I get excited when I have an experience that is a metaphor life with low vision. Why the excitement? I’m not sure. Possibly new metaphors help communicate to myself and others about what low vision is like, with real examples.
Thanks to the new high definition cameras, specifically to IBIS HD, my knitting world has continued to widen. I met a great gal named Mary Beth who got me excited about socks. Could I knit on tiny needles? Could I master something as seemingly complicated as knitting socks?
I got a book and needles and started knitting. Immediately I knew I was smitten. As I ventured into the daunting “turning the heel” part of a gusset heel, what I thought was supposed to happen in the written pattern wasn’t happening on my needles. Basically, when they said “continue in this way,” I thought I was supposed to go back to Row 1 of a 6-row pattern repeat. I was totally stumped. I didn’t understand the gusset, truly, and I had not seen a knitting pattern with such vague language. When I went into the yarn store for help, I learned that “in this way” meant continuing the progression of decrease stitches as performed in Rows 1 through 6.
I was so close in, literally, magnifying the printed directions for each row, seeing only a portion of the writing, that I didn’t see the bigger picture of the progression that was taking place. It hadn’t even occurred to me to notice a progression!
The language the gal at the store used was hilarious to me. “Basically,” she said, “you are eating up with decreases the stitches you had earlier increased in order to make a pouch in the sock for your heel.” Now there is some language!