Helene, the froggy from Melbourne, who was exposed to crafts since she was
a toddler.
Lucky you... I'm like Lynn, all self-taught. My mother knitted (plain stuff, to wear) and sewed (again, only practical things -- clothes), but refused to teach me until 5th or 6th grade, when I had to learn anyway, for the "manual labour" class. Both my parents appreciated arts and crafts, but they only appreciated *excellence* at whatever you did. As soon as it was obvious that I had "two left hands" but a nimble brain, it was books and straight A-s for me, and "don't waste your time on that nonsense"... So I didn't :)
My suggestion that, after primary school, I ought to go to a "technikum" (called "vocational" here in US, I think), either the textile one or the book one, was greeted with horror and not even considered; I was to go to a "liceum", which prepared one for University... So, I spent 4 yrs of highschool's "manual labour classs" (1.5 hours, once a week) telling jokes to the teacher and the class, while everyone else embroidered, or knitted, or crocheted, etc. Still got my A, but didn't learn a thing.
It was only after I came here, that I began to catch up, for something better to do (I was un-employable, being from a "red" country *and* trained in "teaching English as a foreign language" <g>). Mostly, from books. I suppose, things have worked out OK for me -- on the one hand, I had the freedom to do what I wanted to but, on the other, had had enough experience of books to be able to suck all the honey from them :)
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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