Basic skills - would you admit to lacking?

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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 .........

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

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.

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

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.

I just can't swim, I sink!!
Have tried three times over my lifetime to learn, but I have given up now.

I cannot wallpaper or sew or knit but when some drunk driver hit my garden wall I bought some mortar from B & Q and fixed the wall. Did the same thing with the garden posts that another drunk person knocked off. I live near a pub so it's an occupational hazard. I am good at gardening, and musical instruments. I can sing but since my grandmother was a professional singer I suppose it's genetic.

My DD SIL & GS parked in my drive last Sunday cos I live very close to the beach.
Most surprising was my DD carrying my GS's school shoes, passed over to me for polishing. Now that is laziness! Yep of course I did
them but will buy them black polish to do the shoes themselves ?

Whether we admit to not knowing how to do something that others consider elementary depends, for me at least, on whether it was or wasn't something I was expected to learn as a child.

Apart from a good all-round school education, my grandmothers, a great-aunt and the Brownies taught me skills such as sewing on buttons, press studs, hooks and eyes, hemming and making button holes. My mother taught me to cook and bake. I would very much dislike admitting that any of these things was beyond me.

No-one ever suggested I learnt to use a hammer, screw-driver or a saw, so anything involving those tools I quite happily admit I cannot do.

I dislike gardening so am happy to admit I know little about it

I can paint and hang wallpaper, although DH does it better than I, so usually I persuade him to do it, and do the preperation and clearing up.

I always sewed on the name tapes for DD but am now redundant. Apparently you can stamp the names into clothes now with a special stamp. Hurrah! ?

I taught my son sewing and he does it all in his house, taking up hems, replacing zips, buttons etc.

Esspee

Callistemon

the M should have helped too LauraNorder
But why are they in the same slot?

P and R have their own slots.

Give me a gear stick any day!

What's a gearstick?

I may think about making it redundant

I was one of 4 girls and my dad taught me all the things he would have taught a son, how to drill, decorating, basic car stuff (beyond me, never got the hang of it} even taught me how to wire in an extra light rose or electric socket, besides many other useful things. Mum taught me to cook, sew, knit and make clothes. All handy stuff that came in useful when I became a single parent with a house to run and maintain.

I can sew on a button, shorten and hem skirts and trousers. I can knit and crochet although my knitting is extremely slow going
I can cook anything you present me with, gut fish and prepare game. I draw the line at plucking pheasants though, it's easier to skin them.
My Dad taught me all about car engines and how to change a wheel. Car engines are so full of electrical and computerised parts these days that I wouldn't try to fix any of them.

I can't do home decorating ☹️, or gardening. My baking leaves a lot to be desired.

Blondiescot

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.

To be perfectly honest, with today's cars, there's actually very little that a 'home' mechanic can do anyway. So many electronic components now, which require specialised diagnostic equipment. My husband and I used to compete in car rallies, and I took a few car maintenance courses, so I could change most parts, including an engine if required. I could still do basic things like changing a tyre (which I personally think should be part of the driving test anyway), checking oil, water levels etc, but much of the more complicated stuff is way beyond me. Even my husband, who used to do all the maintenance himself, won't touch a lot of it now.

I don’t think that changing a wheel should be part of the driving test. It’s ok for those who are interested in the mechanics of cars etc. I’m a practical person but have never changed a wheel and doubt I could do it now I’m in my 70s with a bad back etc. My son has dyspraxia and has no practical skills whatsoever which is very frustrating for him as he tries very hard without success. A car mechanic once told me that if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing and haven’t got the right skills it’s down right dangerous to change a wheel and it’s far safer to get professional roadside assistance for the job.

Several 'I couldn't get the hang of crochet' posts.
Bella Coco on YouTube is wonderful (There are left-handed YouTube videos too)
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bella+coco+crochet+for+beginners

GaGaJo re car tyres and their pressure.
I had exactly the same problem until yesterday! Used to rely on the tyre pressure being OK until the next service, but with Lockdown the time between services has lengthened as I haven't used the car much and the tyres were beginning to look a little flat. I'd sussed out a DIY machine at the petrol station, and spent time planning in my head how I would cope with the fact that it costs £1 per 5 minutes and worked out that I needed to remove the little caps and put them somewhere safe before putting any money in, then try and attach the machine to each tyre in the time, but was worried that I might not be able to park to allow access to all 4 tyres from one position. Another couple of £s wouldn't have been the end of the world but I also worried that there might be someone else waiting to use the machine and I would be annoyingly slow!
However a friend showed me her solution, which is a portable tyre inflator from Halfords. I bought it yesterday, and admittedly spent the afternoon perusing the ( quite simple ) instructions over and over until I more or less grasped what I was supposed to do. You get power from the car cigarette lighter, attach the machine to each tyre in turn and get a reading, then inflate until the required pressure is reached. Eureka! Done!