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Needle Nook
Think
twice before you give away your knitting needles, crochet hooks, and
rug hooking or needlepoint kits. If you enjoy working with your hands,
here are tips to keep your fingers moving.
Getting Ready
- Organize your work area to suit your needs. For example, use a
contrasting background, such as light cloth draped over your lap, to
help you see your knitting or other handiwork.
- Experiment with lighting. Use flexible lighting, such as
gooseneck, swing-arm or adjustable lamps, which can be positioned to
focus light on a specific task. Lamps are available with built-in
magnifiers or magnifier attachments that can be adjusted independently.
- Organize thread and yarns by color using large-print or
braille labels. Consider placing skeins in plastic Ziploc bags or old
coffee cans with plastic lids. You can create a 1-inch hole in the
center of the lid and thread the yarn through it to prevent it from
rolling away or getting tangled.
- Tape measures or rulers are available in a variety of styles:
some have large print or tactile markings; there are even talking tape
measures and those that fold at one-inch intervals.
- Consider investing in needle-threading devices, such as wire-loop threaders, chimney-style threaders, spread-eye needles or self-threading needles. You can also try needles with larger eyes.
Knitters and Crocheters
- Use large knitting needles or crochet hooks that contrast with yarn color.
- Consider using multi-colored yarn in place of a design that requires various changes in yarn color.
- Keep your fingers very close to the points of the needles
while working so that you can feel the stitches come off the tip and
ensure that the stitch is done correctly -- not lost (dropped) or left
on (which adds stitches).
- Place corks or rubber bands on the tips of the needles when
you store your project to ensure that stitches do not fall off
accidentally. For added security, push the stitches to the back of the
needles.
- Dropped stitches can be difficult to deal with but there are a
few things you can try. Lay the work gently on a flat surface with a
contrasting color to the yarn. You may be able to see the dropped
stitch or find it by touch. Mark the spot with a safety pin. If the
stitch is loose or large, you may be able to pick it up with your
fingers and gently thread it up through the piece. Sometimes, a crochet
hook can help accomplish this. If the dropped stitch is not too far
from where you stopped, you might want to rip out the stitches to that
point and continue on. If that is not practical, put the project away
until you can get some help.
- Find a knitting or crochet buddy.
Needlepoint and Rug Hooking
- When doing needlepoint or rug hooking, use grids with larger holes and consider creating your own patterns.
- Use yarns in contrasting colors in a random fashion to create
a tweed pattern. For example, three skeins of a base color to two
skeins of different contrasting colors.
- Pre-cut yarn is very short and may be hard to handle. Cut your
own desired length using a small book to wind the yarn around. Avoid
cardboard, as it tends to bend.
- Plastic lacing can be used to outline design patterns and be
removed as the area is filled. If you have good tactile discrimination,
embroidery floss is another alternative and it can often be left in
place without showing.
Sewing
- Outline sewing patterns with bold-tip pens or tactile markings such as Hi-Marks or colored tape.
- Mark the settings and dials of your sewing machine with raised
dots. A strip of tape in a contrasting color or texture on the bed of
the machine may be used as a guide. Self-threading machine needles are
available.
- Sew with contrasting fabric colors, or fabrics with varied textures.
- Use contrasting surfaces when cutting patterns, sewing straight seams or marking edges of handiwork.
- Pull thread across beeswax to make it easier to handle.
- Learn to use a self-threading needle:
- Place the needle in a small bar of soap or flat cork.
- Firmly grasp the thread with both hands, leaving an inch or less free between your hands.
- Locate the top of the needle with your thumb or finger, and
use this as a guide to fit the thread into the "V" notch on top of the
needle.
- Lock thread into the eye of the needle by pulling down firmly
with both hands until you hear and/or feel the thread click into place.
You'll learn to use the correct amount of pressure to lock the thread
without breaking it as you practice this technique.
- Place the needle in a small bar of soap or flat cork.
Resources
The Royal National Institute of the Blind offers the following publications on needlework in large print, braille, cassette or computer disk:
- Leisure Ideas for People With a Sight Problem provides ideas and resources to help people continue hobbies or take up new ones. Cost: £2.50.
- Knitting Information Pack offers hints and tips for blind and partially sighted knitters, including three knitting patterns. Cost: £1.00.
Sources: Nancy Paskin, MART, RTC, CLVT; Sharing Solutions Newsletter and Take Charge of Your Life With Vision Rehabilitation, Lighthouse International.