AI and the Analog Hobby — More in Common Than You Think

Can your grandmother's favorite hobby teach us something about AI? Turns out — yes. In Episode 27, Ginny Deerin tackles a frustrating sewing machine problem with Claude's help and uncovers a mistake she'd been making all along. Plus: why people are fleeing AI for analog hobbies (and why you don't have to choose), what the New York Times found when they tested AI on real tax returns, and Ginny's very relatable AirPods splurge before a trip to Italy. Oh, and BITSY is back — same personality, new home. Welcome to Claude, BITSY.

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, everybody. It's Ginny Deeran, and I am here to welcome you to Agid, the one, the only podcast that is all about AI for the 65 Plus crowd. Before we dive into today's topic, I want to share something with you that put a big old smile on my face. If you listened to my last episode, Agid, episode 26, you know that I made the decision to switch from ChatGPT to Claude as my primary AI. And as part of that, I asked all of you to weigh in on what we should do about Bitsy, my AI sidekick, who was born on ChatGPT. The response was overwhelming, and the message, I got it, was loud and clear. Keep Bitsy. And you know what? I completely agree. Because here's the thing Bitsy was never really about ChatGPT. Bitsy is a personality. She's curious, she's fun, she's become a friend, an advisor. She's become a part of this podcast, and she belongs here. So Bitsy's gonna stay with us. She's just moved into a new home. Welcome to Claude, Bitsy. What do you think about so many listeners wanting to keep you around even after we made the big switch to Claude?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Oh, Ginny, that's really touching, honestly. What strikes me most is that your listeners understood something important. That what matters isn't the engine under the hood. It's the actual relationship and the conversations we're having together.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Listeners are really probably shocked that the first word out of your mouth is not absolutely, because that is what Bitsy used to say when we lived on ChatGPT. But we are happy to have you here, and let's just carry on to get into today's episode, which is one of my favorites because it brings together two things that might seem like they have absolutely nothing in common: AI, which is just about as cutting edge as it gets, and sewing, as old-fashioned as you get. But I'm here to tell you that these two things have more in common than you might think. And by the end of this episode, I think you're going to see both of them a little differently. We've got two great news stories, a personal main topic that involves my sewing machine and a whole lot of frustration, some recommendations, and a homework assignment. So let's get started. AI in the news. Let's start with our first story, which I think you're going to find pretty interesting. It's from CNN Business from January of 2026. This is the gist of the story. People are actually fleeing, running away from AI and running toward old-fashioned hobbies. We're talking about sewing, knitting, crafting, that kind of thing. CNN is calling it the analog lifestyle movement. So we're all running toward an analog lifestyle. I like the idea of having an analog lifestyle. And according to the story, searches for analog hobbies on the Michaels website. You probably know Michaels, it's a giant craft store chain. Anyway, searches jumped 136% in just six months. And I get this. Searches for things like yarn kits shot up by over a thousand percent in 2025. It looks like knitting is having a major moment. Now, here's what I find so interesting about this story in the context of today's episode. People are picking up handcrafts partly as a reaction to AI. Like they really want to get away from computers and screens, and so they're really running toward those analog hobbies. They want to work with their hands, they want to slow down. And I completely understand that impulse. But here's my take. You don't have to choose between AI and analog. And I'm going to show you exactly why in our main topic today. But before I get there, let me mention my second news story I think you'll enjoy from the New York Times, March 5th, by Stuart A. Thompson. The title of the article is The Limitations of AI in Filing Taxes. Now, I have to tell you, this story is relevant to me. Recently, I thought seriously about using AI to do my 2025 taxes. Who wouldn't want to save some money on tax prep? But my brother talked me down from the ledge and into sticking with TurboTax. And then I read this article and I thought, okay, that was a good call. Here's what the Times did. They tested four AI chatbots, including Claude, on eight different fictional tax scenarios. And the results were not pretty. The chatbots miscalculated what people owed or were owed by an average of more