I started with the paper dolls that had the holes on the sides of the clothes to run the cotton threads (used for tatting and crocheting) that came in a small box. My grandmother crocheted and tatted and taught my cousins and I how to crochet and tat. My grandmother on my mother's side tried to show me how to use her treadle. Could never get the treadle to work forward. I was always backstitching or something. People got impatient with me though. Taught myself how to embroider. just seemed so much easier. If I lost a pattern I would trace an object onto the material. I tried but oh well. No I'm doing it my way.