Quickie Question: How Far Back Were You Crafty?
By Twistie
People make a lot of assumptions in life. One that I keep running across is that if you’re crafty as an adult… you had to be crafty as a kid.
It makes sense, seems reasonable. Then again, it seemed reasonable to a heck of a lot of cultures that the sun moves around the earth and that caterpillars have nothing whatsoever to do with butterflies once upon a time, until someone came along and did some scientific research that blew both theories out of the water.
In my case, the obvious theory rings true. Even as a very small child I loved to play with yarn and paper and clay and whatnot. I was always trying to create something out of next to nothing. I kept trying one thing and then another, sure that just around a mental corner was the craft that would stick. It just took me twenty-seven years to find it.
To this day, I’m always trying out new things to see how they fit my world and my hands.
But what if there’s another way people come to craftiness? Are there people who didn’t come to craft until adolescence or beyond? Are there people who crafted like crazy in preschool but gave it up later in life?
What about you?
I’ll definitely miss you and your take on the world. Best of...
August 14th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
I crafted, and colored, and made yarn collages etc. I was never very GOOD at it – art on paper isn’t a thing I have talent for. I didn’t learn how to do my current craft of choice (crochet) until I was in my teens, cause I just couldn’t figure out what to do with the yarn and the hook and all.
I did, however, make some seriously awesome jewelry in the meantime, though.
August 14th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
I grew up in a family of crafters- crochet, sewing, quilting, tatting, etc., and from a young age, I learned to do these things. Mom taught me to crochet when I was 5 (it didn’t take, the one needle/hook drives me up the wall! Learning to knit when I was 13 was such a relief!). I did needlework at six, and counted cross-stitch at nine. I still enjoy needlework and cross-stitch, knitting is in my blood (apparently one must have some form of yarn-crafting to be a female in my family, though most crochet), and I love to sew and quilt.
For me, these were things I had a burning desire to learn, even if they weren’t necessarily available to me. I knew I would enjoy them, and they drew me to them. Sewing, knitting, and quilting were like that, cross stitch and needlework were things I just started doing without any sort of instruction- it amazed my mother when I picked up a counted cross-stitch sampler and had the first row done without any help or instruction one afternoon while she was working in the house. For me, it is natural.
I had a rough 15 years in which I didn’t do much of anything and stopped knitting and embroidery/needlework altogether, but the past 4 years I’ve picked it all back up again and I am enjoying it more now than I ever did when I was a girl.
August 15th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
I started sewing Barbie clothes before I was in kindergarten. I also did a LOT of fingerpainting.
August 22nd, 2012 at 3:37 am
I’m a late crafter – as was usual here, I learned the basics of sewing, knitting, mending etc. at school. I did a bit of embroidery and made mobiles from seashells, but in fits and spurts with loooooooong craftless periods inbetween. Then, 12 years ago, my godmother died and we were left with two looms. So my sister and I decided to learn weaving. And I saw a neat crochet pattern. A Kaffe Fassett embroidery kit. And discovered yarn stores. There’s no holding me back since then! There are still spinning, tatting, bobbin lace and mysterious ethnic crafts to learn! Yay!