Chalk bothers my allergies so I am so happy that we don't use it to teach with anymore. We have an infocus machine now in our classrooms that projects from the computer onto our white dry erase boards. It is so great - such an improvement. I can scan a work paper into my computer, access it and project it really large onto the board. Everyone can see it. Then the kids can solve math problems etc. with markers. This is a huge improvement. I can also show clips on the board. We watched a video of a crayfish molting last year during one of our science units. It was taken in Australia!

I still hand embroider and love it. Would love to learn how to tat, too.
lots2do

I've been reading "Little House in the Big Woods" to my DGD which is full of description about how Ma and Pa made this or that. Although I know that our lives are easier and we live longer with these modern conveniences, I can't help but wonder what we are losing.
I recently watched a Native woman fillet a whole tub of salmon in the time it takes me to do one - poorly.

I think there will be people who will keep these skill alive; if only as a curiosity or to get their PhD in anthropology. There are a handful of people who can still make stone tools the way (we think) people were doing it 50,000 years ago.

I don't darn, but my mom always did and she used an old light bulb everytime. :)

I just darned a sock last week!

I do hand embroidery and find it quite enjoyable.

This isn't really and art or craft (I think?), but I recently went to the Vandalia Festival here in Charleston, WV. It's a really fun festival with lots of bluegrass music, TONS of pretty quilts, food, etc. Well, I joined in a square dancing thing (which I've never done before in my life - it was SO fun!) and later as I was watching the people dance, I thought it was sad that they were mostly only older people. There were very few people my age (20s). And I just sat there hoping and praying that the traditions would never die out.

I like to hand embroider too and would like to do more (portable and I can do it, if not too intricate in the car while traveling. Did a lot as a kid. I tried tatting once. I managed after lots of difficulty to get a few knots done but decided I'd be better off sticking to crotcheting and learning to do a few more stitches with that. Tatting is hard! But very pretty.

...the lost art of mending (especially sock darning) and the complete inability of people when it comes to polishing shoes![/quote][/quote]

When I was first married, I kept seeing a plastic bag with DH's socks sitting in my sewing room. It seemed to be growing. Finally asked about it. Seems his mother and aunt (whom he lived with during college) darned them for him. I showed him how I did it. Took the bag and dropped it into the wastebasket while saying, "Oh Darn!" In my defense, lest you think me wasteful or a poor wife, these were just ordinary, everyday socks. I have occasionally darned good wool socks if I could do it smoothly without creating a blister-making spot.

:lol:

[/quote]

When I was first married, I kept seeing a plastic bag with DH's socks sitting in my sewing room. It seemed to be growing. Finally asked about it. Seems his mother and aunt (whom he lived with during college) darned them for him. I showed him how I did it. Took the bag and dropped it into the wastebasket while saying, "Oh Darn!" In my defense, lest you think me wasteful or a poor wife, these were just ordinary, everyday socks. I have occasionally darned good wool socks if I could do it smoothly without creating a blister-making spot.

:lol:[/quote]

I like your sock-darning method! :lol: :lol: :lol:

My knitting friend who got me back into knitting gave me some beautiful self-striping sock wool over a year ago. If I ever manage to knit that into a pair of socks, those will be the only ones that get darned.

How about kids playing with gimp to make key chains? Or, those flexble cloth elastics and frames used to make pot holders? Long time, no see.