Dirt under fingernails

I've been doing some research on DIY and it seems like the minute I poked my toe in the water, I was surrounded by a pool of info.

Perhaps given the current market shake-up, DIY has become a necessity (this is not a revelation by any means, but what is interesting are the types of DIY projects that are cropping up). We're witnessing the birth of a more expansive, quite unique form of DIY. (What's more unique than a Buddhist monk building a temple out of Heineken and Chang bottles?)

We’re all making our own things or remaking or repurposing what we already have, from the revival of crochet, knitting, and development of certain skill-sets. In service-based economies, people are rediscovering the joy of craft and the art of making things (the tangible!). When coupled with social media, these groups increase and solidify, with events, discussions and meetings centered around newly found passion centers (guerilla gardening).

Enabled and driven by advances in technology that allow us not to be geek-fabulous to do things on own own, we are doing more things by ourselves than ever before. People are taking great pride in either saving money, expressing themselves or doing the green thing, some examples:

• DIY Cocktail nights (making your own wine and beer has become quite popular)
• Dinner parties (from making bread to DIY exotic food kits)
• Home fixes and quick make-overs (people are holding on to their property and turning them into homes); which may include recycled lamps or other home items
• Shopping (from creating new things out of old, rediscovering old pieces, designing new pieces, to swapping with friends or even strangers
• DIY entertainment of all sorts (making our own music, albums, videos)

A visual expression of this new modern DIY below...

What are you doing yourself that you may not have done before?