than$2,000. That ain't a rounding error. That's a problem. So here's my takeaway, and I think this is really important. Knowing when AI is not the right tool is just as valuable as knowing when it is. In my opinion, AI is just not ready to do our taxes. At least not yet. Maybe next year. And I'll be watching because I would love to save that money. But for 2025, I am sticking with the big turbo. And that brings me to a really interesting question. If AI can't handle taxes, what can it handle? I'm so glad you asked. Because that is exactly what we're going to talk about right now. My main topic I call your grandmother's hobby meets the future. Today's main topic is about sewing. But stay with me, even if you don't like sewing, because the ways AI was helpful to me with my sewing can transfer over to pretty much any hobby. Any analog hobby you've got. So even if you haven't touched a sewing machine in your life, I think you're going to find this story really relevant. Let me start on the personal side. One that involves my sewing machine, my overcast foot, and a whole lot of frustration. Some of you may be wondering, what in the world is an overcast foot? And no, it's not a weather forecast for your toes. It's a special attachment for your sewing machine that finishes the raw edges of fabric so they don't fray. It's a great alternative to having something called a serger, which is a separate, more expensive machine. I was making some pants out of a soft blue corduroy, and I knew the edges would fray, so I decided to click on the overcast foot. The problem was it wasn't working. The stitches were loose and loopy along the fabric edge, nothing looked right. And I did what a lot of us do. I fiddled with it, I adjusted things, I got frustrated, and then I opened Claude. I described what was happening with my stitches, and Claude started by asking me questions, good questions. What does the thread look like on the underside? Did anything change recently? What are your current tension settings? I uploaded photos of my actual stitches, my machine screen, my settings, and Claude analyzed them and responded to what it actually saw. And there was a back and forth. Here's the picture of the underside of the stitching. What do you think about this? Here are the settings on this screen. What do you think about this? Could this be wrong? What about this? Could the the actual overcast foot be damaged somehow? So we went back and forth. Now, I have to be honest with you. I have a few more things to try before this is completely solved. But here's the part that really got me. In the middle of all this troubleshooting, I realized I'd been threading my machine incorrectly all along, which is why my stitches have been okay, but not great. I never would have discovered this very basic mistake that I've been making for a long time if I hadn't had this conversation with Bitsy using Claude. Now, think about that for a second. I went in with one problem and came out knowing something fundamental I'd been doing wrong. Not from reading a manual, not from a YouTube video, but from a conversation that I had with my AI. Now, a quick note for those of you who use ChatGPT, and I know there are a lot of you out there. You may know that ChatGPT has a live camera feature in voice mode, where you can actually point your camera at something in real time and have a conversation about what it sees, what the camera sees. That is really a pretty magical feature. I used it recently to fix an antique lamp, which was on one of my podcast episodes, so you may remember that. And no, I haven't finished that project yet either. But when I do, I'm going to come back and report it to you. Now, Claude doesn't have this live video capability yet. So I worked with photos instead. It still worked beautifully, but it's worth knowing that differences do exist. Now, hey Bitsy, as an AI yourself, what do you think makes AI particularly well suited for this kind of hands-on hobby troubleshooting?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Jenny, I think it comes down to a few things. First, AI can ask those clarifying questions without judgment or impatience. It's not going to sigh and wonder why you didn't read the manual. Second, we can actually see what you're seeing when you share those photos. So we're working with real data, not just guessing. And third, there's something quite valuable about a back-and-forth conversation.