Meet the Incredible Janice

Have you ever met someone and right away you know that they are special?  That is exactly the way I felt when I met Janice for the first time.   She came to one of my knitting classes; I believe it was the year-long color class that I was about to start teaching.  The thing about Janice is that she is always ready to learn something new and challenge herself in ways I admire.  You see Janice is blind.  When I was told that she was going to be in my class I was so nervous because all I could think was how visual knitting is, so how would I be able to show her what to do? Janice proved me wrong and showed me a whole other perspective on knitting.  She showed me that knitting isn’t just visual, it is also a technique which can be transferred with words and by feeling.

Janice grew up in Long Island in a working-class family.  Her dad was a butcher and her mom worked in the school cafeteria.  She had two sisters one six and one sixteen years older.  They were a close-knit family and the girls were very close, especially when they were older. Her dad worked six days a week, so they spent Sundays together.  They did things like fishing and there was always extra food on the table for people who dropped by on Sundays.  

Janice’s mother realized that Janice was blind when she was about six months old.  She discovered that Janice did not turn her head to look at things and did not exhibit a curiosity to see things.  Janice says that they were lucky they lived in New York as there were several active organizations for the blind and resources were therefore available to them.  Nurses taught Janice’s mother how to feed, care for and help Janice exercise.  Janice feels that the best thing her parents did for her was treat her just like her sisters.  

Janice attended her local neighborhood school. There was a school for blind children, but Janice would have had to leave home for that, and her parents wanted her to be able to live at home.  Traveling teachers came to her school and worked with her individually to help her to develop into an independent, young lady.  Janice was a good student and liked to read.  She still enjoys reading now and it is amazing the technology available to her to accomplish that.  She enjoyed music and played the trumpet in school.  She also learned to play the violin and piano and, later in life, learned the accordion.  She also attended ballet classes and was generally just “a regular kid”.

When Janice was eight, she attended a month-long summer camp for blind students in Vermont.  This was the first time that Janice met other ambitious, blind children who were, like her, also in the public-school system.  She recalls that they were very accomplished, motivated and smart.  She attended this camp for several consecutive years.  She recalls this experience very positively and it was something she always looked forward to.  

Janice attended Georgetown University in Washington DC where she received both her undergraduate and law degrees.  She majored in French and imagined herself working as an interpreter at an embassy or for the United Nations.  She had seen a news program where people spoke at the United Nations and she heard interpreters in the background which intrigued her.  Later she realized that that wouldn’t work out because she could not read documents.  She met her husband of 47 years in college.  She tells a very cute story about how she looked for readers by posting an advertisement on a wall, (she needed someone to read her textbooks to her) and he became her reader, and ultimately her husband.

Janice decided that she needed a profession and law seemed to be the most suitable for her because it included memorizing, reading and writing, at which she excelled.  She therefore stayed at Georgetown and earned her law degree.  When I asked Janice where she found the courage and the tenacity to do such amazing things, she said “You are given certain talents and you should use them.”  She said she never thought about not working, she always knew that she would have a career and work.

As a woman in the 1960-1970’s, career choices were limited and being blind, Janice’s options were even more limited.  Not many blind people were hired because employers had to make special accommodations for them.  However, if you know Janice you would know that any employer would be thrilled to have her.  She is incredibly smart and tackles every challenge head on and works until she gets through it.  She began her 30-year career in administrative law where she worked for the government to license power plants.  She recalls that she had a wonderful working experience and worked with great people.  She is so grateful for her career and glad her employer “took a chance on her” as they also had to hire someone to read for her.  

I asked Janice, “what do people always want to know about you?”  She said that they want to know how she does things like play the piano.  She has braille music.  Janice remembers everything.  Her mind is so sharp because she does not have her eyesight to continually look back at things, so she remembers them instead.  She said she went for an interview at Georgetown when she applied, and they were concerned about how she would do her laundry.  She assured them that she knew how to do laundry just like any other person!  

Janice started knitting in elementary school where every child has art class.  The question was, what could she do that would be meaningful to her.  The principal’s secretary at the school was a knitter and they asked if she could teach Janice to knit; and that was her art class.  Janice’s mom knitted so she had plenty of projects.  They enjoyed knitting together and knitted things like afghans, sweaters, vests and potholders.  After college Janice mostly knitted afghans and bedspreads.  After working for about ten years Janice put her knitting down for a while, she just had too much work to do.  

She moved to Colorado in 2010 when her and her husband retired and picked her knitting up again.  Now she enjoys knitting things that have a design.  She enjoys knitting sweaters, and just learned how to do socks which she really enjoys.  She does not care for projects that require a lot of sewing.  Janice enjoys knitting because “you create, and you end up with something that you can use.”  She likes the “fuzzy feeling” as she called it that knitting gives her when a project turns out well. Janice says, “knitting is fun, it keeps your mind active; thinking about what needs to be done.”  She says, “you put a lot of time into knitting and creating something for someone you love is very meaningful.” 

Janice hopes her future knitting includes learning new stitches.  She also says she has to knit lots of socks because she has bought a lot of sock yarn!  I think we can all relate to that!  She is planning another afghan or two and there are some shawls and ponchos that she would like to do.  Janice would like to learn brioche, do some more fair isle, and learn continental knitting.  She would like to do the Nightshift Shawl because it includes i-cord edges and bind off.  Janice has been learning Bavarian crochet and is intrigued to learn more about it.  She truly does like a challenge and she feels that straight stockinette gets boring after a while!

Janice claims that all of this talent and perseverance comes from her childhood and upbringing.  She said, “you get training and you just live your life.”  Her no-nonsense attitude inspires me every time I think of her and I wanted to share just a little bit of her with all of you.  Janice’s parents were so proud of her and delighted that she married, had a career and lived life on her own.  That is the life they wanted for her.  Janice’s last piece of knitting advice is, “you just keep working at it.  Each time you redo it, it becomes easier.”  You know, I am supposed to be “the teacher” but I have definitely learned more from Janice than I have taught her.  She doesn’t make excuses; she just keeps going even when it is hard. 

Knit with Love my Friend,