How hard can it be?

Reader, I have no idea why this is the first thought through my mind whenever I look at a new skill or craft, because lifelong experience has taught me that Every - Single - Time it will be way harder than I expected.

And yet my inner optimist chirrups that question whenever I’m presented with the chance to learn something new.

I saw this cute little crochet birdie kit in a thingamajigs shop discounted down to just £2.

And I thought, ‘how hard can it be? ’

I have never crocheted.

When I was around 10 years old, my grandmother taught me to knit.

She was exuberant with praise, so I considered myself a rather accomplished knitter.

Every one of her teddies proudly wore my handmade creations.

That’s as far as my knitting talents took me - teddy scarves.

35 years later, I’d already been considering picking up the knitting needles again when I spotted this crochet set (yes, I know crochet isn’t knitting).

One rainy afternoon in October, I lit a candle, put on an indie guitar album, made myself a cuppa, and settled down for an idyllic autumnal activity of crochet.

I opened the box and realised I’d made a terrible mistake when I spotted the ‘Advanced’ label on the instructions (on closer inspection, it also said ‘Advanced’ on the front of the box, and I’d failed to notice this in my bargain-buying frenzy).

No matter I thought, I’ll pull up some YouTube videos and practise some beginner stitches.

I watched video after video.

I searched for ‘absolute beginners’.

And I watched the videos at 0.5 speed.

But I could not see how they were doing the stitch.

Every video showed before-the-stitch, and after-the-stitch but the stitch appeared like magic somewhere in between, and I didn’t know what the spell was or how to perform it.

I packed the box away, and got out my trusty Milky Way LEGO set (16 months into that project and I’m not quite halfway through).

Fast forward a few weeks.

This weekend we visited family, including my teenage niece who is very good at crochet.

I asked if she would be willing to help.

With saintly levels of patience, she taught me a couple of different stitches.

I would never have been able to learn this from a DIY kit or YouTube video.

I needed someone to see how I was holding the needle.

When I was getting stuck.

What was going wrong.

And to suggest two or three different ways of doing things, so I could find a method that felt comfortable for me.

Here’s what I’ve made so far….

Yep it’s a squiggly mess, but I’m enjoying the practice.

I’ll be teaching myself and practising solo for the next few weeks, before heading back for another lesson over the Christmas holidays.

It was a good reminder for me (and maybe for you) that self-led learning isn’t necessarily for beginners, and 1-1 tuition for advanced skills.

Some people (like me) use 1-1 tuition to get started, or get through blocks, and are happy DIY-ing the rest of the time.

I couldn’t wrap this up with a single question because I thought of three and I loved them all:

1 - Is there a self-taught skill you’re working on where a little 1-1 tuition would give you a big boost?

2 - If you could ask me to teach you one thing, what would it be?

3 - Is there a 1-1 teaching offer your audience would love to see from you?

👋 The Who The Heck is Laura Reminder: Thanks for letting me squeeze into your inbox. I'm Laura, a neurodivergent, spoonie, copywriter and marketing mentor. ​ The Comfy Business Newsletter is for people who want to create and sell online offers that enable them to make the money they need, doing work they enjoy while allowing time, energy, and flexibility for whatever Life Stuff they've got going on. ​ You can find out more about me, and what I do over at worditude.co.uk​