Old Style Skills

moanymoany

Does anyone knit the continental way? It looks easier than ours.

mardatha

I had a neighbour from Romania many years ago, and I tried to knit her way and almost went mad. It's very strange !

THIRZAH

I've just made three pillow cases and some napkins out of a sheet that had gone thin in the middle. Nobody in our house will sleep on a sides -to-middle sheet so I usually cut them up.

The other day DD2 was being very scornful of my inability to use my new mobile phone-present from DH.I pointed out that there were lots of things that I could do such as knit, turn up hems, make buttonholes etc. She was rather dismissive of these skills but I have noticed that she and her sister always present me with a pile of mending.

mardatha

LOL THirzah ! I wish I still had my old singer treadle... I painted it purple and grew plants on it !

Peartree

I'm in my mid forties and am still learning OS skills from my parents. You reach a point where you value their skills more and are more prepared to listen. When you realise 'Dad' is in his seventies and won't be around forever it is less about 'Dad can you just...' and more about 'Dad can you show me...' It has taken a while but I'm now realising just how clever he is at this stuff and how much I need to be taught.

However, I don't recall ever being 'taught'. I simply saw Mum garden, cook and sew, Dad do DIY and mend cars, and them both doing decorating. It meant knowing that these things are possible, and actually easy, to undertake. It might need a bit of advice, a book or, now, the internet, but anything could be done with a bit of time and application.

If you've never seen anyone else do any of these things you never even try. I've got friends who can't even change a plug. Seriously, a friend of mine was astounded when I was surprised that she asked an electrician friend to change a plug and thinks it is ME that is odd!! Turns out, when we asked around that I am actually odd amongst our group in that I know how to do it!

I find that people fall into two camps - those who have a go and those who don't. And that is on what I think is amazingly basic stuff. I'm not sure it is all about having all the knowledge. It is just about having learnt that I am perfectly capable of doing these things!

And it is lovely when the people who made you feel like this are still around and that you can still learn from them. So I've got my next father/daughter woodwork project in mind for the autumn!

Just a shame my gran, the ace, aran knitter, isn't still with use now that I've realised just how incredibly brilliant her skills were! Make the most of it while you can guys!

2cats1kid

Well I remember being taught embroidery by my grandma (though I hated every minute) and my mum taught me to knit.

Actually when I was looking for my first job in computing, and struggling as I had no experience, it was knitting that got me the job. I stuck my neck out and told an interview board that if I could read a knitting pattern I could read a computer program. When they looked stunned and asked how I made that out I told them that knit and purl were the basic elements, that things like "repeat from * to ** until garment measures 12 inches" was a "do until" loop, that the different instructions for the different sizes were the "if...then...else" clauses, etc. It must have worked, as they gave me the job! So OS skills can have modern applications.

lindadykes

Spent today wallpapering my en suite, my father died two years ago but he taught me to decorate and as I went along his words came to me - " Take your time pet, don't rush", "Don't paper round a corner pet, do a new plumb line", and his most famous one " You missed a bit!". As he became older he became increasingly frail and couldn't physically help but he would waggle his index finger at you as he gave advice and say "Just heed the finger now pet" I am smiling as I type this because this is how we should know our older generations. Today my dad was with me again and it brings back such fond memories.

ZoeGirl_3

mary43 wrote: »

My Mum used to do what she called 'sides to middle' to make sheets last longer and so did I when I first got married.

What is sides to middle? My only sheets were from garage sales and if I can make em last longer that would be great, as we only have a pair and a spare each lol. Well I do have a few odds and sods there too, but only for my sons bed, lol,

I think with knitting and crocheting, wool is very expensive, unless you do what I do and get very cheap odd balls from second hand or charity shops. You can often get quite a lot then, and when you have a collection you have enough to make a mixed blue scarf or crochet a nice pair of woolen slippers (use the softest wool lol, not itchy stuff).

Or people used to unpick sweaters, wash and reuse wool, so if you find a v cheap old jersey, you can often get a lot of wool out of it, and re-knit it into something nice.

And if anyone is up for this, , I saw a lady the other day in a black skirt, and around the bottom (on top of the skirt, sort of like applique) were several very lovely granny squares in various colours sewn on the bottom. I am not sure if she did this herself or not, couldnt get close enough to her to see, but I thought if I had a skirt that was dark, and the hem was getting a bit tatty or it had a rip or stain, then I could try this...:D It might be hard to think of what I mean, but they were just spread out randomly but fairy equally as well.

she_grinch

When DD1 was small, being a single Mum money was tight,I bought some jeans second hand from the charity shop and I appliqued a kite down one leg to cover a small hole, and embroidered snakes and ladders with a dice on the other side and a little applique train on the hemline where they had become worn and felt extremely guilty that I couldn't buy her any new things. When she wore them to nursery I was approached by several Mums asking where I had bought them and they were shocked to hear I had done this myself! Needless to say I didn't feel guilty after this and still use charithy shops today.
My latest find is a long white 100% cotton nightdress to embroider on the yoke for my daughter.

lindadykes

When I was growing up dad did all the mending that involved any sewing. He sewed buttons on, that never came off again! and was a whizz at darning. Mum would sometimes make clothes for me, but my dad's sister was a tailoress and she generally made me dresses and coats. Both my parents mucked in at the housework as necessary. They both liked the house to be neat, clean and tidy and all washing was ironed, folded and put away.

Because my mum had literally been forced to take over the whole running of the house for her parents from the age of 11, she didn't want her children to have to do anything other than be children, consequently when I left home I was useless at anything to do with homemaking. To this day my housekeeping standards are lax to say the least, for example I never spend time ironing anything before it goes away - it goes away unironed and everyone irons their own things (or not!) as they need them. DD's have been expected to iron for themselves since they were about 11.

Over the years I have learned many things, I have always hated ready meals as my mum was a good oldstyle cook, so I made sure I learned how to cook from scratch. Partly from going to my mum and asking her how and partly through cookery books. I could sew as I did O Level needlework at school, and also this was one thing my mum did teach me as she knew I had an interest in this and wanted to learn.

My Nana tried to teach me to knit, but while I can cast on and off and knit plain, I have never grasped how to do purl - despite many friends since trying to show me. I can crochet - taught myself from a book.

I can wallpaper thanks to dad helping me and can wire a plug and do simple electrical jobs.

I have had two ex husbands who were totally lazy and did nothing around the house, which I really resented as this was not the example my dad set, but DH no.3 is a different kettle of fish. He won't cook however, but shartly after we got together when I was nagging him about this he said he could cook, but hated it and was there not any job I hated? when I replied I hated doing the washing he said that if I never asked him to cook again he would take responsibility for doing all the washing, sounded good to me and we have worked that way ever since.