Skills, and skills bucket list

[trombonish]

Filching the idea from Sporky, who made an end-of-the-world list. Mine is a combination end-of-world and oops-back-to-preindustrial-world. And then another friend recently posted about his "bucket list" of things to learn (SCA related). also, just took my Fair entries in, so have arts & crafts on the brain. Thus, an inventory of things I have learned and am proud of, am learning, or want to learn.

Acquired skills:
Sewing clothes: generally self-taught through experience/experimentation, but also have a few books that taught me some methods, and in the year and a half of sewing my wedding dress, took some specific classes in fitting, pattern drafting, seam finishing, corset making.

Fiber arts: getting pretty decent at spinning, both with my drop spindle and my wheel. basic (very basic) knowledge of knitting and crocheting. I learned card weaving this year, and entered my 2nd created belt/trim thing in the fair!!!

Preserving: have spent a lot of time on this! Water bath canning (salsa, fruit in syrup, jam/jelly, pickles, applesauce/pearsauce/plumsauce). LOTS of dehydrating. Seriously lots. Fruits and veggies, a couple hundred pounds a year (except last year, with the new baby. But the three years before that, yes. And already at probably 80-100 lbs this year and we're only at Peaches!

Cooking: again, a fair bit just by experience/experiment, but also took classes from my friend in Cajun cooking, pies, MANY cookies, candy making, soup making, cooking with long-storing food, pizzas, pastas/filled pastas, yom yom yom...
Oh! And cheeses/dairy products! Cheddar curds and pressed cheese, parmesan, gouda?, soft cheeses (ricotta, quark, feta, mozzarella), sour cream/creme fraise, butter, yogurt, ice cream... all definitely in class, no experimenting on my own here! Though I did design and build two of my own cheese presses that I am quite proud of.
Also, on the experience side of skills, practicing cooking very cheap, and for very many - did two years of cooking for Fandemonium staff, about 50 people for 4 days, for about $300. Cooking giant amounts is FUN, though a bit tedious when it is things on the griddle (SO MANY GRILLED CHEESES). And general cooking for our family and freezer cooking.

Acquiring skills:
Fletching (making arrows, plus making the feathers FOR the arrows).
Dying: have books, have wool. Need to experiment!
Carving/casting: have been to a couple casting guild meetings but never got far enough in a carving to actually pour. But now I finally have a PROJECT: going to carve some stone spindle whorls, and also some to cast in pewter.
Weaving: I have a basic loom from Lady Morgan! I have books and theory! Just need to DO IT.

Bucket list of skills:
Brining/pickling: I took a sauerkraut class, but have not acted upon it.
Pressure canning - got a nice 6 gallon pressure canner for a wedding present, but haven't used it as such, just for aforementioned Fandem mass cooking.

Fiber arts: working with flax, spinning off a distaff, spinning silk/bamboo (I have tried, they are just somewhat disagreeable)

Survival-ish skills:
Milking cow and goat
Keeping chickens
Tanning leather

Comments

[sporky_rat]

I know several folks down here who are very very scary good at card weaving. I keep getting things twisted on that. Two poles and the fiber, that kind I can do.