I wasn’t supposed to find it, but I stumbled upon my generous Christmas present last week. Both the UPS and Fed Ex men come regularly to our house, delivering packages of work-related materials for my husband. So imagine my surprise when a three-foot-tall box was delivered to our doorstep instead of the usual business-sized envelopes overstuffed with documents.

I figured my husband must have purchased a new tool, which he did– except that the tool was for me and not for the garage. When the kids and I opened the box and heaved out a new embroidery machine, I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or ashamed that I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. We’d been talking our whole marriage long about purchasing one, ways I could make it pay for itself, and the pros and cons of the cost versus the usefulness of the machine. We’d just never settled on it. Until last week, that is.

And so, I find myself engaging in one of the tasks that I shirk a lot: learning a new thing. In theory, I enjoy learning a new area of interest. However, I find that the method used in learning the new thing has much to do with the amount of enjoyment I get out of the process. In other words, I prefer a hands-on approach to a textbook learning approach. If I could just have someone show me what all the buttons do, it would save a lot of headache as I stumble and fumble my way through books and trial and error. I suspect many people feel this way about learning new things as well.

Having to attend the school of trial-and-error (or “hard knocks”, if you will) is not the way I prefer to learn new things. However, unless I can establish an apprentice type relationship—which is always preferable but not always feasible—this method of reading, trying, rereading, and trying again is often the way my husband and I have learned many things.

For example, when my husband decided to build a four-poster, king-size, solid cherry bed as my wedding present, I thought he was insane to undertake the task with only an eighth-grade woodshop class under his belt. But he found someone more knowledgeable to guide him during the first year and had learned a great deal when it was done three years later. (The joints are all hand-chistled, as he didn’t own power tools back then–hence, the three years.) For the most part, however, he learned by reading, watching The New Yankee Workshop, and measuring once, cutting twice. (!) Several years and power tools later, he is a decent carpenter. Not one room in the house is without a piece of his handcrafted furniture or remodeling work.

A few years ago, I went to a furniture store and stumbled upon a bunk bed set that I admired. My husband baulked at the price tag, went back with his graph paper and measuring tape, and turned out an exact replica two Saturdays later. The same thing happened with an armoire set last year.

While I am excited about learning to use my new machine, I know that I have many hours of learning to put in before I can use it properly. But I also know that perseverance and a little common sense will get me up and running decently, if not respectably. In the meantime, I will keep my ear to the ground for a woman with more experience than I have. I know this type of learning can be done, because I’ve seen a good example of it right in my own home.