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Mary G
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 8:56am | IP Logged
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Lori B posed this question on a post about favorite crafts:
Quote:
A related question- how many of you grew up in a 'crafty' home? My mom can use glue, and that's about the extent of her craftiness. My dad is a jack-of-all trades who grew up in a big ol' Irish farm family, where you were expected to be able to darn a sock as well as take care of the animals. The kids helped Grandma in the house until they were strong enough to 'graduate' to the barns and fields- boys and girls alike!
So it was my dad who taught me to sew and knit His background of crafting was completely utilitarian, though, so I had to teach myself how to translate my creative ideas into a reality.
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And it got me thinking .... I grew up in the 70s in SF -- many of my teachers were closet (or some not so in the closet  ) hippies and we did all kinds of crafty things in school -- except for 5th grade when we had craft-challenged Sr. Virginia and all we did was cards for folks  ). Anyway, I also grew up with a mom who was VERY SUPPORTIVE of my need to do crafts -- she got all the magazines, bought/saved all kinds of crafty stuff for us to play with on rainy/foggy days (lots in SF ), bought me yarn when she could to enable my fiber fixation, etc.
So altho mom never knitted when I was little (I taught her when I was in my 20s!), she did stitch and color with us and generally encouraged the crafty environment. Dad, when he wasn't doing computer stuff (he helped "create" silicon valley!), he was messing with electronics or photography or woodworking or just generally puttering with his crafts. He also encouraged us all to always do our best and helped enable our various artsy "fixes".
Today, I am a hand-knit designer, I have a brother who's a graphic artist (just moved to DC area!), and most of my other siblings have hobbies that are crafty.
So, I think environment encourages the craft-gene ... which is why the Waldorf discussion is so fascinating to me (as well as CM's insistence on handwork for the classroom).
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~Rachel~
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My Mum is crafty... she taught me to crochet and my Nan taught me to knit (after Mum tried and failed). Mum also taught me to sew, but I taught myself to spin 
I never needed to buy the crafty stuff because Mum had (still does actually) wool in her stash and all the needles and hooks I needed .
Dad is crafty in other ways... he took a stained glass workshop amongst other things. We always had the supplies to craft, but I think we all considered it FUN things to do to relax
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Mary G
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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~Rachel~ wrote:
| I think we all considered it FUN things to do to relax |
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I think this is why folks are turned off crafts -- it's definitely why mom never learned to knit till she was 50+ -- when they're FORCED to do it or to do it a certain way. I've seen this again and again with knitting -- when folks feel they HAVE TO or HAVE TO hold the needles a certain way or whatever. It's supposed to be relaxing and pleasant -- even if you NEED to make sox to wear or whatever. As soon as you tell me I have to do something -- I fight it (that's why I'm an ECLECTIC Home Educator  )
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~Rachel~
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 11:51am | IP Logged
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Mary G wrote:
| As soon as you tell me I have to do something -- I fight it (that's why I'm an ECLECTIC Home Educator ) |
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I think there is often a little of that in homeschoolers... after all, we are already bucking the trend by homeschooling
I think it also helps to have a parent do crafty things as a way to lead by example. We all sat down imitating my mother knitting.
As for 'having' to make something, I think that is the beauty of knitting... you can make the socks YOUR way
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marihalojen
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Great topic! I remember Mom on Ladies Night Out (sometimes I got to go too ) gathering with her friends at some sort of Tupperware-like, but it was Needlecrafts, party and bringing home the neatest sets to make up. Then after we moved from CO to CA she picked up Spinning and I got to card all her wool for her. Let's see, she crochets afgans but hates knitting, tried woodburning for awhile when Dad took up woodcrafting but both dropped that. How much decorative wooden wall art does one family really need?
So I think I agree with you both, Mary and Rachel, I like to do all sorts of crafty things, some I'm better at than others of course, but the exposure early on was awesome! Great memories, anyway!
Some of my favorite crafty things are continuations of Mom's stuff - she liked spinning and taught me, I cabbaged on to it and made little backstrap looms and such to use the yarn and that all eventually led to me working in a weaving studio for a couple of years, still my favorite job I've ever had. 
