Dry eyes when sewing or knitting

Sewing and knitting dry out eyes mainly because close focus slows blinking. Threading needles, counting stitches and following patterns can cut blinks way down, and the warm lamp and heated room you craft in during winter dry the air further. Take a break every 20 to 30 minutes, look across the room and blink slowly, keep lamps from shining heat at your face, and add humidity to the room.

Why close work dries eyes

Each blink spreads a fresh layer of tears across the eye. When you concentrate on something small and close, like the eye of a needle or a tricky cable stitch, you blink less often and often not all the way. The surface of the eye has more time to dry between blinks, and the bottom part, which partial blinks miss, can feel especially dry.

Crafting also tends to keep your gaze slightly downward and fixed, without the natural shifts that happen when you look around a room. After an hour, that adds up to tired, gritty or watery eyes.

Holiday crafting season

The weeks before the holidays are when many people sew stockings, quilt, knit scarves and finish gifts on a deadline. Sessions get longer and later. It’s also when the furnace runs the most, so the room is drier than at any other time of year. Our guide to winter heating and dry eyes explains why heated air is drier.

• Set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes and look up when it goes off.
• Break a big project into sessions instead of one long marathon.
• Finish the most detailed work, like fine hand stitching or lace, earlier in the day when your eyes are fresher.
• Keep a glass of water nearby.

Lamps, light and heat

Good light reduces squinting, which helps your eyes. But an older incandescent or halogen lamp close to your face also gives off heat that dries the air right where you’re looking. LED task lamps run much cooler. Position the lamp to light your work from the side or above rather than pointing toward your face.

• Use a daylight-style LED lamp aimed at the fabric, not your eyes.
• Avoid sitting with a space heater or fireplace blowing toward your chair.
• Choose yarn and thread colors that contrast with your lap cloth or work surface so you don’t have to strain.
• A magnifier lamp can help with fine work, so you’re not leaning in close.

Sewing machine and quilting setups

Machine sewing has its own pattern: staring at the needle and presser foot while the fabric moves, often under a small, bright machine light. Quilters spend long stretches at cutting mats and ironing boards too. Steam from an iron puts a bit of moisture in the air, but a hot iron near your face also adds heat.

Sit at a height where you look down at the machine slightly, not straight ahead or up, which keeps your eyes less wide open. Look away at the end of each seam. If your sewing room is a basement or spare room with a heater, check whether it’s blowing at you.

Add moisture to the room

A humidifier in your crafting space can help keep air from getting too dry in winter. Our guide on whether a humidifier helps dry eyes covers what to look for and how to keep one clean. A bowl of water near a radiator or houseplants nearby add a little moisture as well.

Fibers and lint

Wool, mohair, angora and fleece shed small fibers, and cutting fabric and batting sends lint into the air. Rubbing your eyes with fiber-covered fingers transfers it right where you don’t want it. Wash your hands during breaks, keep a lint roller handy, and shake out projects away from your face.

Using lubricating drops while you craft

Quell’s label lists its Uses as: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. It’s designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, which matters when your blink rate drops. The directions read: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. One natural time is before you start a long session.

Wash any yarn fibers or lint off your hands first, and follow the handling line: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination. Keep the bottle in your sewing basket only if the room stays within the label’s storage range: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A bottle is .33 fl oz (10 mL), so it fits in a notions box. The full panel is on the Drug Facts page.

When to see an eye doctor

If you can’t focus on close work the way you used to, the issue may be your glasses prescription rather than dryness; an eye exam sorts that out. Eye pain, vision changes, or irritation that won’t go away need an eye doctor too. The label says: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours. Our dry eye self-check can help you think through next steps; it’s not a diagnosis.