Youtube as Education

So, last night I was up until about 1:30am.  Insomnia?  No.  I found a series of videos on how to cable knit on a round loom on YouTube and just had to watch all of them. And then the videos on how to cable knit on straight needles without a cabling needle.  And then how to do a diamond stitch; a garter stitch; a purl stitch.  Then, of course, I had to practice. And fail.  And watch the video again.  And practice again, and so on.

Good Knit Kisses (http://www.youtube.com/user/GoodKnitKisses)  is one YouTube channel for learning how to knit specific stitches that I am particularly fond of.

This is her video on how to do the basic purl stitch.  She goes slow, shows very obvious stitches and loops, and answers questions promptly in her comment section.

This one is another favorite of mine: The Diamond Stitch.  It is a little more advanced than the purl stitch, but her instructions are just the same: slow, collected, and measured.

There are other videos online of people showing how they make socks, beanies, scarves, cables, pompoms, etc. and some work well for me, too.  But none of them compare to how Kristen from Good Knit Kisses explains her process.

I have taught myself, entirely through YouTube and practical application, how to knit.  This is just my experience with one channel.  There are thousands of other projects you can learn to do through this medium.  It just takes some searching and experimenting to find the instructions that resonate best with you.

Pinterest as Education: Part II

In my last post, I said pinterest allows you to connect to other, much larger blogs that handle the topic on a greater scale.  Some of my favorites include women's fitness, diets, decor, or home improvement.

I was introduced to the following blogs by Pinterest:

http://ouradventuresinhomeimprovement.blogspot.com is a series of entries on blogspot written by a woman and her husband as they use DIY ideas to improve their home.  They repurpose old scales, mason jars, and windows; age wood for door frames and beat-up thrift store furniture; and reupholster pillows and furniture for pennies on the dollar.

www.bronzebudgetbride.com is a website dealing with DIY crafts for a wedding that won't break the bank.  Where I'm not planning my wedding any time soon, some of the ideas for centerpieces and bouquets make great vases and decorative additions to my living room or kitchen table.

www.hudabeauty.com brings together posters' personal techniques for skin care, make-up, and hair care.  It is here I found the Acne Miracle Mask: a mixture of honey, nutmeg, and milk left on the face for 20 minutes and washed off in the shower.  After about an hour of shredding my own nutmeg (I needed 2 Tbsp and only had the nuts), it worked wonders.  From further exploring this site, I found treatments for shinier hair (olive oil and honey heated up to near-boiling and left on the hair for 20 minutes, then rinsed in the shower) which also works really well, and a way to get whiter nails after using dark nail polish involving peroxide and baking soda.

www.laurenconrad.com: I know what you're thinking. Really? What could she possibly have to offer.  Actually, quite a bit.  I took part in her Shape Up: My 7 Days to Skinny Jeans Plan and it worked so well.  I lost almost 4 pounds in a week! She gives you several recipes to choose from in addition to a workout every day and in a week, I started to tone up and lose weight.  Also, from her recipes, I came up with my own; careful, like hers, to stay away from pastas and breads.  Her blog also talks about what to wear for your shape, tips on how to do your make-up, and how to eat for a healthy mind and healthy body.

Pinners can pick any one of these sites and introduce you to a post.  It is up to you to find one you like and educate yourself on what you find fascinating.

Pinterest as Education

Words cannot express how much I love www.pinterest.com.  I'm constantly looking to it for inspiration and ways to keep myself busy in my downtime.  It is an endless source of creativity and innovation, encouraging crafty people to "go green" by doing it yourself.

It is through Pinterest that I learned to knit, make inverse peppermint patties, and find diets and exercises that have worked for others.  I find fun ways to repurpose furniture, frames, mason jars, and tea tins.  Make your own wreaths, put together outfits and add links to the stores where the items can be purchased, plan your future wedding, or learn to tie every kind of necktie.  But who finds these ideas?  Whose job is it to pass on 'pinteresting' tidbits of information?  The User's.  I can learn these things from friends, or people on the other side of the country currently turning an old end table into a pet bed, or an old frame into a chalkboard.

And that's not all. You can learn other individuals' remedies for colds, blackheads, dull hair, gas guzzling cars, and PMS; recipes for salted caramel shortbread cookies, sweet potato avocado burgers, or sun dried tomato & basil stuffed chicken.  Hungry, yet?  What about spicy shrimp marinara with feta cheese, or 64 different kinds of christmas cookies?

This OH-so-delicious recipe for bruschetta chicken inspired me to create my own.  Next time, instead of tomatoes and basil, I have decided to use artichoke hearts and spinach on grilled chicken with another kind of vinaigrette.  Pinterest not only makes recipes like this available, but encourages you to modify them, create your own, and pass it on.

I have several boards on my own page, ranging from pictures of exotic animals, products and stores I love, places I'd like to go, and clothing I like.  But I re-pin more items than anything else on my DIY board.  Slowly, I have begun to work my way through these projects, and I am forever adding to it.  Some work, some don't.

I have made beer bottles into glass cups, mugs into chalkboards, and acne masks from honey, nutmeg and milk.  What didn't go well at first included the inverted peppermint patties (which were too gooey to mold into the balls pictured), shaving with baby oil (not a close enough shave), and peanut butter & Oreo filled brownies (too thick inside.)  However, failures are still educational, as you can manipulate failed recipes into works of art.

Most of the posts come from the same sites.  Clothing usually comes from www.modcloth.com, diets vary from http://laurenconrad.com/blog/post/shape-up-my-7-days-to-skinny-jeans-plan to www.fitsugar.com.  People can reference blogs from www.tumblr.com, www.blogspot.com, and www.blogger.com among many, many others.  In fact, it is from Pinterest that I have been introduced to other DIY blogs with some great, cheap ideas.