Crocheting Without Color: A Blind Crafter Talks About Color & Craft

I love to crochet and do so as much as I can but I do have the problem of not being able to see what I’ve made. Since I have retinitis Pigmintosa the world is a TV screen without a signal. This has not stopped my love of yarns and crocheting. I have worked with everything from the tiny cotton threads, to bulky rug yarns and double strand patterns. I love to experiment with stitches and patterns that just pop to mind. Shells, ripples, and stripes as well as our old favorite granny square have taken my fancy at one time or another

I also crochet when stressed and the more stressed I am the faster I crochet. I once made an entire rug in the waiting room of a hospital while a friend had surgery. The friend was fine and in one hour she had a nice rug along with her anesthetic.
I find this hobby very relaxing and even if I did learn to crochet while I still had vision I never stopped as the vision dissipated.
Now I for the most part crochet while reading a talking book or watching TV.

I had vision as a child and although it would be easy to ask the store clerk what color yarns are available and use my memory to imagine the way a certain project will look. I think it’s more fun to just grab whatever skein or ball of yarn is in my basket and start chaining a nice long beginning to another one of the nice toasty warm blankets that only I can love. I use one ball of yarn then grab the next one without any idea of what color it is or place it will occupy in the blanket. I don’t mind if it clashes or matches the next

…I finish each project without any knowledge of the final outcome. I then ask someone to tell me what colors I have used and in what order. Art? Inspiration? Or just plain luck? Maybe some of each with help from the forces that control the global color wheel. Oh, of course I have had some flops, like the hat that kept getting bigger and bigger and would have fit the nose of the space shuttle if I hadn’t stopped and unraveled, and the wonderful pot holders that just didn’t feel right. All in all my craft career has given me lots of restful time and it’s one way to keep warm even if I do just let the yarn fall where it may.