A Stitch Above the Rest

[Guest guest]

I am blessed to call Knight " friend " .

P

Frederick, MD

BY CHRISTIE HARRISON-SARACINO

> SUNCOAST NEWS CORRESPONDENT

>

> When Knight walks into her weekly Pasco Knitters meetings at

> the SunTrust YMCA in New Port Richey, she lights up the whole room.

> Perfectly clad in denim jeans and a leather jacket, Knight sits

down

> and grasps a reporter's hand. Her presence is immediately felt.

> Knight, now 48 years old, spent the first days of her life as a

> premature infant in an incubator. She lost her hearing and

developed

> the progressively sight-robbing

> condition glaucoma. She was legally blind by her second birthday.

> As Knight greets her knitting cronies, all of whom she recognizes

by

> voice, and pulls out her current knitting project - a plum-

colored,

> cable-knit scarf

> - she continues chatting, revealing that neither her aural nor her

> visual impairments have hindered her ability to lead a full and

> active life.

> As a child, Knight engaged in many of the same activities as other

> children.

> " I didn't ride a bike, but we had a big tree with a sturdy branch,

> and so I climbed trees with my girlfriends and gossiped about

> school, " Knight explained.

> " I did everything, I was just more careful in doing it. "

> Feeling a dropped stitch, Knight retrieves it without flinching,

and

> then divulges how she developed a strong sense of self at a very

> young age.

> Her grandmother, she explained, not only taught her to perform

> household chores, but also taught her how to exude

> self-sufficiency.

> " My grandma is 84 years old and she has to be my greatest

> influence, " Knight said. " She and my granddaddy had to learn how

to

> raise a blind child. My grandmother

> pushed for my independence and she is the driving force who made

me

> the woman I am today. "

> Knight lives in New Port Richey with her second husband, Art, who

is

> also visually impaired. Both have guide dogs - hers a black lab;

his

> a golden retriever.

> Knight has a son and daughter from her first marriage, and two

> beautiful grandchildren.

> Putting down her cable-knit scarf, Knight picks up a pair of

> circular needles to work on a navy boucle poncho.

> " For over 40 years, I wore hearing aids, but in 2002 my doctor

told

> me I was eligible for cochlear implants, " Knight said. " I got my

> first in 2002 at Tampa

> General and my second implant came in November 2004. My husband

Art

> has been so patient about it. He really helped me get through the

> aftermath of the

> surgery. "

> With her two cochlear implants, Knight is ready to face anything.

> Prior to the surgery, Knight said, she was more of a homebody but

> following the procedures

> she gained the confidence to join Pasco Knitters.

> " Now, I feel like these people are so important in my life, "

Knight

> added Immediately, almost the entire room of men and women chime

in:

> " And you are just

> as important in ours. "

> Knight first learned to knit in 1972, when a neighbor offered to

> give her lessons. From then on, she was always interested in her

> handiwork, but sporadically

> picked it up and put it down several times over the years.

> She recently started, however, taking her craft more seriously.

> " Now, " she said, " I'm at it with a vengeance. "

> The group insists Knight can knit better blind than the rest of

them

> can knit sighted. In fact, her work is becoming so popular she has

> to tell friends

> to wait in line for the gifts of her knitting, because currently

she

> has another agenda.

> " The afghan I have on the go, I will give to a friend in Tampa who

> donates these types of works to charity, " Knight explained. " I've

> always wanted to contribute

> back to society. It's something different for me, and I'm always

up

> for a new challenge. "

> For Knight, the biggest challenge about knitting is not that she

> can't see her work, but the thinness of lacy yarns, like boucle,

> causes the yarn to snag

> on the needles. When Knight makes a mistake, however, she usually

> feels it immediately and promptly reworks the stitches in the

> section.

> Even outside the challenges of knitting, Knight minimizes the

trials

> she has faced throughout her life. She never uses her sense

> impairments as an excuse

> for not trying.

> " The difficulties have been twofold. My kids were a challenge, but

I

> could always tell if they were sick or doing something wrong just

> through touch, " Knight

> said.

> " My second challenge was less simple. I went all the way through

> school and completed the medical transcription program, but with

all

> of today's lawsuits,

> I didn't work in the field for fear of making errors. "

> In addition to knitting, Knight thoroughly enjoys audio book

tapes.

> Before cochlear implants, she could not listen to these books, but

> the technology behind

> her implants has allowed her to make good use of them, which she

> orders from the Talking Book Library in Daytona Beach.

> " The difference is night and day, " Knight asserts. " I love my

> reading. I like mysteries the best; they're my favorite. I can sit

> for hours and listen to

> my books while I knit; it's my way of relaxing. "

> She concluded: " You know, life has been a challenge, but a while

> back I realized something - I realized that life isn't going to

come

> to me. I just have

> to meet the challenges I am presented, go out in the world, and

say,

> 'Hey, here I am.' "

>