The Competence Project

Over at Casaubon's Book, Sharon's set up the Competence Project, getting people to start new projects that will increase their competence in a variety of areas from sewing and knitting to plumbing and woodworking.

I love the idea, and have been thinking about where to start, especially given the rather long list of projects I'd like to work on and have been pondering for what seems like ages. There are some things I’d like to do that aren’t really practical right now, now that there are many inches of snow on the ground, so that narrows it down a bit, though. Also, I’ve searched for classes that are local to me without much to show for it, especially in things I’m interested in. So, I’ll be starting with things that I can learn/do fairly easily on my own.

First, I’d like to learn to sew a better, which will hopefully come in handy for three sub-projects. One, I was to sew reusable shopping bags for the upcoming holidays to wrap gifts in, and as gifts in and of themselves. Two, I want to finally make some resuable cloth pads, especially since I have most if not all of the materials. And third, I want to make a quilt out of old wool clothes, despite never having made a quilt before.

Second, I have a source for worms, and would like to finally get that worm composter I keep thinking about set up and running. I've sent out an email to a local source for worms, and hopefully that will come through. In the meantime, I'm going to start setting up the composter itself, and hope to pick up the materials for that this week.

Third, I’d like to learn to can food. Being that it’s snowy, I don’t really know what I could can that’s “fresh”, but I’m hoping to somehow find someone local to show me how to do this without killing myself. I may search someone out through the local community services agency, or possibly through one of the many freebie online sites where one can advertise such things. But for this I really want someone who knows what they're doing to show me the ropes.

Unfortunately, many of the other things I’d like to learn I can’t actually do in my apartment - fussing with the plumbing, wiring, or anything else home maintenance-ish is frowned upon in a rented apartment. I suppose that I could read up on what I’m interested in and then offer up my help in return for people teaching me things here and there. But, for now I think this is probably a good start. And, once I get these going, there are always more to work on as well.