Renee Van Hoy Designs Innovative Patterns for Loom Knitters

I am very excited to announce that because of help from a wonderful knitting designer, Nicky Jensen, the Accessible Patterns Index is a reality!

http://accessiblepatternsindex.com

We are building it now, but you can already find links to 65 designers who have written patterns to be accessible for the blind and print challenged. What does that mean? 

Large font, a minimum of 22 - 24 point; sans serif font. All black text, no italics, and best of all - all of the directions are fully written out. If there is a chart, the pattern must be able to be made without reference to the chart. In addition, many of the patterns have been specially written for screen readers. They have fewer abbreviations and have been tested for clarity. We have about 600 knitting, crochet and loom knitting patterns that we will be adding individually. We are also indexing books from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Bookshare, and other sources in press braille, digital braille and digital audio. These books have not been specially formatted in the way the patterns are, but are transcriptions of the original print books.

The index relies on donations to pay for the host site, so if you like the idea please consider making a small donation .

If you are interested in learning to write accessible patterns, all proceeds from sales of my course on Writing Accessible Patterns for the Blind and Print Challenged support the index. The course includes a 45 minute recording of a live class, course materials and checklists, and a free pattern review.