Handwork
According to the dictionary, handwork is work done with our hands, but not by machines. This includes drawing, painting, crafting, crocheting, knitting, sewing, woodworking, cooking, soap making, etc.
Let’s share what you are interested, what you are working on or just anything about handwork!
What handwork do you like to do?
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I never thought I can do any handwork, artwork or craft work when I was young, or before I became a mother. I used to think I don’t have the patience and neat handwork skills to do so. Since I became a mother, and I discovered Waldorf Education (an education that emphasizes on doing handwork, and much more of course). As I am interested in Waldorf Education, I started to learn some handwork, as I would like to teach my children to do so. I started with knitting and hand sewing, then learned crocheting. I want to learn machine sewing too, but I am still not good at managing the sewing machine, I always get stuck with it. Glad that I managed to sew something simple with the machine. I would like to learn woodworking (I just did some simple wood cutting with hand saw), baking, drawing and painting as well. It’s actually because of my children, I started to build my interests in handwork. I found that doing handwork is really therapeutic, it always helps to calm me down easily and feel relaxed too. What handwork do you like to do or would like to learn? Let’s share and learn together!
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I can knit. I can macrame (or use to.) I’m into gardening and fermenting and baking!! |
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Oh wow, this is definitely my topic. I do a lot of different hand working projects, such as crocheting, knitting, (that’s a recent one for me) painting, drawing and making jewelry. I tend to need to do stuff with my hands a lot. If I’m watching television or something, I feel like I need to do more, and then I’ll pick up some sort of project to work on while watching. My latest projects use duct-tape, the colorful kind with cool patterns. I want to make a tote bag or lunch bag, although the tape can be really aggravating to work with at times. |
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@JoDee I have seen some macrame pictures or tutorials online, as I had not come across this handwork before. It looks really interesting and fun to do. Gardening is another handwork I would like to learn too. I have a yard in front of my house, and have a small garden there. I used to grow some vegetables, but since I was not feeling well due to my first trimester of pregnancy, I neglected the plants and they are gone now. I hope I can have some time to grow the vegetables and other plants again. @Kristie Those handwork you do sound really fun! It seems like many people knit and crochet. Knitting and crocheting are not popular in my country, perhaps it’s because I am staying in a tropical country. Yes, I think it’s good to do some handwork while watching TV, so we can at least produce something. 😀 Making duct-tape products sound interesting too. Perhaps we can share our work, so we can inspire each other and have fun together! 🙂
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I also knit, crochet, sew and embroidery, but I now that I have tendonitis, I can only do one thing at a time, and that is usually just either knitting or crocheting nowadays! |
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@icybc Sorry to hear that you have tendonitis. Is there any way you can cure it or make it feel better? I do not know much about it. I like embroidery too, I just embroider some simple patterns when sewing something for my children. I started with learning knitting first, and I found it’s very difficult to crochet though I spent some time learning it. Now that I learned how to crochet, I am more addicted to crocheting, as I enjoy making small toys for my children, and usually it doesn’t require sewing up at last. 🙂 The reply I made previous to JoDee and Kristie is missing. It’s weird. Do you encounter that as well? |
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Long ago, I used to do macrame. In my 20s I did counted cross stitch. Now I do a little knitting, and I crochet a lot. I would love to get really good at hand sewing and machine sewing, and to learn woodworking as well as some jewellery making. |
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Oh, I would love how to make jewelry. Also want to learn how to use small tools…they have some neat things to make out of pallets! |
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@Kyla I always think it’s so nice to learn all these handwork when we are young, of course, it’s never too late to learn now. I just learned how fun and relaxing it is to do handwork in these recent few years. Moreover, I think it’s really good to learn these handwork skills from our parents. These are really good activities, and I enjoy doing these with my children now. I found that once I started to learn one handwork, then I will slowly find out more and want to learn more. 😀 I need to learn cross stitch too, though I have cross stitched something simple when I was younger. @JoDee Yes, I would like to learn how to make some small tools from pallets as well. I have seen some tutorials, it doesn’t seem too difficult to make. I have a friend who wanted to learn woodworking too, and she just made one small table with pallets lately. Perhaps I can learn from her. I am so glad to find so many people who are interested in handwork here. 🙂 |
