I taught myself how to knit about a day or two before the optic neuritis that was one of my first clues that I had MS hit. (August 2006) I was half blind for the better part of four or five months, and stayed in my bedroom in the dark for the first two or three months. I pretty much learned to knit in the dark.

Knitting kept me from going completely nuts from boredom for that year. (color vision was fubar for most of the year) I've been crocheting since I was about 5 or 6yrs old, the optic neuritis had me so freaked out that I just couldnt really concentrate on crocheting much. But the knitting was new and I had tried to learn a few times over the years, I had finally learned how to do it, so I pretty much just sat and tried to knit a really ugly scarf that first year. (it was UGLY!!!)

I finished my UGLY scarf about 9 months after the optic neuritis hit. Garter stitch, no mistakes in it (still havent learned how to fix mistakes) and it was the ugliest yarn I had in my stash. (color vision was horrible at the time) My dad loves that scarf tho. (he was my knitting teacher for when I had questions. He learned in Alaska in the 60s)

Last year when my left hand went numb I quit using knit stitch to make garter stitch. Switched and started doing purl stitch instead to make garter stitch. I knit continental (yarnover with my left hand), but I purl English. (throw the yarn with the right hand) Made it easier for me to get my yarn fix, since having a numb left hand also kept me from crocheting.

Now that my fingers work again, I'm crocheting more, but having a ton of fun with the knitting. I'm knitting dishcloths and crocheting fingerless mitts and making some shawls. I just hate doing the finishing where I have to hide the yarn ends. (that's boring)

Good thing my yarn stash stayed dry. We're having a nice (ok, crappy) blizzard today and I need something to keep me from going bonkers from the snow.

I'd like to do some sewing with my sewing machine, but my fingers are still a bit too clumsy from being slightly numb that I'm afraid that I'll sew my fingers up and I'm not sure I'd be able to get my eyes to focus enough to be able to thread the machine's needle. At least I can crochet and knit with my eyes closed.