After the wonderful time spent bending knitting needles into bangles, an activity that has been done quiet a few times in the past few days, my Zgal wants to know what else I used to do with my nanna.
It wasn't just my nanna that I did things with, there was also time spent with Grandma and other elderly women who taught me a huge range of things, from french seaming for babies clothing to how to get pastry just right to how best to peg out clothing.
It was all fun back then, but lessons were learnt so I've decided to try and work out a nanna-list of activities to do with my daughter.
I'm not going to do water colours with her and I don't have a massive art studio complete with a wheel and kiln, but I do have a french knitting 'thingo'. For years I've been looking through op shops trying to find old wooden spools with a hole in the centre big enough for french knitting. Of course I couldn't find one with a big enough hole, but then I realised that my french knitting was probably done with the left overs from the dresses she used to knit for herself and her daughters which was of course, 4ply, fingering or finer.
When the craft show swung into town and the wood turners had a bit of a show there too and I found a hand carved french knitting spool (could that be what it is called) so next on the nanna-list is to learn to french knit properly. She has already done french knitting at school over paddlepop sticks stuck to toilet rolls.
Also on the nanna-list similar to the knitting needles, is melting a record to make bowls.
I remember doing this as well with nanna who then turned them into pots for plants, cacti if I remember correctly.
So I'm going to go through my huge vinyl collection to work out what can be donated to the nanna-list. The Dead Kennedys, Kraft Work and my rare Nina and Frederick records will not be given the oven treatment, but I do have some first rate shockers (Tiffany anyone) that were bought to be spun at drunken parties.
So what did you used to do as a child with older people, what else can I include on the nanna-list.
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8 comments:
An "upside-down" aside: as a teenager I taught my nanna to crochet.
I was taught to both Knit & Sew.
We were also taught to use what I now know is a Knitting Board.
It was about 20-30 cm accross and had a letterbox hole in the middle with nails down either side.
We made massive scarves in the colours of our football teams.
French Knitting Plus really...but great for little kids (and the boards are easy to make yourself!)
Going through the button box was fun - big cross stitch on aprons, cooking of all kinds, making dollshouse furniture out of matchboxes and cigarette packs (Urg - not any more probably!) and blanket stitch around little felt finger puppets!
OMG, I have a Tiffany 45; I think we're alone now...
Sad, very sad....
"There doesn't seem to be anyone around" sign it loud, maybe not proud. ;)
ok... I do not "get" french knitting. What do you do with the resulting cord thingy? Am I missing something? You could make lots of FSMs- I knit a lot of i-cord for noodly appendages that could just have easily been french-knit. But really, what's it for? This is one craft I do remember, as a kid thinking 'and then...?' about. heh!
A FSM it will be. Yes french knitting is that tubey stuff. Great for winding around and around for mats or tying up one's younger siblings, useless for anything else.
We used to polish things with Silvo and Brasso. I don't have a lot around here to polish though.
And play gin rummy or crib for hours. And stick flowers in that green stuff. I miss my grandma!
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