Designing While Visually-Impaired

One little known fact about Amanda is that I'm visually impaired.  In this day and age, it's so easy to hide behind a screen, so very few people actually see me anymore. 

I've always had crappy vision, thanks to genetics.  I started wearing glasses when I was four years old.  I was told that I was sitting too close to the television, which they told every kid no matter if they had bad genetics or not.  My first pair of glasses was navy blue and had the logo for E.T. (yeah, that old movie) on the sides.  I never let my poor vision stop me.  I'd read late into the night with a flashlight.  I'd take off my glasses on roller coasters and experience the sensation of the ride in a new way.  And I still sit uncomfortably close to all my screens so that I'm practically seeing pixels.  

My mom insisted that I start wearing contact lenses when I was twelve.  It was the best birthday present, because I was becoming more self and socially aware leading into my adolescence.  Thanks, mom!  Contacts made me feel normal, even though there was a lot of trial and error with them.  I had started with disposables, which we later learned were bad for allowing oxygen into your eyes and would scratch my corneas.  Then I switched to gas permeables and I can't tell you how many times I've lost a lens or slept in them.  More times than I can remember. After the shutdown of 2020, I stopped wearing my contacts.  I'd just wear my glasses because I didn't have anyone to hide my glasses from except my husband.  Now I almost wear glasses exclusively because I'm a homebody and in my older age, I don't really care what people think.  Word from an elder, stop caring what people think, it's only going to hold you back.  But anyways!

I went to the eye doctor last year and they told me that I'm on track for Macular Degeneration and I've got cataracts.  I'm in my forties, and way too young for this nonsense, but it is what it is.  Macular Degeneration is when your retina is damaged and you start getting blurry vision.  And cataracts! These also slowly cause blurry vision, and doctors won't do anything with them until they're bad enough.  So how does someone design pixel by pixel with poor vision like this?

VERY CLOSELY.

Yes, these are my glasses

That's the simple answer.  I'm practically making out with my laptop screen when I design.  I have to change the view size of my project repeatedly to get better perspective.  And for the last couple years, I always test stitch every pattern I release.  This is to make sure I've gotten color and placement correct.  Fortunately I don't have issues identifying colors, but the blur is forever.  I don't know how long I've got in my design journey because of my vision, but I've started to become more decisive in what I spend my time on.  I'm fortunate that I can design full-time, but it takes me a long time to get from 10 stitches in a pattern to 1000.  I don't want to think about not being able to stitch.  I find it so cathartic and it brings me such joy.

Some pro tips for taking care of your eyeballs for stitching (and generally) 

• Have the best lighting.  You can get a fancy desk lamp, floor lamp, headlamp, whatever.  Many of them are much cheaper than you think!  Sitting by a window for day light is the best.  If you're shopping for a lamp, daylight bulbs can get hot and give a slight blue cast, which can distort some colors. 

• Make sure you are holding your project at the correct distance from your eyes. To find this position, hold your work at arm’s length then gradually bring it towards you until you can see it clearly. If you then continue to bring it nearer, you will find another point where it starts to become indistinct again. You need to make sure you hold your work at a distance between these two points where you can naturally see it most clearly.
  

• Try a magnifier or reading glasses.  If you're using a magnifier, try to look at your pattern and your stitching through the magnifier, otherwise your eyes will stress from alternating your views so quickly.

• Consider stitching on higher counts of fabric.  For example, if 18 count is getting a little too tense on your eyes, shift to 16, 14, or even 11 counts.

• If you catch yourself squinting, you're in the danger zone.  Be sure to take frequent breaks from your screens. 
  

• Stitch from a PDF. You can zoom in as much as you need on a PDF! If you use a third party app, like PCStitch or Markup-XP, you can also mark off your stitches so you can train your eyes to not focus on the stitches you've already done on the screen.

• Stitching on dark fabrics?  Lay a white blanket/towel on your lap, so it brightens up the holes in your fabric.  You can also use a lightboard if that works better for you logistically.
  

Anyways, that's my vision story! Hopefully this explains why all my designs are kind of weird. 🙃 What do you think? What tips do you have that lessen the strain on your eyes while stitching? If you like what I do, feel free to subscribe to blog updates! I love validation! Click me to submit your email address!