On the Meet the Pros episode of This American Life, David Rakoff said
I make stuff: boxes, lamps, mirrors, small folding screens, painted jackets for kids, that sort of thing. It’s what I do in my spare time. Some people exercise; my salvation lies in time spent alone with an Xacto knife and commercial-grade adhesive. During the act of making something, I experience a kind of blissful absence of self and a loss of time. I almost cannot get this feeling any other way. . . . I once spent 16 hours making 150 wedding invitations by hand and was not for one instant of that day tempted to check the time.
He gives the stuff he makes as gifts to his friends. A Martha Stewart Living staffer tells Rakoff it is harder to do this sort of thing for a living than as a hobby.
My theory of human evolution, which explains how we became the only species whose members make their living in many diverse ways, says the sequence was: 1. Hobbies. 2. Part-time jobs. 3. Full-time jobs. The first hobbies obviously involved making things and were the beginnings of craftsmanship. That many of us, such as Rakoff, enjoy crafts indicates that those early genes are still there.
Before trading evolved, you gave the products of your specialized skill to your friends, which generated a vague obligation. This was the precursor of trading. In contrast to trading, of course, in this case the recipients may have only a little use for what they receive.