i got my first violin for christmas today (sadly a $50 cheapo because my parents dont think i can committ) and now i have a question

while i was messing around with my violin i was looking at my fingers while i was playing it and because it was so close i got a little double vision and my eyes started to hurt. I could only see my fingers when i closed one eye. Is it necessary to watch your fingers and the violin as you play, or do you eventually get a feel for it and not have to look?

if it is necessary i dont think i can learn violin because i think it will mess up my vision.

p.s. is it a bad idea to start to learn with a book or will i get bad habits? if i dont im going to have to wait a while for a teacher anyway.

I find it really strange that you experience this 'vision problem', are you long sighted? or any other problems?
anyway, you don't have to look much at your fingers, but you do at times (when you first learn where to put them for example, or learn to shift etc).
If you are thinking of doing some of it on your own I highly reccomend you go on youtube and search for 'Professor V', he has uploaded loads of lessons from complete beginner to more experienced, I find his videos really good. that should do for a start but try to get a teacher as soon as you can, nothing can replace an experienced person checking your playing now and again.

I agree!

The first few months you play the violin, you could look at your fingers occasionally to guide them to the correct position.

However, my teacher pasted small strips of sticky paper on my violin to let me actually feel the correct position and have a proper recognition of the first position notes and intonation. On hindsight, I felt that this worked out much better than if he had allowed me to look at my fingers, which might have potentially induced bad posture, be it the hands or overall body posture.

Anyway, if you get into the habit of looking at your fingers instead of feeling your way around, it's going to be hard to read music from a stand.

Don't look at your fingers - use your ears! I am not surprised that you are getting cross-eyed.

Use your ears to tell you if your fingers are in the right place, not your eyes.

Always use your ears - they are much more accurate than your eyes. Your eyes should be on the music all the time. You shouldn't need to look at where you are putting your fingers; you will soon get used to the geography of the violin. Guidelines can be helpful, but are not really necessary, particularly if you have a good ear.

There is no substitute for a good teacher! There are so many bad habits you could fall into. A good teacher will also check that your your set-up is right for you and make recommendations if it needs adjusting. I would never recommend anyone learning violin from a book!!