Old Style Skills

Uniscots97

I wish I could crochet, my Gran found it impossible to teach me as I'm left handed and she wasn't. I mastered just about everything else left handed but scissors I use right-handed, is that what I get for being a child of the 70's when lefties were encouraged to use their right hand instead?

newlywed

unixgirluk wrote: »

I wish I could crochet, my Gran found it impossible to teach me as I'm left handed and she wasn't. I mastered just about everything else left handed but scissors I use right-handed, is that what I get for being a child of the 70's when lefties were encouraged to use their right hand instead?

Just found this website and suggested it to someone else:
http://crochet.about.com/library/blbeginners.htm

Have used the "About" website for beading and beadweaving and they seem very good.

Uniscots97

newlywed wrote: »

Just found this website and suggested it to someone else:
http://crochet.about.com/library/blbeginners.htm

Have used the "About" website for beading and beadweaving and they seem very good.

Thank you :T

newlywed

unixgirluk wrote: »

Thank you :T

You may have to interpret everything over to left handed though

Magpye

Ooh, thanks for the link newlywed - my mum is a demon crocheter, but lacks the patience to teach me. She did teach me to sew, though, so I forgive her. Fashion college taught me to draft and alter patterns.
Someone, I forget who, taught me the basics of knitting which is something I would like to learn more about.

My great aunt was great at baking and I seem to have inherited the ability to cook without any weighing out. Out of my extended family, I am the only one who cooks from scratch. Mum admits she is lazy and dislikes cooking (except soup which she excels at); and my older sister is known as 'Ms. Ping' due to her reliance on ready meals - she is trying harder now though! DH is slowly learning - he has no life skills as his parents taught him and his sister nowt - he is beginning to cook but can't iron, budget, balance his bank account, clean the house, or do DIY. Thank goodness he knows about electrical stuff and decorating or I would give him up as a lost cause! :rotfl:

My Dad taught me DIY and also how to build a brick wall, pave and point. Also how to handle firearms and break a rabbit's neck, and not to be afraid of hard work like moving a dumpy of sand around by wheelbarrow. He is the reason I like gardening and growing vegetables.

I still need to learn how to make wine and beer and would like to learn woodworking. Schools do not teach enough practical skills IMO, even mathematics is very removed from the practical budgeting and balancing of everyday life.

mardatha

I agree re schools 100%. And I wish I could get my hands on a rabbit !! my youngest son was a falconer and we had some great food then (LOL pheasant & chips) -- but he discovered a different kind of birds and left home to live with one...

Gigervamp

I'm left handed too, and my although my nan taught me how to knit, I've always had problems trying to do it. Mainly with the tension (I start off ok, but it gets tighter and tighter) and also with dropping or gaining stitches. Every few years I have another try and give up.
I have wondered if it's because I'm knitting right handed, but I do pretty much everything right handed except writing, sewing and using a knife.

I've been teaching myself to crochet (right handed) and I've found it's much easier than knitting. I even finished my first project! Now I'm starting a ripple blanket.

tattoed_bum

one of my grans taught me how to knit ,sew,embroider,and crochet
the other gran taught me how to cook cakes and pastries
my grandfather taught me how to cook meats and savouries
my mum taught me how to wash and iron clothes ,keep house and loads other things
my dad taught me how to fix and repair cars (at one point i worked as a mechanic for jaguar )
he also taught me how to decorate ,tile ,wallpaper paint etc

i thank them all for all these things have been handy over the years

oh and yes i am a girly

so when someone tells you that your elders know better they certainly do :T

my dh thinks he has the best wife on the planet (poor s*d ):rotfl:

DawnW

I am probably the age of some of the 'nans' featured on this thread (shame!!"%&*). I can't knit - my mum used to do really complicated fairisle patterns and even make up her own:eek: She taught me how to knit when I was 4 and I never got any better at it:rotfl: Well, she always thought it was really funny anyway, god bless her. I am pretty rubbish at sewing as well, but I have a nightmare job:eek: but at least earn my living.
However, my OH and I have always lived / worked on farms and were into self sufficiency way back in the 1980s, and I am really keen on cooking. All 3 (1 son and 2 daughters) can cook, and at times at least 2 of them have earned their living cooking. Both daughters make lovely preserves etc, and my daughter in law has a small chutney business . Son works really hard on a farm. One daughter is really arty - she does lovely paintings, and makes patchwork quilts, or at least she did whilst pregnant, and I have a lovely one she gave to me as a present, which is great, as I do not have these skills.

LameWolf

I was lying awake at 2am last night, and a thought occurred to me. (Stands back in amazement:rotfl: ).

When my left-handed aunt learned to knit, she only had a right-handed person to teach her, so she placed a large mirror where she could watch what they were doing in it, and copy the reflection of what they did (if that makes sense).