(Bonny and her knitting group started meeting at the Studio about 8 months ago, and they are now a part of the Lion Brand Yarn Studio family. We asked Bonny to write a blog post for us to share her experiences)
BY BONNY GLISKER
I’ve been meeting with 3 visually impaired knitters at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio since last summer. I had met the ladies while doing volunteer work with the blind and visually impaired. It seemed an ideal way to put a hobby I have enjoyed for many years to good use and it’s more rewarding than stuffing envelopes. The ladies were all experienced knitters who were ready to bring their knitting to a new level. They had been making primarily baby blankets and scarves for charity, using garter, stockinette and ribbing stitches. Two of our knitters are partially sighted, while one is blind. I enlarged the directions for several stitches from a stitch dictionary for the partially sighted knitters, to give more variety and interest to their projects. Stitches with a 2 to 4 row repeat which are easy to memorize work best, such as the rice, double moss, fleck, check and little shell stitches, even simple cables. Mary Conner, who is blind, then asked me to tape record these stitches for her. She sometimes has patterns and stitches transcribed into Braille. LionBrand.com patterns have a setting to print Braille ready patterns, which Mary is eager to try. I also look for patterns for projects that I think they will enjoy making, such as flat knit hats and fingerless gloves so they can avoid using double pointed needles. They like making these small items for gifts and for themselves. We have even progressed to vests and sweaters with simple shaping.
Helping the blind and visually impaired to knit requires thinking differently about demonstrating techniques. You can’t tell someone to watch You Tube videos or look it up in a knitting encyclopedia. We rely heavily on touch. You guide their hands through the movements of a new technique, such as a new cast on, or have them feel where the yarn is in your own hands. Mary can teach a blind beginner knitter who has never picked up a pair of needles before by standing behind them and guiding their hands. It’s amazing to watch. They can feel a mistake, but can’t always tell what is wrong. If I can retrieve a dropped stitch down several rows, I can save them hours of reknitting. I take their hands and try to teach them to feel the difference between the texture of stockinette stitch and reverse stockinette stitch, and to count garter stitch rows by feeling the ridges. We use safety pins to mark the right side of the work. I look for row counters with extra large numbers. There are Braille measuring tapes available.
We are so glad to be able to meet at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio. It’s cozy, welcoming and quiet. We had met at the Citicenter Atrium for a short while. One day a pianist was there while we were trying to tape record a pattern. All you could hear on the tape was the piano! Mary frequently comes to the store for help from the staff between our meetings. We are so grateful!
For the blind and visually impaired, LionBrand.com sells the wonderful learn-to-knit book, “The Touch of Yarn” in both Braille Format (click here to access the listing ) and large print format (click to access the listing ). Access the listings to order them online.
Mary with her finished sweater! Just needs to weave in the ends.
Discover 6,000+ free patterns, explore how-to tutorials & videos, and order Lion Brand yarns and products online…
What a wonderfully inspiring post. Bonny Glisker’s involvement and gift of time and talent is a treasure for the ladies she teaches and for the rest of us to learn. Many thanks to Lion Brand for making the studio available to these wonderful ladies.
Inspirational!! Mary’s sweater looks gorgeous!
Congratulations to Mary on completing a beautiful sweater. And kudos to Bonnie for identifying a need and stepping up to satisfy it.
Thanks – this was a great article and I will be checking on the braille tape measure. I have been legally blind since birth and “blind” for about 15 years and knitting and crocheting for at least 35 years. I am posting this info link to a blog that has a lot of blind knitters and crocheter at yahoo. It is always nice to see this type of accomplishment. Way to go Mary!
Im totally blind I live in Canada. i have a computer with speech program. I’ve been researching web sites on the internet. I’m a beginner knitter. I knit scarves. I wanted to knit slippers. With slippers, I was doing pearing as well as knitting. I kept making mistakes. I go to a knitting group. I’ve been encouraged to just do plain knitting for a while. I want to try the slippers again some day. I just realize I just need more practice with just plain knitting. I have just been looking for on line support with my knitting. I am an indipendent knitter, but, I just like on line support. I found this blog and decided to leave a comment I guess I’m looking for on line knitting communies. I’m even interested in on line knitting classes. it took me a while to find a good web site for visually impaired knitters. I am open to suggestions bye for now
Hi Phyllis! Thanks for your comment! There are a lot of groups for all kinds of knitters on Ravelry. Ravelry.com would be a great place to look!
Hi, I think that it is great that you like to knit. I am hoping to be able to learn to teach others to knit, including those that are visually impaired/blind. Your input would be appreciated greatly.
Can’t find book learn to knit for the blind
Teach a blind person to knit
It is truly a nice and helpful piece of info. I’m happy that you shared this useful info with
us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
I cannot find the book when I use the links provided. Is it available? If so, please send me a link.