Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.
As I’ve mentioned before, there are few things I couldn’t handle in knitting. I’ve done cables, lace, and colorwork with relative ease. I dabbled briefly in entrelac, though there are too many ends to weave in for my liking. I can knit both continental and English (I think that’s what throwing is called, right?), though I prefer continental because it’s faster. I crochet pretty well because it’s what I learned first, and the first sweater I made was crochet (it was pre-Ravelry and I used Caron Simply Soft, so my knots kept slipping out. I wore it once, maybe). I’ve covered much of the things I would want to cover. I even steeked a sweater and sewed in a zipper. Nerve wracking, yes, but not difficult.
I haven’t done mitered squares, I’ll admit, but there aren’t a lot of patterns that make me want to try it. There’s a pair of socks with mitered squares as the cuffs which look vaguely interesting, but I’ll probably never get around to them. I haven’t tried filet crochet either, and it does look interesting. It’s on my list of things to do maybe. And I keep meaning to remember how to knit backwards for narrow things like sweater shoulders, and I can pick it up alright, but I can never reeeeally do it that easily, and I usually revert to turning again.
There aren’t a lot of skills in knitting I lack (besides maybe patience), but there are crafts I wish I had the skills to do. I wish I were a better spinner, for example. I know it takes practice, and I am practicing, but I do wish I spun more consistently. And thinner. I’d like to be able to consistently spin fingering weight for socks.
I also wish I were more artistic in the traditional sense. I’m crafty certainly, and I can whip out a sweater like nobody’s business. But anyone can learn to knit. It’s a technical skill, like learning to walk or ride a bike. Easy peasy. Art though, that’s hard. I’m terrible with color and even worse with lines. I can’t draw to save my life unless I’m copying a picture exactly. I like to make notecards and the like, but I know there’s always a distinctly amateur air because I’m not very artistic.
Then there are things that I can’t imagine take a whole lot of skill but that I don’t have the space/funds/time to learn. Like weaving. I’d love to have a floor loom. I don’t have space or time or the money. I’d also like to learn to make hot or cold process soap (I imagine cold would be safer since I’m kind of a klutz). I’d like to work with resin. I’d like to work with nicer fabrics than I can afford.
Then there are things that I plan to actively learn and get better at. Over the summer, for example, I plan to take up cross stitch. Not in earnest, but there are some things I’d like to make, especially pillows and wall hangings. I love grammar and sarcasm and pretty quotes, and I love to have some of them cross stitched on my bed or the couch or my wall.
At the very least, with all the things I can do or am learning or don’t have the funds for… I’ll keep you guys posted. I love talking about the things I make. It’s nice to have a (relatively) captive audience that never tires of hearing my excited “Look what I made!!”
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 