I have been wearing glasses since the 4th or 5th grade so I am pretty blind at a distance. However, I have excellent near sight. In fact that is why I refuse to have laser eye surgery because I have heard you lose your near sight. I am still doing some. I have a Christmas stocking in the works right now. (Well I worked on it a few times a few years ago, so I guess you could call that in the works.)
BTW, I do all of my cross stitch on linen. I use the 28 or higher count and go over two. I make sure the weave is fairly even. But the linen is very hard to find any more.