Knitting and Crocheting: Tips and Tricks

If you love to knit or crochet, or you’d like to learn, the good news is that vision loss doesn’t need to get in your way. With a few tips and tricks, you can create hand-made gifts, garments, and more, for years to come.

In this workshop, we’ll look at some ideas that come in handy when you’re working on a project. If you’re looking for some helpful ideas on finding the supplies that work best for you, check out our workshop on choosing yarn and tools.

Now let’s get started—and let’s begin with lighting. When you’re getting ready to work on any craft project, it’s always helpful to keep good lighting in mind. In the daytime, working near a window lets you take advantage of natural light.

Or you can light up your space with a desk lamp or a floor lamp. Using a lamp with an adjustable arm lets you direct the light where you need it.

While you’re working on your project, it’s also helpful to lay something across your lap in a contrasting color—like a towel or a pillowcase. That way, the piece you’re making can stand out better from the background.

One tricky thing about working with yarn is, it often wants to roll away. And it’s not easy to know where a rolling ball of yarn has gone. But putting it into a simple container helps keep your yarn in place. A leftover canister from cleaning wipes is a great choice.

Or you can use a large coffee can with a hole in the lid—or even a cardboard box. Just make sure the hole you cut is smooth enough, so it won’t snag your yarn.

If you label the outside of your container with a large-print, tactile or audio label, that makes it easy to know what color of yarn—or what project—is inside.

We talked about knitting needles, crochet hooks, and other basic tools in the first workshop in this series—but here are a few more accessories that can come in handy once you get started.

When you’re working on a project that needs to be sized just right, you might be used to creating a little test swatch—usually 4 inches square—to see if you need to adjust your stitches.

One way to measure your swatch is to use a measuring tape with large-print numbers, or with marks you can feel. For more tips on creating a swatch, see the resources.

Now here are a few more tools that can be helpful for knitting. Stitch stoppers are little bumpers—usually foam or rubber—that go onto your needles, to keep your work from sliding off when you set it aside.

They can help keep your work from unraveling when you move your project. And they can keep stitches from sliding off the back end of double-pointed needles, so you don’t have to watch to make sure they’re safe. If you don’t have stitch stoppers in your knitting bag, rubber bands can do the trick, too.

Another handy tool for knitting and crocheting with low vision, or no vision, is a set of stitch markers. You can buy these at a yarn store or craft store—or online—or you can use a small loop of contrasting-colored yarn.

Stitch markers are great for counting your rows and stitches by using your sense of touch. You can mark off the right number of stitches to keep track of a design, or keep track of how many rows you’ve finished.

Here’s a great technique to count how many rows you’ve completed, without having to rely on vision. Keep 10 pennies nearby while you work, along with a small jar. Every time you finish a row, drop one of the pennies into the jar.

And when you drop in the last one, add a stitch marker to the end of that row. Then take out the pennies and start the process again. Over time, you’ll be able to count your rows easily, by tens. Or you can adapt the technique to the number of rows you need.

As you gain more practice and build your skills, you’ll find even more ways to rely on your sense of touch while you knit or crochet.

One crochet technique that can help you rely less on vision is to use your fingertips to pull stitches over the hook, rather than using vision as you pull stitches through the loops. Bracing the bottom end of your hook against your body and holding the top end with the tip of your index finger helps free up your hands for this method. To learn more about helpful techniques, check out the Resources.

One final tip is to visualize what your hands are doing—without always trying to watch. As you practice this technique, you’ll rely less on vision—and more on muscle memory, a feel for the yarn, and the rhythm of your stitches—so you can keep making the projects you love.

As always, if you need more information or you've got your own tips to share, contact a Hadley learning expert. Of course, as with anything new, give yourself time, patience, and practice, and you'll get there.