u/taken-username96

I’m an avid cross-stitcher, with unfortunately poor eyesight. Not nearly the worst one out there, but with all the hang ups that come with always needing to wear glasses to not give myself headaches from the eye strain.

After getting back into cross-stitching about three years ago, I pulled out all the stops to help reduce how hard I had to focus my eyes on my pattern and fabric. These included different magnifying lenses for the various objects I need to focus on, as well as craft lamps to make my stitching area the brightest spot in the house. These tools helped significantly with reducing strain, but my dry and irritated eyes never seemed to get better.

I finally realized yesterday why that is, and I feel so dumb for just barely figuring it out.

I’m sitting directly under hella bright lights for literal hours a day when I stitch. I grabbed an old baseball cap that no one uses and sat back under my chair, and wouldn’t you know it, my eyes didn’t feel anywhere near as irritated as they have.

Needless to say, that baseball cap is now going to be a core tool in my stitching supplies. I don’t even care how dorky I look.

It took nearly two years to the day, but after so much hard work and literal blood and tears, it’s finally done! I never gave up and actually got it finished. I wasn’t sure if I could do it when I first started, but I did it!