This is a guest post by Linda Kennedy who shared her crochet health story here on the blog. Today she shares a piece that she has written about an exercise in crocheting with your eyes closed.
Being married to a man who is legally blind made me really think about what I would do if I couldn’t see what I was crocheting? I know that if don’t have something to do with my hands, I will go nuts, especially if I can’t see to read! I decided to practice crocheting in the dark.
I struggle with insomnia, so on the nights that I had a hard time sleeping, I would keep the lights off. I would grab a ball of yarn and a crochet hook from beside my bed. As I laid in bed in the dark, I would start a chain and go from there. Eventually I got tired enough to sleep and would set my work down.
The next day, I would look at what I had stitched. This gave me great insight into where I needed to improve if I wanted to be able to crochet without looking at my work. I would look at all of the errors … Missed stitches, tight or loose tension, did the turns at each end stay straight or veer in or out? I found some things that I really needed to work on and some things that I was doing very well on. It helped me learn how I was doing as a crocheter, and where I had my weaknesses. When you see your weaknesses glaring at you, it’s hard to deny them.
So it wasn’t just a practice in learning to crochet in the dark but also a terrific guide to showing me my strengths and weaknesses in the craft. Since doing this I have learned which stitches / patterns I can do the best and which ones I might want to avoid. Now I choose my projects according to where I will be doing them and if I will have the time and energy to count a pattern that relies on lots of counting. Giving myself projects that relax me, versus projects that stress me, has made a big difference in how projects do or don’t get completed.
This exercise is a very good way to evaluate yourself, improve your weaknesses and capitalize on your strengths. No one has to see your weaknesses but you. You can frog them when you have finished your examinations and evaluations. You can learn a lot from the process. And it can help you sleep!
Now go and crochet in the dark!