Dad was always supportive, we liked wool so he bought us sheep type of thing but music is his love. So we had evenings filled with crafts and music. Not a bad childhood, really.
I wonder if I'm doing as great with my dd, and have enjoyed reading the Waldorf discussions and such too, they led to my including Beauty in my Rule of 6.
Maybe including a little BEAUTY each day will be FUN and RELAXING?!? I could sure use a little of both right about now!
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~Rachel~
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Sometimes Jennifer, you have to do something for YOU ... so my knitting is MY thing, and I love to knit the baby clothes for friends or sweaters for the kids ... but I find my favourite projects are the ones for ME THOSE are the most relaxing ones!
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Dawn
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marihalojen wrote:
| So I think I agree with you both, Mary and Rachel, I like to do all sorts of crafty things, some I'm better at than others of course, but the exposure early on was awesome! Great memories, anyway! |
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Yes, the memories are the best. I think it was very comforting being surrounded by such craftiness. My mum was always home - she cooked and crafted - and everyone always ended up at my house after school
I'd say my family is pretty crafty in general. My grandparents were both oil paint artists. My grandfather painted beautiful scenes on old saws and sold them at craft fairs - I would accompany him and my grandmother to all the fairs and help "man" their table.
And my grandmother sewed and knitted. She made me things like soft dolls, embroidered pillowslips and colorful afghans for my bed. I have wonderful memories of her and my elderly aunts sitting at the kitchen table with tea and something they were working on - usually bibs and things for new babies or pot holders or embroidered linens.
My dad did most of the woodwork in our home and he was/is a model railroader. All through my childhood we had an enormous train layout in the basement. It took up almost the whole space!
But my mother was the craftiest of all. She was always making something, and you name it - she tried it somewhere along the line. She made me dresses and ponchos and things. She made curtains and pillows and ceramics for awhile. She was my Girl Scout leader for years and we did lots of stuff there. We made lots of thing at Christmas - ornaments, gifts, etc. I remember at Easter one year, we made this cotton thread egg - from a balloon which you wrapped with thread dipped in glue (I think) and then, when it was dry we popped the balloon and cut a hole in a side and inserted a little Easter scene (grass and figures). I remember lots of 70s kinds of crafts like ribbon barettes, crocheted plant holders, napkin candles and something made with masking tape and shoe polish, but for the life of me, I can't rememer what!
Today my mum still does a lot - knits and paints mostly, but sews some too. Everytime I try knitting again (about once a year) she has to walk me through casting on - again. 
(Can you tell I want to be just like her when I grow up?  )
Wow, sorry for the ginormous post!  Great question, Mary!
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~Rachel~
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... Dawn, you sound a whole lot like your Mum (and I am intrigued by the fact you spell it the English way!)...
I REALLY like that egg idea. Can you remind me about it at Easter?
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Dawn
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~Rachel~ wrote:
... Dawn, you sound a whole lot like your Mum (and I am intrigued by the fact you spell it the English way!)...
I REALLY like that egg idea. Can you remind me about it at Easter? |
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Thank you, Rachel! I will ask my mum about the egg to see if I can piece together the instructions. Maybe I could make it a fall pumpkin for now?
Yep, she's always been mum, not mom. And she calls her mother that, too. My mum's side of the family is Scotch-Irish, so maybe that's where it comes from. It also might be a New England thing. One of my best friends also call her mother mum, and they're Polish!
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trish
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I didn't grow up in a crafty home really. My mom did tho usual things like sewing halloween costumes and making cookies and bread but that all stopped when she went to work. I think I was 8 or 9. She told me that wasn't her type of thing but she did it because it was expected of her. However my grandma (my mom's mom) was the most amazing woman.( my mom is too just in a different way) We'd visit her 2-3 times a year. She did everything and anything. She could sing and bake up a storm too.
It was from her that I got the desire to knit, crochet, even do cross-stitch, sew, and quilt. Everything was handmade. She was Dutch and learned to make use of everything during the war. All of the grand children received a handmade quilt from her. I still have mine however it's in pieces. .
