Sigh.
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Remember the first time you ever used a sewing machine? It takes a while, and it’ll look like it’s not going to go very well, and the tension will look hilarious, for starters. Be bold – stitches never look quite right when they’re right next to the needle, mainly because they have a whacking great needle distorting them. They just don’t. A few rows down, it’ll look far better. And if it doesn’t, it’s the first thing you’ve made, so don’t worry about it. You can do it!
The frustrating thing is that I know what I’m doing in theory! It’s just that I always seem to end up dropping something or twisting something or thinking I’m doing everything right and *still* ending up with the wrong number of stitches and it’s all very frustrating!
And because I have crap spatial awareness, I don’t seem to be able to sort it out. Sewing just feels more… instinctive somehow, on how to correct mistakes. You have the precise control of a seam ripper, for one thing!
I think everything seems more precise when you’ve done it a bit – I learned to crochet last summer and it frustrated me so much because I couldn’t get my head around it so quickly. I’m used to not having to look at my knitting too hard while I’m doing it! I think I forgot what it was like learning knitting, so picking up the logic of a new craft seemed so much more onerous. Well, it was.
If it’s your stitch count that’s the problem, get hold of some paperclips and use them as stitch markers – slide them onto the needle between stitches after every pattern repeat, it makes it a lot easier to a) count and b) pinpoint where your problems are coming from. After a while you’ll be able to read it better, too.
Cheering for you!