A terrible mistake!
Your heart is beating fast, a cold hand seems to compress your chest, you have a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach… You’ve just realized that you’ve made a mistake in your crochet (or knitting) project.
A mistake can have so many reasons. You’re tired, you’re distracted, you didn’t read or understand well…
Sometimes it’s just a mistake that needs correcting, with no other consequence. You undo a few stitches or a couple of rows, you pull out your mistake and redo it correctly – end of story.
But often, this mistake can teach you something (more than that you made a mistake).
Is it time for you to put down your project and go to bed? Do you simply need to concentrate a bit more on the chart? Do you need to get more information about the technique you’re using, asking a friend or Google?
In any case, we’d prefer not to make any mistakes – but everyone makes them, all the time… (yes, me too, all the time!)
I have four strategies against mistakes to suggest.
1) Learn to “read” your work.
I think this is one of the most important skills for any crocheter or knitter. I will get back to this in more detail, but for now, I’ll simply suggest that you frequently take the time to stop and admire what you’ve just made!
2) Ask yourself if it’s really important.
If there’s a wonky or missing stitch somewhere, will it really show when you or someone else wears or uses the finished object? Can you conceal it in a simple way?
But let’s agree on the fact that, if you’ve done 20 decreases too many, it’s probably best to correct that.
3) Learn to correct the most common mistakes. (I’ll have more to say about that, too – but in the meantime, Google and YouTube are your friends!)
4) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes!
First of all, if you are stressed over the idea of making a mistake, you will considerably increase your chances of doing something wrong.
And learning how to discover your mistakes and how to correct them will make you a much, much better crocheter or knitter. I honestly think that the best way to learn something new is to do it the wrong way first and understand why it happened before you do it correctly. You will remember how to do it much better than if your first try was perfect.
And I repeat myself: it might not be important at all. Once is a mistake, twice is a problem, three times is a new design!
