This will sound crazy, but I SWEAR to you it's the truth.
My dad is so Type A, he's Type AAAAAAAAAA. He cannot for the life of hiim stand to sit and not be doing something. He just can't do it.
When I was 10, Dad had an industrial accident that crushed his right hand. The angels were with him that night, and the doc in the ER when he was brought in was new--had just finished his residency in SLC, UT--and he knew of some surgeons there who he thought could put Dad's hand back in some kind of working order. Well, long story (really a lot of stories) short, they could, but it took them 3 and a half years--37 major surgeries in 39 months. Obviously, Dad wasn't working. And had to have something to do. Something he could do one handed when he was in a cast, but something that he could use for PT when he wasn't.
His mother gave him a latchhook rug kit. He poo-poo'ed it, BUT--he got bored enough to try it.
He latchhooks like a fiend to this day. I have a latchhook framed on my wall that he made for me a couple of years ago, and I have probably a dozen different ones that aren't framed at the moment packed in boxes in my stuff that's at their house. He even got one of his friends who's an artist to come up with a design from scratch so he could latchhook wall hangings for the family of the SL Temple for Christmas one year. I think the biggest project he's done has been like a 5' x 8' area rug, but it may be bigger than that--it might be 6' x 10'. I know he has ambitions to do an area rug to put in the dining room. Mom has yet to agree to a design for such a thing, however.
Go to Michael's and get Johann a latchhook kit and a latchhook at the craft store. It's easy to learn, but it's great in that 1) it's REALLY portable--when he's well he could take it in the truck to do during his downtime; 2) pretty cheap
3) you can do projects of all kinds of sizes--from a throwpillow to literally an area rug; 4) you can pick it up and put it down on a whim, and come back to it 5 years later without any damage; 5) it will keep his hands busy during football games and keep him from eating so much junk food!
And if he hates it, one of your kids will have a ball with it. It IS fun. I think it's a lot more fun than knitting or crocheting. When forced to do crafty things for Christmas presents, I would far rather latchhook than knit, crochet, MUCH prefer it to sewing and it's WAY better than scrapbooking!
If he really likes it, and gets really fast, you can sell his rugs on your e-store....
