ProCRAFTinating Nurturing your craft at PEI Community School
WORDS BY Clara Deacon
One of the things that makes PEI very special to me is the community spirit. I was reminded of this having recently moved back to the Island after spending the last six years in Calgary. I’ve always enjoyed making things myself, even when it meant delaying activities like cleaning the house or finishing an assignment. In ProCRAFTinating, I will explore all things DIY, including classes and workshops to attend, as well as easy tutorials for the home. This past fall, for the first time, I attended one of PEI’s community schools in Donagh with a group of friends. I had never heard of community school before, but my friends assured me that it would be fun to learn something new, get out and socialize, and at the very least, have some good snacks. Open to all ages, community schools in PEI have been around for more than 50 years, offering 10-week courses over the fall and winter semesters to inspire and teach new skills. Hosted across 30 locations, these schools are led by around 700 volunteers, and offer courses with diverse topics such as music, crafts, and other leisure activities.
to Rug-Hooking and Knitting, to Historical Buildings and Intro to Spanish. The cost is between $10.00 and $20.00 for the semester, with the potential for additional costs, depending on the supplies needed.
myself. I learned that community school wasn’t about becoming an expert, but rather, bringing people together. If you are interested in learning a new skill, or energizing an old one, consider a local community school for a weekly night out during the colder months and an excuse to practice your craft. If you’re looking for an opportunity to volunteer, community schools are also looking for teachers to support programming. To attend a local community school, or to volunteer, visit peicommunityschools.com for more information.
Came for the snacks, stayed for the good times
After some heated debate in the group chat, my friends and I settled on Braided Rugs as our fall semester course. In the world of rug making, in which I am a novice, consider the braided rug a cousin of the hooked rug. Instead of yarn hooked through burlap, braided rugs use strips of fabric braided together and then sewn in a round to create a decorative mat. In Braided Rugs, we learned from our instructor and our classmates, week by week, how to prepare and choose fabric, braid the pieces, and eventually lace them together to make a rug. By the end of the course, we had each finished our own unique rug, and we proudly displayed them at our local community school graduation and potluck. In hindsight, I probably could have made a bigger rug if I spent more time braiding, and less time chatting about whether the sandwiches contained homemade mayonnaise. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed
Clara Deacon is a communications specialist from the South Shore of PEI. Outside of writing, she also enjoys dancing, knitting, cooking, and playing the piano.
There are 100 course topics to choose from, ranging from Ukulele and Guitar 101,
90
www.pei-living.ca WINTER 2020
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker