Life Skills

October 21, 2008 by KellyH.

One of the “classes” I teach my children is Life Skills. I used to not count it as a class… it was just ‘life.’ But lately I find that I’m doing more and talking less. So, I’ve tried to change that by including them in what I’m doing. My daughter is still a bit young to keep proper tension for crocheting, but she enjoys sitting next to me while I crochet. My two younger sons enjoy making pillows with my sewing machine.

My latest project is the task of using up extra yarn. To teach that, I made a turtle pillow from scrap yarn. The main body of the turtle was made from yarn I had leftover after making an afghan for my daughter.

I enjoy crocheting. I can sit near my husband while he watches football or a NASCAR race, have a child cuddling next to me, or sit alone and listen to music. Many years ago, while pregnant with my first son, I began making an afghan. It would be a ‘playmat’ for my new baby to lay on. Because of its size, I soon set it aside and promptly forgot about it. It remained unfinished for years. Then one year I found a pattern for a Bible afghan. It was composed of blocks, which made it easy to work on, and each block represented a Bible passage. I completed that within a few months.

The Bible afghan inspired me to dig out my baby afghan and finish it. Last year I completed the baby afghan. I presented it to my oldest since I had originally made it for him. Being 17, he politely declined. I gave it to his youngest brother. You may notice that the water has a section that is a different color–I ran out of blue yarn. Since I had bought all my yarn 17 years ago, I was unable to get an exact match. I told my son, “that’s the deep end of the pond.”

One of my other sons took such an interest in the baby afghan that I agreed to make him an afghan, too. He found a really neat pattern, and I proceeded to make him a flag afghan.

I’ve picked out a few more afghans that I really want to make, but I’m not sure who will get them. As my husband said, “make it — we’ll find a home for it.” I think I may make a few more turtle pillows, too.

Posted in Life Skills | Print | No Comments »