A large part of the homesteader’s life is to learn new skills that can help benefit our way of life or the homestead itself. Unlike the homesteaders of the past, we have so many options for learning new skills, whether it be books, podcasts, YouTube, or TikTok. I am excited to share a few of my favorite skills I am learning or improving this fall!
The Skill of Knitting
I have been crocheting since I was nine years old. My aunt Jeanie taught me one evening when I was bored. Trust me there is nothing worse than a bored nine-year-old. However, knitting was a skill I have been afraid of for years, it seems overly complex, and my brain cannot seem to wrap around this skill. Thankfully creators on YouTube and TikTok have made it where anyone can easily learn a new skill with just a bit of practice.
A few weeks ago, I ordered a knitting set and I have set out on a journey to learn this skill. Knitting is a very valuable skill on the homestead. Just a set of needles and some yarn and you are on your way to creating something wonderful for your home or yourself.
The Skill of Loom Knitting
For Yule last year my mother gave my daughter a loom knitting kit to make her own shawl similar to Anna’s from the Disney movie Frozen. Well as much as she thought it was fun the directions were a bit more complicated than she expected, and she wasn’t as much of a fan of the loom as I was.
Now fast forward a few months later, I went on to order a set of looms and began learning the fun art of loom knitting. It is not as versatile as regular knitting, but it is something that everyone can do easily to create beautiful knit hats, scarves, shawls, gloves, Afghan blankets, and socks. Loom knitting tutorials are also widely available on YouTube as well! This is one of my favorite creators!
The Skill of Crochet
As I said above, I have been crocheting for many years, but I did take a bit of sabbatical from the craft due to my multiple sclerosis causing me pain in my hand and making the craft difficult for me to pursue. I have recently begun to crochet again, and it has reignited my love for it! Like all needle crafts, it takes practice and time to learn but it is an extremely valuable skill for your homestead. You can create everything from blankets to clothes to adorable stuffed animals. The other benefit is there are hundreds of tutorials available on Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok!
The Skill of Sewing
Like crochet I learned how to sew at a young age from my grandmother. I supposed it was an old ranch trick to keep a hyper child focused on a craft was easier than having them run through the house driving the adults crazy. Later my sewing skills were useful during some survival first aid training.
Sewing is an important skill that can save you money and help you to create wonderful things for your home. Whether you are learning to sew and make your own clothes or repairing some clothes that might have been damaged from the various homestead jobs. I can’t tell you how many times I have sewn up a rip in a shirt or pair of pants from working in the garden or fixing fence. I have also found how much fun it can be to making things on our sewing machine. Here is the sewing machine we love!
The Skill of Baking
As a homesteading and a hedgewitch my love is my kitchen, except when I must do the dishes! One of my favorite skills as homesteader that always is something to improve is my baking skill. Baking in our house is a bit of a challenge due to my dietary restrictions. I am deathly allergic to wheat. No, I do not have celiac disease, I am just allergic to wheat. So, while there are now loads of gluten free products out there, it is always challenging to find what is affordable, and more often that requires me to make some items from scratch. I love to make pasta, and bread from scratch when my MS allows. Baking is a cross between comfort, chemistry, and a bit of mad science of trial and error, but it is one of the most useful skills in the homestead kitchen that can save you money.
These are just a few of my favorite homestead skills. There are dozens more out there to learn and improve. What are some of your favorite homestead skills?