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As a child, my mother taught me how to knit, crochet, hand sew, machine sew, cross stitch, and paint on pillow cases. I also know how to macrame although I would need a refresher to do it today. My mother would make our clothes and crochet afghans which I still have a few of them today. She would also make our mittens, hats, and scarves. She would make extra and give them to the school for the kids that did not have any of those to go outside at recess. My sister crochets several different types of hats, afghans, and baby sets to sell. I like to do projects with my daughter like painting and other crafts to make gifts or artwork for our house. It is a nice way to bond with her and teaches her that she can be creative and enjoy it. I would like to find an interest for my son and I to pursue, but he does not seem interested in this. |
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@morgoodie It’s so nice of your mom! I always think it’s something good for the mothers to teach the children and do together with the children. Your childhood life must be really wonderful with all these handwork activities. My mom was a tailor and she was working at home and sewing the clothes or shoes for others, but none of us learned how to sew from her. We did help out to sew the buttons or fold the clothes sometimes, but not much. Now that I have become a mother, I always think it’s nice to teach and do these activities together with the children. Besides learning the skills, my children also learn to do things on their own, instead of buying. Hence they seldom ask to buy things or toys, perhaps I have always been telling them we can do things on our own, and it’s more fun and they like it as well. My elder son, who is 7, still enjoys making all these things together with me, he has been doing these or seeing me to these since he was young. Perhaps your son is a bit older now, so you might need to find more challenging or purposeful work for him. Does he like to make paper craft? Something more challenging like 3D origami. How about woodworking, gardening or building something? I read that boys or men like to build something or troubleshooting. 😀 |
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I was reading the replies of the members and I was like, what? handwork? what is that? Does doing cross stitch counts because I am doing it before and I am very patient with that.I have been to a lot of cross stitch when I was younger and during the time that I haven’t realize I could earn online, lol. I never thought there are lots of people who do hand work, it is amazing. I could sew too but not with a machine but using needle and thread with my hand, on some sorts. |
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@grecy095 Cross stitching and hand sewing certainly count! I haven’t really get used to machine sewing yet, so I still prefer hand sewing. I am actually always doing these handwork (knitting, crocheting or hand sewing) while I am watching some webinars with my computer or reading articles at the same time. I guess it’d be nice to do these while watching TV as well. I have the motivation to do all these handwork because of my children. It’s just nice to make something with our hands to our children, just like how @morgoodie ‘s mom did. My mom did sew us clothes when we were young, and now sometimes she and my mother in law also made some clothes for my children. It seems like machine sewing is more popular in my country, but not other handwork. Not many people here learned how to knit and crochet. But I have met some Philippines people here and they learned how to crochet when they were young. So, it seems like over there, there are still many people crocheting, am I right? |
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My sister does a lot of crocheting and sells it. She lives in Miami, Florida and it is quite hot there but she makes hats like skull caps and some slouch hats and people buy them up. She has a stand that she uses to sell from and she is always out of hats. You would not think that with the heat they would want to wear hats, but she says it is a fashion statement there. She tries to sell them online but has not been very successful at it. I told her if she lived closer to me, I would help her sell them. But of course she said she did not want to move back where I live. |
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@morgoodie Perhaps as your sister said, it’s a fashion statement, but not only a necessity anymore. It’s good that she can make good sales from her stand. I like slouch hats, they look nice. I did knit or crochet hats for my children, they do not really wear them, but just wear for fun when they are playing at home. I would like to sell my handwork online one day, it’s just something nice to do, but I will need to learn how to set it up and how to handle the shipping too. I have no idea how to these now. |
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