Well, technically I did some cross stitching in a crafts class in primary school... but that has been a while.

I usually do diamond painting which is entirely different and similar at the same time. XD

Now I have been lurking this subreddit since a while, undecisive whether it is for me - and finally tried it out with a tiny kit I found in a supermarket! ('Cat and Books Mini Cross Stitch Embroidery' by Kikkerland). It took me about three days.

What I liked:

\- the stitching itself! It was incredibly fun, meditative and satisfying to see the picture come into being

\- counting! I did not expect it to be so much fun just to figure out where the next stitch went!

\- the kit was really cute and I am happy with the result.

What I disliked:

\- securing the thread. Definitely my least favorite activity about this. Probably also a problem of kit quality - the needle always got a 'curve' whenever I tried to get it under the other stitches, and I had to straighten it again after. I don't think I can stitch with anything but two strands, because remembering that I read something about 'loop start' in my lurking time here cut down the amount of thread securing I had to to by half. I won't do anything else ever.

\- my own perfectionism. I frogged a few stitches because they looked weird and probably would have been fine.

\- the hoop. I am not sure whether I did something wrong, but it was always in the way. The thread caught on the screws and I had to take the fabric out to secure the thread at the end of each color. I read about Q snaps in the FAQ. I think I will have to check them out.

\- the pattern. The kit did just have a pattern which counted in 4x4 stitch sections and did not have symbols but everything was painted in color. Due to there being different browns it was hard to differentiate. After about two hours I recreated the pattern in floss cross and used pattern keeper. It made my progress a lot easier.

Also I am not sure about the back of my piece. It looks a little messy bur probably still normal? I am extremely unsure how many stitches I can still 'skip' to get a colour to a new area, or when it makes more sense to secure and restart (also given that I really dislike the securing part...)

Please feel free to give me feedback! I want to learn more!! What can I do better or different?

I had a LOT of fun with this and will definitely do more! This seems to be an amazing hobby and I see myself getting into it very quick.

[FO] My first time cross stitching!