Guides
150 longer answers, grouped by what you are trying to do rather than by subject. Each one exists because the answer was too long, or too specific, to sit inside an activity page without unbalancing it.
Start something
What the first session actually involves, and what you need in front of you.
Norkiña / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Getting started · Karate
“how to choose a karate club”
Choosing a karate club, and surviving the first year
The club matters far more than the style, the questions that identify a good one are easy to ask, and the first year has three predictable places people give up.
5 min read
Pacopac / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Getting started · Bikepacking
“how do I plan a bikepacking trip”
Planning a first bikepacking overnighter
A single night, close to home, on a route you can abandon — how to plan the trip that teaches everything the expensive one would.
2 min read
Terry Robinson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Getting started · Sea fishing
“how to read a tide table for fishing”
Planning a shore session around the tide
Most marks fish on a state of tide rather than a time of day, and blank sessions are far more often about when you went than about what you tied on.
5 min read
Commanderbryce / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Getting started · FPV drone flying
“where can I legally fly an fpv drone uk”
Somewhere to fly, and somebody to watch: the two things FPV actually needs
The law says you need a legal site and an observer beside you. Nobody explains how an ordinary person gets either, and it is the commonest practical reason people stop flying.
6 min read
Do the thing
Worked methods for the parts an activity page can only summarise.
Sadarama / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Technique · Knitting
“how do I cast on knitting”
Casting on and casting off
The two edges of every piece of knitting, why there is more than one way to make each, and the tension mistake that ruins both.
2 min read
Technique · Crochet
“what is crochet gauge”
Crochet gauge and tension, properly explained
Why patterns come out the wrong size, how to swatch so the answer is reliable, and when gauge genuinely does not matter.
3 min read
Freedom II Andres from Yashio Saitama, Japan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
How to · Film photography
“how do I develop black and white film at home”
Developing black and white film at home: the process, end to end
It needs no darkroom, costs less than three lab developments to set up, and the whole thing is a sequence with one genuinely difficult step. The difficult step is getting the film onto the reel.
4 min read
Frettie / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Technique · Home espresso
“how to dial in espresso”
Dialling in: the loop that turns a bad shot into a good one
Espresso is a feedback loop with one main control, and most beginners run it wrong by changing several things at once. This is the loop, what to change, and what to leave alone.
5 min read
Fix a problem
What the symptom narrows it down to, and what to check before changing anything.
Ronaldmoretto / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Troubleshooting · Wood finishing
“why is my stain blotchy”
Blotches, cloudiness and brush marks: fixing a finish
Nearly every finishing fault was created before the finish went on, which is why sanding it off and reapplying the same way reproduces it exactly — and why the diagnosis has to reach back to the preparation.
4 min read
Sadarama / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Troubleshooting · Knitting
“how do I fix a dropped stitch in knitting”
Dropped stitches, and the other recoverable disasters
What a dropped stitch actually is, why it runs, how to stop it, and the three other things that look fatal and are not.
2 min read
Subhashish Panigrahi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Troubleshooting · 3D printing
“why is my first layer not sticking”
First-layer problems in 3D printing
Almost every failed print fails in the first layer. What each symptom means and what to change, in the order worth changing it.
2 min read
Hey Paul Studios from Kansas City, MO, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Troubleshooting · Embroidery
“why is my embroidery puckering”
Fixing the things that go wrong in embroidery
Puckering, twisted thread, uneven satin stitch, fabric marks and a messy back — causes and fixes for the faults that make a first hoop look homemade.
2 min read
Other things a guide can settle
Each of these is a section of the complete index, and each answers a different moment in a hobby.
- Choose what to buyWhat separates the options, what the money buys, and where spending more stops helping.23 guides
- Look after your kitWhat wears, what it costs to ignore, and what is worth doing yourself.27 guides
- Get betterWhat comes after the first month, how the practice is structured, and how to tell you are actually progressing.19 guides
- Know where the limits areRules, law and the boundaries worth understanding before somebody else explains them.8 guides
- Understand the subjectVocabulary, history and the culture around an activity.9 guides