promising yarns, every shade, thickness, description and then those needles – wooh, we now have the impossible task of choosing between makes of circular needles that can be used for top down knitting and socks or the neat pairs of contentional pin style.   Then there is the sewing fraternity.  My word there are sewing machines, overlockers, fabrics, cottons and threads, too many to name . . . . Whoever thought that a hobby could take off so successfully that there’s an annual tv talent show based entirely on these crafts.