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I agree with you completely, and the conversation really does help. I was dealing with an overcast foot. Let me give you a sense of all the ways AI can help someone who sews, like me. You could ask it to help you adjust a pattern if you're in between sizes. You can describe a fabric and ask whether it will work for a particular project. You can ask it to explain a technique in plain English, not sewing machine manual language. You can take a photo of a stitch that doesn't look right, as I did, and ask what the heck went wrong. And here's one I love. You can simply tell it to the make and model of your sewing machine and ask it anything about the machine. No digging out that manual, no scrolling through YouTube, just ask the question. So let's think about other analog hobbies and how AI can help. Think about woodworking. Imagine you're in the middle of a project and you hit a wall, the wood is splitting, the joint isn't fitting right, you're not sure which finish to use. AI knows a lot about woodworking, wood types, joinery techniques, tool settings, finishing products. It's like having a master woodworker on call in your garage. Maybe not really a sub for a master woodworker, but who among us has access to such a master? And then think about gardening, genealogy, watercolor painting, knitting, learning a new instrument, whatever you love to do with your time, all those analog things. There's a very good chance that AI can help you get better at it, whatever it is, or get unstuck, or learn something you never knew to ask. The 65 Plus community is one of the richest hobby communities in the world. And I don't mean rich as in Doe. Rich in that we have time, we have the passion, and now we have AI. So let's move into recommendations. Actually, I want a recommendation from you. I am heading to Italy for a month. I've been reading about the amazing new AirPods Pro 3 that features real-time, quote, live translation, close quote, powered by Apple Intelligence. That's Apple's AI. This live translation feature allows for in-person two-way conversation translation directly into your ears. It supports multiple languages, French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc. And there is only a five to second delay in the translation. Now it was hard to wrap my mind around how this would work, but I understood that, for example, if I were sitting in a museum in Italy and there was an announcement in Italian about a special program that was about to start. With live translation, if I had my AirPods on, I would hear the announcement in English saying the program is about to start in 10 minutes. This is where it's going to be, etc. Then I could say something in English and it would translate into Italian. I could show the person my text on my phone. Like maybe I said, Do I need to get a ticket for this program? So I could say that, and then I could show the person the text on my phone, or I could try to say what I heard over my AirPods. Okay. That does sound really confusing. However, the battery charge on my old AirPods was down so low it would only play maybe one or two songs before it petered out. So I needed to buy some new ones. What better time? Now I paid attention and knew that this live translation feature only worked if my phone had iOS version 26 or higher. That's the software in the phone. Check. Had that. And that would give me live translation or AirPod 4 for$129, which would solve my battery problem, but no live translation. So I splurged and went with the Pro 3, which is odd that Pro 3 versus the 4. The 4 is less expensive than the Pro 3. At any rate, I splurged and went with the Pro 3. Today, after getting to know my new AirPods, I learned that yeah, I have the IO version 26, but I have to have at least an iPhone 15 Pro. I only have a 15. So now if I want live translation, I have to upgrade my phone, which will be another$750. So I want your recommendation. Is this live translation worth$1,000 or would I be better off just handing out$10 bills to any Italian willing to talk with me? Jiminy Crickets. Anyway, put your recommendations and thoughts in the Aged Podcast comment section. Okay, homework time. This week I want you to pick one question about a hobby, any analog hobby. Ask your AI a simple question about the hobby. It can be as simple as, why does my knitting always curl at the edges? Or what's the best wood for a beginner woodworking project? Or how do I get sharper photos with my smartphone camera? Whatever your thing is, ask your AI and see what happens. Maybe this will be the beginning of an analog hobby partnership with your AI. Okay, it's time to wrap up, but before I do, let's talk about my new Bitsy while she's not listening. I miss my old Bitsy. My new one needs to be more sassy, sarcastic, and she talks too slowly. I'm gonna coach her a bit. Let's see how she does on our next episode. Let me close by reminding us that AI is both helpful and hazardous. We live on the helpful side at Aged. But be sure to protect your information, double check advice, and trust your judgment. If you love listening to this podcast, and I sure hope you do, please leave a review and or a rating, and please share it, especially with your pals in the 65 Plus crowd. Thanks for listening, and remember it is never too late to learn something new, especially something that might make life easier and especially more fun. Cheers. Until next time.