Self-Teaching an Old Dog

As I’ve gotten older (I say that as a woman a few days from forty), I’ve taught myself a few things. Things I’d never have dreamed I could have even attempted, let alone become reasonably proficient at.

 

The Old Dog’s New Skills.

In the past five or six years I’ve learnt to use Photoshop – to good effect – using it to edit my photos after I’d also taught myself to use a DSLR camera.

Prize Winning Photo

And to create stuff like this – for no apparent reason.

 

Alongside Photoshop, I also taught myself to use 3D software called Poser, creating the cover for my fantasy novel, The Sanctum of Souls.

Got there after many attempts.

And pictorial aides to writing, such as this main character from the aforementioned fantasy novel.

 

A while after my foray into digital stuff, I taught myself to make jewellery, successfully selling a few pieces along the way.

Sold this one.

And just lately, I’ve taught myself to knit – though, sadly my great-nan, who’d tried to teach me as a child, didn’t live to see this achievement. It’s worth noting I taught myself this basic knitting via YouTube tutorials and just a fortnight later had made my first ever scarf.

Alright, I can only make lame scarves – for now.

I also had a go at card-making, but fear not, there’ll be no pictures of that disaster. I’m not good at everything.

 

The Trouble With Old Dogs

Now, I don’t know if it’s just me, but the trouble with learning all these crafts seems to be my ability to retain the skills I’ve acquired.

Having flitted between all my new ‘hobbies’ – interspersed with writing my novel, and collating/publishing various poetry books – each one I’ve come back to, with the exception of Photoshop, is almost like learning the craft all over again. As the title of this blog implies, I’m assuming this is something to do with getting older.

Before I got into jewellery making, selling my camera to afford all the enticing sparkly things online, I knew all the terminology, tricks, settings, etc. that made a half-decent photographer. When I once again got bored with said new interest, and sold all the jewellery findings (see, learnt the terms for that craft, too) to buy a new camera… wham, bam, all gone! It was almost as if I’d even picked up anything beyond a compact, let alone was capable of winning competitions.

Lately, I’ve attempted to get back into the jewellery – and yet again, I’m finding it challenging.

At a loose end during my enforced ‘resting’ (otherwise known as feeling crap) due to chemotherapy, I thought I’d try to make a bracelet for my upcoming birthday night out. I’d many months previously restocked my supply of findings, but after many attempts and fails at creating anything, had stashed the goody chest back into the depths of ‘lost interest hell’.

So, I dragged the tub out again, rummaged my way to some teal and purple ‘pretties’ and set to work. Well, my fingers ached, my tools were too small, I’d forgotten how to wind the metal – all excuses, perhaps, but basically, it wasn’t as easy as I remembered.

I finally managed to bring this piece together, but however the reasonably well-edited photo makes it look, it falls far short of what I used to be capable of.

I mean I’m happy with it, but I’m just wondering, where did my that old dog that learnt so well go?

So, what are your thoughts? Do we learn easily as we get older, but not retain so well? Are old dogs just lame causes – with pitiable attention spans?

Would love to read your take on this.