Learning a new skill takes time, patience and a willingness to not be good at something for a while. Unfortunately, that third thing often leads people to quit early in the learning process, as nobody enjoys the feeling of sucking at something.
Reframing how we view the I-suck-at-this stage is key to sticking with it, though, and one woman’s video sharing her first two weeks of crocheting is a perfect example of how we can do that.
Uyen Ninh has built a social media following by sharing her cultural observances and humor as a Vietnamese woman living in Germany, but as her crocheting video shows, her appeal goes far beyond jokes about her German fiancee. The way she shares her crochet progress is positively delightful.
First, Ninh shows the first heart she made out of red yarn, which is barely discernible as a heart.
“It’s the first thing I do, so it’s okay,” she says.
Then she shows a green flower she crocheted, which is clearly imperfect, but as she says, “you can clearly see the petals, so I count it as a win.”
Then she moved on to animals, showing a “cat which looks like a fat mouse,” adding, “but it’s still cute,” and then moving on to her dinosaurs—or “deenos,” as she calls them, and finally, a “strawberry cow.”
Watch:
@uyenthininh This time I am serious 😆
People loved Ninh’s adorable positivity as she shared her progressively more impressive crochet creations.
“‘But it’s still cute!’ is absolutely a mentality you’ve gotta embrace when learning crochet, 💗” shared one commenter.
“I love the joy with which she show it, very wholesome 😊” wrote another.
“Perseverance, practice and learning from failures will result in success eventually,” shared another.
People who are experienced with the fiber arts (crocheting, knitting, etc.) said that she had progressed very quickly, which might just be because of her positive attitude toward making mistakes. Fear of failure often causes people to resist diving fully into a learning process, but when we embrace mistakes as a necessary part of the process, we free ourselves up to more effective learning.