Fw: Re: [lace] Lace and bad eyesight
If other people caused as many accidents as Daddy did, there wouldn't be any. It's really amazing what you can see when you can't see. He was in the Bikini Islands in the Pacific, testing atomic bombs in about '58. They were off loading supplies off the ship. There was a 20' drop to the sea, and 2 planks over which to drive the trucks off the ship. No one was willing to do it but Daddy, and he did so without mishap. Legally blind doesn't mean you can't see anything. Thanks for sharing about that lady. That's the sort of thing others need to know. No one is getting any younger, we love making lace, and yet eyesight frequently does not improve with age. This problem has been solved before, and if we know that, the impetus to do so ourselves is there. Lyn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA where the weather is still cold and windy. 38F 3C with wind. Robin wrote: It's a little scary hearing about someone legally blind driving, but I do admire your father's 'can do' attitude! I have a blind friend who makes great bobbin lace. Yes, someone pricks her pattern for her and she uses it upside down so there are bumps where the pricker needle went through the paper. That's how she finds the pinholes. Very fine laces with pinholes crowding together (the kind where you can't see the lace till the pins are pulled out) are beyond her, but as long as she can get a finger in to the back-most empty pinhole, she can do it. Someone usually describes the lace to her, like there's a trail following that arc of pinholes, and so many pairs come into it along the swing, and then at the nth hole two pairs leave toward the right to plait out to those holes that loop out from the trail. I'm always amazed at how much detail she can keep in her mind's eye, till it's time for a description of the next region. She's blind from infancy and she knit s! and does other great things, too. And teaches knitting (and taught blindfolded bobbin lace at the lace group meeting a few years ago. I was sick that day, but those who tried it had that much more respect for her accomplishments! My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
[lace] Lace and bad eyesight
So sorry to hear you have lost the sight in one eye, Chantal, and have had to give up lacemaking. It is good that you have found something else to fill in the spare time !! - I just checked your web site! Glad you have stayed with Arachne, though. Regards from Liz in chilly, damp, Melbourne, Oz. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Lace and bad eyesight
Lyn Bailey lynrbai...@desupernet.net wrote: -At a lace day in Ithaca, perhaps 10 years ago, I heard of someone buying supplies for a blind lacemaker, who could do it all, except make a pricking. Obviously her prickings were actually pricked, not prick as you go. But I didn't ask questions, and I don't know how successful she was. There may need to be adjustments. Hi, Lyn It's a little scary hearing about someone legally blind driving, but I do admire your father's 'can do' attitude! I have a blind friend who makes great bobbin lace. Yes, someone pricks her pattern for her and she uses it upside down so there are bumps where the pricker needle went through the paper. That's how she finds the pinholes. Very fine laces with pinholes crowding together (the kind where you can't see the lace till the pins are pulled out) are beyond her, but as long as she can get a finger in to the back-most empty pinhole, she can do it. Someone usually describes the lace to her, like there's a trail following that arc of pinholes, and so many pairs come into it along the swing, and then at the nth hole two pairs leave toward the right to plait out to those holes that loop out from the trail. I'm always amazed at how much detail she can keep in her mind's eye, till it's time for a description of the next region. She's blind from infancy and she knits! and does other great things, too. And teaches knitting (and taught blindfolded bobbin lace at the lace group meeting a few years ago. I was sick that day, but those who tried it had that much more respect for her accomplishments! Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA robinl...@socal.rr.com Parvum leve mentes capiunt (Little things amuse little minds) - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Lace and bad eyesight
Hi my fellow lacemakers, It's a long long time, I did not write anything, but I'm staying loyal to the group reading every day, your wonderful messages. A few years ago, I lost my right eye sight, following a dental surgery and I had to quit lacemaking. I sold a part of my bobbins, but I still have my pillows. Perhaps one day, I will sell them also, but it's still hard for me to accept the situation. So, when I read your message about the blind lady, that's very encouraging. However, I could not do the step to restart lacemaking. I hope I followed the rules of messages publishing on the group. Hugs Chantal http://chantalbears.jigsy.com On 2013-04-01, at 1:19 AM, robinl...@socal.rr.com wrote: Lyn Bailey lynrbai...@desupernet.net wrote: -At a lace day in Ithaca, perhaps 10 years ago, I heard of someone buying supplies for a blind lacemaker, who could do it all, except make a pricking. Obviously her prickings were actually pricked, not prick as you go. But I didn't ask questions, and I don't know how successful she was. There may need to be adjustments. Hi, Lyn It's a little scary hearing about someone legally blind driving, but I do admire your father's 'can do' attitude! I have a blind friend who makes great bobbin lace. Yes, someone pricks her pattern for her and she uses it upside down so there are bumps where the pricker needle went through the paper. That's how she finds the pinholes. Very fine laces with pinholes crowding together (the kind where you can't see the lace till the pins are pulled out) are beyond her, but as long as she can get a finger in to the back-most empty pinhole, she can do it. Someone usually describes the lace to her, like there's a trail following that arc of pinholes, and so many pairs come into it along the swing, and then at the nth hole two pairs leave toward the right to plait out to those holes that loop out from the trail. I'm always amazed at how much detail she can keep in her mind's eye, till it's time for a description of the next region. She's blind from infancy and she kni! ts! and does other great things, too. And teaches knitting (and taught blindfolded bobbin lace at the lace group meeting a few years ago. I was sick that day, but those who tried it had that much more respect for her accomplishments! Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA robinl...@socal.rr.com Parvum leve mentes capiunt (Little things amuse little minds) - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/ - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
[lace] Lace and bad eyesight
