KRAFTERS DIVISION

Featured Member

January 1, 2011
by Loraine Stayer

Eileen Scrivani
New Jersey
Craft: knitting
Contact: etscrivani@verizon.net
Website:

Eileen Scrivani needed something to do as a hobby 20 years ago, when she finished college--she chose knitting. Because she lived and worked near the Chelsea area of Manhattan, she called FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology, which gave a six-week seminar on knitting. To be sure she would not have a problem taking the class as a blind person, Eileen called to let them know she was blind and wanted to talk to the instructor to make sure she could be tutored if needed. The instructor was amenable, and suggested she come in a few minutes early to each class. She was the only blind student. The class provided her with the basics of knitting and purling.

After six weeks, Eileen went home wondering about her next step. She called the National Library Services for the Blind (NLS), which sent her an instruction book in Braille, but she wasn't sure how to apply the complex patterns. The book, One Piece Knits That Fit by Margaret Hubert, may still be available from NLS. Eileen laughingly revealed that her first attempt at a baby's sweater could have fit a baby gorilla, but she got better at it.

Through a computer tutoring class at Baruch, Eileen was able to find someone who could knit and was willing to give her advice. They met on a Saturday to work together.

Eileen was determined to polish her skill. It took many years before she could make sweaters she felt comfortable wearing. Although Eileen admitted to frustration, she also commented that she was a determined person, and that determination led to polishing her skill.

In the late 1990s, with a better computer and Internet access, Eileen discovered tons of accessible information on line. She formed an email list of blind knitters. Being connected with other blind knitters gave her a lot of helpful information. However, email got a bit heavy, so she ended the list.

Locally, she started knitting with a church group, a prayer shawl group, and other groups that helped her expand her skill level. Computer access, Braille books and groups all came together at around the same time.

Eileen began her knitting lessons at FIT, and later paid out of pocket for private instruction to assist her in learning certain techniques that gave her trouble. In addition, she has obtained as many knitting books as she could find in Braille to enable her to improve her technique.

Eileen now finds accessible Web Braille and digital talking books through NLS and other knitting related materials quite helpful. However, in modern-day knitting books and magazines, more often than not, knitting patterns are presented as "charted" designs. These are designs presented graphically and therefore inaccessible to those who are blind. As knitters' skills advance and they take on more challenging instructions, this problem intensifies. Eileen feels that if the only accessible instructions are those for beginners, then it becomes more difficult for knitters to find challenges that enable them to increase their skill. With today's technology, it should be possible to adhere to accessible standards so this obstacle could be overcome.

Eileen and other blind knitters have contacted and continue to contact companies who publish and sell charted patterns and books to request that the materials be produced in alternative format, written out row-by-row directions as they were done twenty years ago. Eileen is not requesting that the charts be eliminated, as there are many visual learners. However, blind knitters need the directions written out so they will not be excluded from working on patterns that include charts. "I always say that my money buys the same yarns, patterns and books, but I am not given equal access to what sighted crafters are purchasing with their dollars," says Eileen.

Eileen currently teaches knitting classes through her participation with the Krafters Division. She knits for herself, friends and family, as well as producing prayer shawls for church groups and charitable knitting for various organizations and individuals in need. One of her service projects consisted of knitting helmet liners for those deployed in Afghanistan who often face brutally cold weather. She made six of them over the summer.

Eileen knits and listens to books or TV at same time. She finds knitting relaxing and meditative, a blind friendly skill that can be done anywhere. She says those in the Krafters Division and on the Krafters Korner listserv are friendly and encouraging. She has taken classes in other crafts, such as beading, hairpin lace, crochet, basket weaving, macrame and soap making.

Eileen lost her sight at the age of seventeen. She has been blind around thirty years. She has become more involved with the NFB through the Diabetics list and Krafters Korner. Although completely blind by the end of high school, she has done well. She owns a guide dog, as does her husband. Her determination has carried her though.