Nicholas Hoult - Knitting fan Nicholas Hoult

Knitting fan Nicholas Hoult

Nicholas Hoult is addicted to knitting.

The 'Jack the Giant Slayer' actor claims his rise to fame was crippled with addiction to the hands-on hobby and he found it nearly impossible to give up to his knitting needles.

He joked: ''It was a slippery slope and I was lucky to get out. But I sense I may well return to it in the future. Yep, I was obsessed with knitting for a while. Properly into it.''

The 23-year-old actor grew up in a female-centric household as his airline pilot father was away most of the time and his older brother left home when he was nine, leaving him with just two sisters and his mother, who he credits with teaching him the unlikely interest.

However, Nicholas - who split from Jennifer Lawrence earlier this year - was able to free himself from his obsessive pastime to enjoy the perks of his rising star status, including travelling the globe for exciting film opportunities.

He told Esquire magazine: ''I just potter about, really. I live out of a suitcase, and I go wherever the work is. You can run around and pretend to be someone else, and make a good living from it. You meet cool people and you travel. This is a ridiculous job.''