Basic skills - would you admit to lacking?

That’s pathetic. I don’t believe anyone cannot sew a button on.

I used to do patchwork sewing by hand, so always handy with a needle.
I don’t enjoy sewing now as eyesight not so good, but if something needs a stitch or mending, I will gladly see to it.

We hired a sander to strip floor boards in the house my daughter and her husband bought that was a wreck and then hoovered them really well and then varnished them with matte varnish natural colour or whatever effect you want

GagaJo

Car engines / tyres leave me cold. I used to be able to use an oil dipstick, but my current car is too complicated for me.

It would be really useful to be able to use the oil dipstick, measure the tyre pressure and put air in.

Me too! I used to do all this but DH feels that it is "his" area of expertise so I let him get on with it (especially since he also fills the car with petrol!).
I'm getting a new car soon and know that I'm likely to put the wrong liquid in the holes if I do it myself so I won't even try.
Of course I realise that if I am ever left without him I will have to take up the hobby of car maintenance again.

I am useless at most practical things, including sewing on a button.

I can see on a button, but have never been able to do internet banking.
It's probably because I despise tech, whereas a button usually means something will look nicer, and my brain is happier with that.

I can’t sing but still do, same goes for dancing and knitting maths beyond the simple stuff and map reading is a mystery to me. This post has made look at our new found skills, we tried out during lockdown, taking blood samples, hair cuts and bricklaying also working/ volunteering from home.
We were not brilliant scholars at school but have managed to do nearly all our household jobs without calling in the professionals before and we are still trying new skills.
Now our grandchildren expect us to be able to do everything, make and ice birthday cakes (the latest requests were a trampoline cake with icing models of friends and a Ferris wheel with animals in). Play football, traipse through brambly woods, sew costumes and masks, make wooden boxes for their toys. They have great expectations of us and we have to rise to the occasion, finding skills we never knew we had. Life is all about learning and not worrying about what you can’t do

I cannot crochet. I've had 1:1 tuition, tried via YouTube tutorials and on starter kits. Still can't do it. I can knit anything you like. But I really want to crochet.

I learned needlework from school and from my mother. I am looking forward to teaching the grandchildren basic sewing and other skills. They are certainly interested.

My sons can sew, certainly sew on buttons, but neither of my daughters in law can.

I know how to sew, knit, embroider, do woodwork, hang wallpaper, paint (walls) and mend a puncture, but I am somehow too cackhanded to do any of them well.

I can, however, sing from sight and almost find the right pitch, not quite perfect, but I usually beat my music teacher son at naming a note made by a glass or a bottle.

I have terrible handwriting and am useless at sports and gymnastics. I know the theory, but .........

GrandmaCornwall, life is, indeed, all about learning. I just love that sense of accomplishment when I actually complete a project - although often they remain half done. I can't imagine asking others to do things for me, unless I'm totally defeated.

I do know someone who says she 'can't cook'. It's more a case of won't even try though. She can read and use a computer. She can follow instructions - so I don't believe her.

Hetty58

I do know someone who says she 'can't cook'. It's more a case of won't even try though. She can read and use a computer. She can follow instructions - so I don't believe her.

You do have to have a 'feel' for it though and some people just don't develop that. Like my OH, who now does most of our cooking because I find day to day cooking boring (though I like to do dinner party food) , but he still doesn't 'get' testing for 'doneness' or tasting... I've had plenty of meals 'cooked' by people who really can't cook (notably my late MiL)

So, I can cook, I can do small home maintenance tasks, a bit of basic joinery, chop wood, wield a chainsaw, do decorating, knit, crochet and sew, drive a car (and a horsebox) and put petrol oil and water in as required. I could ride a horse until forced to give up by arthritis, and I used to ride a bicycle. I can swim after a fashion (side stroke learned from my granny). I like to garden but my veg growing is a competition with the local wildlife which they often win... I can just about manage my smart phone. I have enough competencies to satisfy me.

I'm a bit hopeless with money, though. OH manages all that.

Chewbacca

I cannot crochet. I've had 1:1 tuition, tried via YouTube tutorials and on starter kits. Still can't do it. I can knit anything you like. But I really want to crochet.

I tried for years, Chewbacca and straight items ended up triangular.
A very elderly relative tried to show me but she was so whizzy at it that I couldn't follow her instructions!

However, I can make squares now although haven't attempted anything straight or more adventurous stitches.

Bella Coco is good and uses English instructions and I bought a little book from a local yarn shop which was helpful, called Crochet Unravelled by Claira Bojczuk

I can’t throw or catch a ball and never cared until my present ball-obsessed dog came along. Fellow dog walkers know they must duck when I raise the ball chucker.