[Nfb-krafters-korner] My paratransit afghan (long)

Fri Jul 29 22:27:48 UTC 2016

Hi Debee, it was so nice to virtually ride along with you today.
You described our Para Transit vans to a tee, I think that we'd get a 
smoother ride in an Army tank,lol.
Your afghan pattern sounds so simple to make, I have a pattern called 
Grandmas favorite Dishcloth that was taught here some time ago that has that 
diamond shaped pattern with the Y o's
We crocheters can also use this type of pattern with our favorite crochet 
stitches.
Thanks for sharing all of this with us.
One last thought, maybe you could download some of your favorite music onto 
a portable music device and have some ear buds to avoid the chatter.
happy and safe travels!
henry

-----Original Message----- 
From: Deborah Armstrong via Nfb-krafters-korner
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2016 5:44 PM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Cc: Deborah Armstrong
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] My paratransit afghan (long)

Someone asked me off-list about the paratransit afghan. I will explain
it here, since there's nothing about this that needs to bee off-list!

First, a bit of scene setting. The transportation happens in cargo vans,
modified Ford 350s that are designed for holding stuff, not people. they
don't have good shocks, so even minor bumpy rides feel like mild roller
coasters. Most passengers are in heavy power chairs or scooters,
strapped to the floor with things that resemble seatbelts. This is
Silicon valley where everyone drives, so it's not a mecca for the
visually impaired!

My job is on a main route to V.A. hospital so I'm mostly riding with
older folks with respirators or on kidney dialysis, or who have suffered
strokes. These are a chatty lot, and though especially after a long day
at work, I often want to read a good mystery, or just think quiet
thoughts, that luxury seldom occurs. Instead I learn all about
everyone's dog, grandson, aches, doctors and opinions. I mean no
disrespect for the elderly; I'm just cooped up with them for long
periods and don't like being rude. A typical one-way ride with multiple
stops is about 90 minutes.

So I decided I needed an activity that would keep me awake, willing to
listen and would handle the frequent stops and the roughness of the
ride.  My guide dog sleeps through it but I cannot.

I taught myself to knit on circulars, which was liberating because when
the driver wanted me to hop out quick to squeeze another wheelchair in,
I could jam the whole thing in to my purse, and be off the van in 15
seconds. Also if my phone rings, I can set it aside.

I carry my yarn in a ball in a heavy ziplock with a tiny hole punched in
the bottom to feed the tip of the yarn out. If I'm doing colors, it's
two ziplocks of different textures. I keep a rubber band around my wrist
to wrap around the tips of the needles at a moment's notice and I have a
small drawstring bag to stuff everything in to rapidly. I also
occasionally carry a cup holder, one of those that fits between the
window gap, and use it if I have a large ball of yarn. These are for the
20-ounce size of soft drink and cost a dollar on Amazon. I find them too
flimsy for a real drink but they are perfect for feeding and containing
yarn while traveling.

I knit circular things like hats and water bottle holders, but I also
knit as if I were using straight needles; the circulars are just more
convenient. Before I learned to use circulars I was always dropping
straight needles. I find metal is really slippery if you knit on a ride,
but plastic and bamboo have more friction. You can get cheap Clover
Takoomi bamboo needles on Amazon but I've come to really love the
plastic interchangeable set from Knit Denise, around $45 on Amazon. The
Knit Denise youtube channel is here:

     https://www.youtube.com/user/KnitDenise

and she does a great job of describing how to use them, almost as if she
knows some viewers are visually impaired.

One delightful advantage I found riding with all those seniors was they
would, if I asked freely offer opinions about the yarn and its color.  I
didn't have to go seeking sighted people to comment on the work or
materials and it was a lot more fun than hearing about how someone's son
is in jail!  Knitting helped me stop resenting and start appreciating
the people I rode with!

For the afghan, I wanted something pretty, but I couldn't count stitches
with Mrs. Smith yacking about politics or back pain in my ear. So I
decided to make it this way:
Cast on three stitches.
On each row, knit 1, do a yarn over, and knit the rest of the row.
You get a lacy triangle with tiny holes around the edges. Measure it
until it's the size you want, then start each row by knitting the first
two stitches together. Follow with a yarn over, then knit two more
stitches together to keep the decrease going. Eventually you get down to
three stitches and you bind off.

For beginners, a yarn over or YO is simply the tiny hole you get when
you wrap the yarn around the needle without knitting a stitch. Beginners
make them by mistake all the time. I was simply making the mistake in
the correct place!

You now have a square with lacy edges.

Collect all these squares, making them the same size, and sew them
together. I used Lion Brand's Amazing, which at that time came in 25
colors. I knitted one square in each color.

Amazing is described well by Lion Brand here:

http://www.lionbrand.com/amazing-yarn.html

Because this yarn is so variagated, the actual stitch pattern gets
visually lost. This is why it would be a bit of a waste to use a fancy
pattern on this kind of yarn.
People think the results look very advanced, but they aren't. A few
squares I messed up and had to do again -- no big deal.

I can purl too, but this is the easiest thing to make while others are
trying to converse with you. It feels even prettier if you purl a solid
row before starting to decrease by knitting two together at the start of
each row. Sighted people seem to not notice the purling with the
colorful yarns. But I think it adds to the tactile aesthetic of the piece!

When I sewed, I tried to keep the slightly thicker edge where I had knit
two together on the outside.

I finished it off with the chain stitch, using my fingers because I
don't know how to crochet. I just took black yarn of the same weight
category and created a chain all around in the loops of the stitches
along the edges of the afghan.

--Debee

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