The Passing on of a Family Skill

Well, I almost forgot to blog this week.  Wait! I actually did forget to blog last week.  Oops!  Well, I will just start this week out right.  So, here we go...

Family traditions are amazing.  Most families have traditions.  They can be holiday traditions, seasonal traditions or just plain old traditions.  They are things you get use to doing.  Sometimes, they are things you want to pass down to your children.  Sometimes, they are things you want to start in your own family.

However, family skills are different than traditions.  Family skills are things that whatever you do, you want to make sure someone in the family passes that skill on to the next generation.  That is what has happened over the course of a few years in my family.

Several years ago, when my daughter was small enough to sit on my lap, I would have her help me sew.  She would come to the sewing room and sit on my lap as we guided the material through the machine.  Now, she didn't know, but I was trying to pass on the love of sewing to her.  Then, after many times of sitting on my lap, I had her practice.  She finally got the hang of sewing simple 5/8 inch seams.  I then, had her sew some fabric squares that my Grandmother had cut, but never had put them into a quilt.  None of the squares matched or would be the kind of thing you would put together, but it worked for the time.  As she was sewing these squares, I was filled with emotions.  There was my daughter, sewing together squares that her Great Grandmother had started to use to create something.  It was amazing. 

Well, after this my daughter attempted to make a pillow case dress.  She took a long time to finish, and it was obvious that sewing was not something she loved like I did.  However, she really wanted to learn how to crochet.  Well, I am left handed.  She is right handed.  Do you see the problem?  So, I had her sit with my right handed sister, and had my sister teach her the skill.  My daughter did a few stitches, but never really got the hang of more than just a simple chain stitch. 

This past Christmas, she took off.  I sat with her again and showed her some basic stitches.  She learned to single crochet, to half double crochet, to double crochet, and to turn the work.  I was so amazed at how she worked at this crochet thing.  She even finished a scarf.  Was I proud?  You better believe I was proud.  After the scarf, she and I started to each work on a beanie hat.  She finished hers before I finished mine. Below is a picture of her scarf.  We do not have one of the hat just yet.  The scarf is listed on etsy for your purchase.

Brown/Blue Scarf

If you follow the link on the picture in the middle, it will take you to my Etsy shop.  There, you can buy this great scarf from my daughter.  She is so excited to have her first item listed.  I am so proud of the work she is doing.  She is currently working on another scarf that is pink and she has decided on her own stitching.  It should be another wonderful creation.