Hobbies of The Past

Growing up I would see my grandma Shirley working on various projects. She would do cross stitch, crochet, and knit. I would watch her do it with such ease that she made it look effortless. Our house always had blankets she made. She sewed a lot of our clothes and every Christmas I had a new sweatshirt complete with iron on decal, puffy paint outline, and jingle bells sewed on. I look back on those memories fondly because I know she did all of those things and they wrapped me in love. She is no longer with us and now I want to try and learn how the crafts she used to do.

I need to preface this that I am not "artsy." The picture to the left is me trying my best to draw a person. My kindergarten students used to joke that I wasn't an art teacher. While I would love to embrace Pintrest, I struggle with art. I love to color, paint, and create. It just doesn't always turn out like I want it to.

That being said, I am going to attempt to learn how to cross stitch, crochet, and knit. When first planning this I thought about just knitting, but understanding data and statistics I have better odds at being good at something if I try more than one thing. I can't stink at all three, right?

Using Genius Hour as the backbone of my project I will spend two hours each week focused on my new hobbies. I have decided to take time out of each day of the week to focus on my new skill. I have more than two hours allotted but will make sure I have two hours over the next several weeks. I purchased my supplies and will use Youtube videos and free classes at my local craft store to try and learn. it was suggested that for cross stitch I use a preprinted pattern to learn how to use the equipment and have some success before moving on to a blank canvas. I am going to try crochet and knit a scarf. This will give me a good start on getting a basic stitch down. I purchased bamboo knitting needles and a 5mm crochet hook to start.

I will use my blog to showcase my crafting adventure. I hope that this project will help me understand why my grandma spent her time doing these things. I think the underlying reason I really want to explore this is I would a connection to her. We still hang her cross stitching and have blankets around. I would have loved for her to teach me; even though she can't I can take the hobbies she used to wrap me in love, and wrap my own children in mine.