But B and Little Miss are also learning through what I do, not just what I say. (This is a scary thought). So if I expect them to be always learning, shouldn't I show them that I can learn something new too?
Well yes! Of course. So what do I want to learn?
Crocheting.
Crochet might make you think of your Granny, or unreliable bathers at the beach, but I am really loving all these hand made goodies available on Etsy...
Flower embellishments from here
Blanket from here
Chicks from here
My Mum taught me how to knit a long time ago so crocheting can't be much harder than that. Can it?
With thanks to YouTube and the many generous people who have videoed themselves crocheting. I have started to learn. It is quite fiddly to begin with, but I have learned it's easier to use a large needle and thick yarn as a beginner.
I started out really wanting to make some flowers as hair ties for Little Miss. But my attempts at flowers didn't go so well, I never ended up with the right amount of petals. Then I bought a larger hook at Big W for about $2.50 and found a very simple hat pattern on YouTube. I must have watched and paused that video a hundred times. And B and Little Miss kept coming into see if I had made anything yet.
Once I got the hang of the stitches this hat was done in a couple of hours. (Thanks to B and Little Miss's Dad who gave me some child free time) I also finally mastered some flowers through lots of trial and error.
As I needed buttons for the flower centre we searched and rescued some from the bottom of our meager sewing kit. Then I had a small revelation, suddenly a button collection seemed very important to me. I can remember visiting my Granny and playing with her button collection. It was kept in an old lolly tin. I would spread out all the buttons on the floor and arrange them into colours and sizes, often loosing them in her heavily patterned carpet. So many memories, smells and sensations came flooding back to me as I watched B and Little Miss get excited and engaged by our own misplaced buttons, bought together at last to become their own collection of memory makers. Did you know that buttons really rock?
Learning something new is a wonderful path to take, opening new and old doors along the way. I love being able to make something that Little Miss can wear, it feels all very warm and fuzzy inside.
But now B wants me to crochet him something Army!
