Honestly, grab some cheap rope and practice during boring shows. Your fingers learn by doing the same dumb loop over and over. I messed up a million square knots before my camping trips. Now I can tie a bowline without looking. It's all muscle memory, like learning to type. Don't compare your first tries to their polished show.

Totally agree, damp always seems minor until you live with it. We had a patch in our old place that ruined a whole wall of books before we noticed. It's never just a small fix.