Ok - I've finally had to make the switch to readers and distance to correct my vision enough to stitch, read and drive.
Love the distance - I can do 80% of my normal daily stuff with them, even the computer if I up the font size a few points
Reading is a dream and stitching is getting better. But not fast enough for me...I don't know if it because I hold my head differently to stitch than to read. Or if I'm still too distracted by the TV not being in focus if I look up...
So any advice from those of you who use "readers" to stitch?
Maybe you would be better with progressive lenses or varilux as we call them. They enable you to see close, middle and far distance. I have been wearing them for nearly 30 years. Hugs Shirley
Actually, I'm one of the 10% that can't do bifocals - it's a combination of my astigmatism and my other vision issues made it so that I was had constant headaches. My doctor and I tried several things and this is the best for me.
I have not tried beading yet - I suspect simple stringing will work no matter what, it's the detail work of crimping etc I'll need my readers.
I found I couldn't get on with bi-focals that were graduated, it seemed as though the floor was rising to meet me as I walked ! So I chose contacts and they did really well for nearly 35 years until I had the cataracts done, now I only wear readers (from the drug store) for extremely fine print.
For glasses when the contacts were out, I resorted to what they call 'slab off' bi-focals. The sort that have a small area of visible different strength. Maybe not so hot to look at, but in fact, the optometrist told me that the actual focussing area with that technique is better. In the graduated ones the viewing area is smaller and she did tell me it is not uncommon for people to have difficulties with them.
Do you think if you picked up el cheapo drug store specs just for stitching it might be easier ? Take some stitching with you to check, working up to the strongest.
After that, wait til you get old enough for cataracts, life is sweet then - one of the few benefits of age !
Hmm- for me using the readers took a little practice. And I've made sure that I can see over the frames of mine - I look thru them to stitch, but if I'm in the TV vicinity, am able to raise my eyes above to look over. As you've said, may have to do with your head position, where your stitching is
- are you in hand, or on a frame. For me, once I started using a stand of some sort - even my little lap stand - in my lap - keeping the piece a pretty constant distance for focal length - helped. Same reason I like using magnifier clamped to piece or stand - so it's not moving around and making me seasick ;^)
Did you not get a pair of bi-focals so that you could do distance thru top and read thru bottom? I've actually seen some folks put readers on in front of their normal specs (distance, I guess). Maybe you'll have to do the bi-focal thing for stitching so that you can watch TV and stitch. My friends that wear them said it took some adjusting, but now love them. Personally, since I don't wear glasses for anything else except stitching/reading I don't have that disturbance when I peer over the top. Hope it all works out soon. Maybe it's going to books on tape or music for the other background when you're stitching instead of TV.
Bifocals just didn't work - there are some folks that just don't make the adjustment. A big part of the problem was night driving for me - the headlights/taillights would starburst with the bottoms (also a problem with the combined script) and make night driving exhausting.
Well - I'm off to read a bit before bedtime. Driving to and from the rink in the snow was tiring.
Oh dear. Please watch the floaters carefully and don't hesitate to have someone drive you to an eye doctor immediately. Don't walk and don't drive and don't bend and don't lift if you have a serious problem, and you will know if that happens just by what you're seeing.
I've had tears in the retina in both eyes and was very fortunate to have a very fine ophtalmologist right near where I worked and was able to get superb laser treatments immediately and save the sight in my eyes. It happened exactly one year apart in my case.
I know I sound like doom and gloom, but it scared me witless and I still go to the ophalmologist every six months to check my eyes.
Aha! THAT'S who took my snow. Thanks Cheryl!! I have several friends who have trouble with night driving--our eyes differ greatly on how quickly they recover from headlight glare, especially as we get older (well, add more years; we will never be old). And snow doesn't help one bit with the glare either.
If you have astigmatism or your eyes don't match, it's the only way to go. Of course one *could* get a pair of prescription glasses for each magnification one required . . .
I've also had good luck with a neck-hung magnifier when I wanted small magnification a little farther from my eyes.
Thanks for posting this Lucille, I didn't realize that could happen. I've had floaters since I was 20 and I go to the eye Dr. bi-annually for a different vision issue, so I never realized the floaters could be a harbringer of something that serious. The Dr never mentioned it. Margaret in MA
I know the drill and I see Dr Riddle yearly for checks. He's sure, given family history, that I will have cataract surgery, quoting him, "on the young side".
I inadvertently gave myself a little laser eye surgery many years ago. Not realizing some had knocked my optic bench, just flipped on the laser and got a shot in the eye. Missed everything vital and just have the tiniest scar in my left eye just above the retina. Spent two days at home with a killer head ache and no lasting side effects.
I dunno, I think there are maybe two types of floaters. My eye doctor was aware I had them, she would examine them but they just floated until the brain adapted to them being there and one no longer saw them. I even had one that created a patch of grey area in my vision, I went to see her and she determined there was what they call a web floater and it would just take longer for the brain to eliminate seeing it moving around.
Cheryl, I have severe astigmatism in one eye and the other is far sighted so I know exactly what you mean about wearing glasses, especially bifocals. I have worn glasses since I was five but it was not until a few years ago an ophthalmologist explained why I got queasy walking around with my glasses on!
I've got different glasses for different things - reading, stitching, computer, and driving. The reading glasses are 3x, the stitchers are
10x - both of those pair are sort of half frames so I can peer over them at the TV or out the window. The computer glasses are my only bifocals - the upper is for middle distance so I can read the monitor and the lower is for close up reading for the papers on the desk. They are also a narrow frame so I can look over the top. Then I have two pair of driving glasses - one is tinted for sunny days, the other not. That was cheaper and more effective than getting the Transition lenses that change tint.
I get new frames ever other year and set of lenses per year with our insurance, so I rotate through which glasses get replaced. This year I had to pay for new frames for my needlework glasses since the old frames were literally falling apart and I was not due for new frames. My old computer glasses that got scratched are my "shopping" glasses that stay in my purse so I can read labels when I go out to stores. I have two pair of reading glasses so one can stay in the bedroom and the other next to the comfy chair for reading in front of the TV.
My husband makes fun of my herd of glasses but this works better for me than trying to use one type of lens for everything. Even when I tried contacts (the "new ones" for astigmatism) I still needed sunglasses, reading and needlework glasses. Not a big reduction in numbers there!
Don`t you have bi-focals or Varifocals, Cheryl? Fixes all of those problems - you soon get used to looking through the right part of the specs for each situation - I`ve had `em for years. I found the only problem when I first used them was the fact that you tend to "miss" the first (or last!) step when using the stairs - but you soon get used to that.
I have cataracts now and find I do better both stitching and reading with no specs at all, but that`s just me, and will be put right once I have the cataracts removed. At the moment we`ve both seen FAR too much of doctors and hospitals this year already, so am in no hurry for a while!!!
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