My father was legally blind. His 20/20 was right up at his eyeball. He went to blind school for a couple years as a child. Yet he drove a car, was a thermonuclear physicist, and did everything anyone would do, except bird watching and art appreciation. Before we went someplace new, he would study and study the map, as street signs were probably beyond him. Daddy did not allow me to use the word, 'can't' when I was growing up. So when it comes to lacemaking, I keep thinking there's got to be a way. I have heard of people who are blind making lace, but I haven't met any. At a lace day in Ithaca, perhaps 10 years ago, I heard of someone buying supplies for a blind lacemaker, who could do it all, except make a pricking. Obviously her prickings were actually pricked, not prick as you go. But I didn't ask questions, and I don't know how successful she was. There may need to be adjustments. 'Cataract' lace, that is, using threads that are thicker than fine hair. Perhaps a change in bobbins. Perhaps better light, and more of it. Perhaps really good magnifiers. There are gadgets and gizmos for sight impaired that the rest of us may not know about. I believe lacemakers, especially those of today, are intelligent people who are certainly capable of figuring out alternate ways of making lace if necessary. After all, that's what lacemakers do. Solve problems. If you have seen a Swede making lace, you understand that thumbs are not necessary with their bobbins. While blind lacemakers are not thick on the ground, and may be apocryphal, some people may have overcome difficulties that come upon us as we mature, the way Alex has. Please, if you know someone whose eyesight is 'really' impaired and still makes lace, could you find out how they do it and let us know? I am quite nearsighted. a -7 correction, for those with serious myopia who know what I'm talking about. When I wore contact lenses, not good for bifocals, I would wear a pair of storebought cheaters for reading, and add a pair of opticaids (that's a brand name, satisfied customer, usual disclaimers) to the mix to see individual threads. Now that I don't bother with contacts, I just take off my glasses entirely if I need to check out something close, instead of using the bifocals. Really good magnifiers may be difficult to find, or expensive, but they are worth a look. There are also electronic magnifiers so people can write a check, read a phone book. They were large and cumbersome when I looked into them for my father with macular degeneration in both eyes (he wasn't driving then) but that may have changed. Putting the pillow in that area and seeing the lace on a screen could possibly work. While everything that comes between your eyes and the threads will distort slightly, doubling up on glasses is not uncommon, and can work well. Personally I prefer the magnification to be near my eyes, as opposed to being near the threads, as the area you can look at without taking your hands from the bobbins is larger. There are catalogs of aids for those with low vision or no vision, and something in them might work. If there is a local blind association, talking to them might work wonders, and I bet you could bring in your pillow and try things out. Sometimes people donate equipment to them. None of this is as easy as being 25 and making lace without extra light or glasses, and what is needed to make lace may be such a trade off the lacemaker considers it not worth it, but certainly it is worth seeing what is out there. I think Alex's method of solving her problem is an excellent one. Take your pillow to the optometrist, show her/him the requirements. Also look into solutions for the low vision people and see if it will help. Use really good lights. Part of Susie Johnson's classes on Withof is a demonstration on the difference between the old-fashioned light bulb and a florescent bulb. Side by side, you see the difference, and you don't buy florescent. I asked her a few years ago about LED lights and she said we didn't have lamps that had enough of them. Well, I saw the right kind of lamps at the OIDFA convention in Caen this summer, and look forward to such lamps being available for the electric current of the US. Then I'll buy a new lamp or two. Lyn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, where the weather is turning more spring-like, but I still can't sit on the deck and make lace. It's too cold. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Lace and bad eyesight
Our local quilting shop in Illinois recommends the Stella Lamp, which I understand is fairly new out: http://stellalighting.com/market-sectors/sewing-fiber-arts/ It looked impressive, but I wasn't in the market for a new lamp, being very satisfied with my existing one. Sue Babbs - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Lace and bad eyesight
Dear Linda, This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. 18 years ago they had these things more like little cubicles, but a person all but totally blind could write checks, read things, personal letters. It might take a bit of doing, but it will work. I'm sure your friend is not the only one, as such a machine has been in use for more than 18 years. And with flat screens, this is doable, not just for lace, but for other uses as well, and not necessarily that cumbersome. The clarity would depend on the resolution of the screen, how small the little pinpoints of light are. Wouldn't necessarily want to take it to class, but that could be done, too. lrb Linda Walton wrote: I have a friend who has really poor sight, so poor that she has been registered blind for many years. Now let me say first of all that my friend does not make lace, but she does still do similar delicate and complicated hobbies. But her approach is not spectacles and magnifying glasses. Instead, her son has fixed up a web cam which she points at her handiwork, and the image is shown on an enormous screen. It can be shown at any magnification she likes, and is very bright and clear. (This is probably something to do with the pixels, but that is beyond my competence to explain, I'm afraid.) It does mean that she has had to learn to look at the screen rather than down at her hands, but I gather than it did not take her long, and it also means that she can sit without a bent neck - indeed in any postition she finds comfortable, even lounging in an armchair. Hoping this might help, Linda Walton, (in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where it's still /freezing!/ My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Lace and bad eyesight
I was legally blind until I was 24. Wore bifocal contacts. Then I got lasix. Best thing ever. Before that, I used to memorize the colors of a room so that if something happened to my contacts or glasses I could get around. Now I just make sure I have good light. In a few years I'll need to get readers because of aging which no ones found a fix for lol. On Thursday, March 28, 2013, Lyn Bailey wrote: My father was legally blind. His 20/20 was right up at his eyeball. He went to blind school for a couple years as a child. Yet he drove a car, was a thermonuclear physicist, and did everything anyone would do, except bird watching and art appreciation. Before we went someplace new, he would study and study the map, as street signs were probably beyond him. Daddy did not allow me to use the word, 'can't' when I was growing up. -- Michelle Writer / Web Designer http://michellejnorton.com http://denverfictionwriters.com - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