I remember her trying to teach me to knit. I'm a lefty so it was difficult. I would sit across from her and try to mirror what she was doing. It didn't work but she persisted everytime I'd visit. I did teach myself when I was 20 and expecting our first. She taught me to crochet and showed me how to sew.
So I guess it was only natural for me to want to be like her as much as possible when I began a family of my own. I do get a few comparisons from the family but really I'm not. I do still miss her. She passed away when I was 15.
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Willa
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Mary G wrote:
| So, I think environment encourages the craft-gene ... which is why the Waldorf discussion is so fascinating to me (as well as CM's insistence on handwork for the classroom). |
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What a great thread.
Funny, I loved doing crafts as a kid. My mom didn't do them much, probably not enough time, but my dad taught me to knit and crochet, and I used to have so much fun sewing little clothes for my dolls. Also, we had a Japanese unit in school in my 4th grade, and I was fascinated with origami and calligraphy.
I used to sew for my kids when the older ones were littlies.
I think I am like you, Mary; if I get the feeling I "have to" to do something, I will resist it to the utmost. So I realize I've steered away from curriculums that have "crafty" elements, because of this. I didn't want to "have to". Similarly, stayed away from scrapbooking and that kind of thing, just because it triggered my guilt buttons instead of my "leisure and relaxation" feelings.
My kids enjoy doing crafts -- who doesn't, really, if it's low key? -- but they really dislike "schooly" crafts -- they like to have something real as a result -- the teenage boys make wooden swords; my daughter sews clothes.
The other thing going on with me: Littlies! I enjoy puttering around and doing artistic things when I am alone and have lots of time, but those conditions were just never met for say, 20 years???
When I'm hsing a crew and trying to keep the toddlers away from the glue gun and needles, it gives me a headache every time, and is just NO FUN.
I know others can do both; but for me, it's only in the past couple of years that I've been able to think of science experiments and craft projects without feeling a migraine coming on. Even now, if we get into an art project, the house is trashed by the end of the day. I just last night finally found the energy to clean up from our watercoloring and Pirates Day excursions earlier this week (plus a visit to Liam at college last Sunday, and a bout of colds, didn't help either).
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Lori B
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Mary, thank you for starting this thread! It's been fun reading through the replies
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nissag
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Great topic!
I was going to say that my mum was not crafty. But as I thought a bit more, I realized that she was. She just didn't do big, practical crafts like sewing clothing or knitting/crocheting. She taught me to make things out of pinecones and nuts, to craft all srots of things from paper and glue, and to make tiny Baribie doll clothes out of Daddy's cast-off clothes. My barbie did own a pair of designer jeans and matching jacket. I have very vivid memories of Mum sitting in the living room sewing them by hand.
I taught myself how to sew, knit, crochet, embroider, etc. My family had a different approach, I suppose. I was never taught how to craft in any hands-on way by my parents or grandparents, but I was encouraged to try on my own. I sought books and one-on-one instruction from other (mostly) women who had a particular gift for a craft I was interested in learning.
It worked for me, thank goodness. I think that I am mainly a visual/tactile learner, but I did manage to begin with books only in most cases.
On a related note, I think we lost a lot of ground in the area of crafts and practical home-arts with the need for women to enter the workforce and the advent of convenience *everything*. There seems to be a burgeoning hunger to re-introduce craftiness (both for pleasure and practicality) to our collective lives. I think that's a good thing!
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nissag
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Dawn wrote:
I remember at Easter one year, we made this cotton thread egg - from a balloon which you wrapped with thread dipped in glue (I think) and then, when it was dry we popped the balloon and cut a hole in a side and inserted a little Easter scene (grass and figures).
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Oh my gosh! I remember that craft! I have wonderful memories of that craft - way back when public school allowed such things. I tried it several years ago with my kids. I'll have to do it again next Easter. I think I'll try the smaller water balloons next time rather than the big ones. Then we can hang them in the windows!
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Topic: Crafty Upbringing?
