At my age (approaching 40), I've discovered that I expect to be better at things right off the bat, even things I've only just started learning; something about having life experience, I guess? So it's pretty humbling to sit down to learn a new crochet stitch and think to myself, "Yikes. This looks terrible!"
Imagine my surprise when I found 'trial and error' requires 'error'.
(I saw this a lot on Instagram a few months ago and...yeah, feeling called out.)
I've been working recently with the Jasmine Stitch, specifically taught by Nordic Yarn Art; she has a great set of videos explaining the stitch and providing simple introductory patterns. It's the first time in awhile where I wasn't fast on my way after just a couple rounds of practice. Have you ever found that even when someone explicitly tells you "it's going to take practice", you don't think that applies to you? What kind of hubris is this? 😂 I blame middle age!
Regardless, when I did take the practice advice to heart and submitted myself to a lot of frogging, rework, and (worst of all, to me), finished products that simply didn't meet my standards, I found that I was, in fact, improving. I posted a bit about this on Instagram and since have been feeling great about my progress:
Now I've been getting repeated practice making my Jasmine Keychains, and I'm feeling really good about my progress and output! I'm getting ready to practice color-changing with the stitch now, so y'know...LOOK OUT, WORLD!
So keep with it, y'all! As everyone has probably always told you, practice does make perfect. Or at least, it makes improvement. 👍