03 Jun Sabine’s Product Review: Craft Lamp
Crafting with a visual impairment – can a craft lamp help?
When knitting or crocheting becomes difficult because your eyesight isn’t what it used to be, your beloved hobby turns into a chore.
But there are small, inexpensive tools that can help bring the joy of crafting back.
Sabine tested a neck-mounted craft lamp for KnitAgain. In her detailed review, she describes how the magnifying glass has changed her daily crafting routine, what benefits it offers, and who it might be particularly suitable for.
Transparency Notice:
The product featured here was provided to KnitAgain free of charge by Carson for a product review. This review reflects the tester’s personal and independent opinion.
You can find the lamp at Wollke.shop . Wollke.shop is an online store that sells sustainable yarns and beautiful accessories, and I really like it. I don’t receive any sales commission!
Review by Sabine
Hi, I’m Sabine, 62 years old. I have nearsightedness and age-related farsightedness, and I can no longer knit socks very well in dim light (like when watching TV, without a bright overhead light). Especially with dark wool, I find it harder to make out the stitches than I used to.
The lamp arrived well-packaged, looks flawless, is lightweight, and is generally intuitive to use. I bought and inserted 3 AAA batteries. It comes with a very brief instruction manual—that’s all you need. The two light sources can be adjusted separately in two settings. The push buttons on each lamp could be a different color than charcoal gray (so they’d be immediately recognizable), and small “bumps” would make them easier to feel. But since there are only two possible settings, that’s not a problem. The lamp is easy to adjust by bending it to direct the light well onto my knitting needles. Where the lamp rests on the neck, it is coated with a velvety material. This makes it comfortable to wear. It is quite light. I didn’t find the weight bothersome; I’ve been wearing it for about 2–3 hours each evening while knitting socks over the past few days. Opening the battery compartment requires fine motor skills, which might not be quite as easy for those with limited hand mobility.
For me, the two brightness settings were sufficient; I didn’t try the lamp in the dark.
I could see the stitches more clearly, especially with dark-colored yarn, and knitting was easier; every now and then I adjusted the lamp.
I don’t think the lamp is very good for reading—it hangs too low. When I’m camping, I always use my headlamp instead. But that’s not good for knitting—it doesn’t provide enough light, and I get neck problems. I haven’t had any of that with this flexible lamp. Thanks to the two bulbs, there are hardly any shadows.
You can “roll it up” into a circle about 12 cm in diameter; a slightly smaller size would be even better for transport. That would also be a suggestion for improvement on my part, perhaps combined with a carrying pouch.
I would especially want to use this lamp in the winter, and I recommend it for people with visual impairments like me.
I would make the power buttons a different color and/or mark them with a small dot.
The lamp made knitting easier for me; with size 2 needles, I was able to work with fewer mistakes and my eyes didn’t get as tired. It would be nice if it were available in other colors. I probably wouldn’t have thought to look for a lamp like this on my own.
