HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-11-13, Page 220
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WOUND UP— Before the thread is woven into cloth, it first
must be wound on the warping frame above. Despite her
handicap, Miss Martin knows exactly where each of the
threads must go. She then removes the material from the
. frame to thread her loom. (Staff Photo)
IN THE RED — Ribbons that is. Above, Miss Martin dis-
plays two more first place ribbons to add to her collection.
They were awarded for a multi -colored handbag and the
woo! shawl she is displaying. (Staff Photo)
Vietta Martin, blind since childhood
ALL SMILES — This is where Vietta Martin works from she still finds tittle to flash a smile from behind her loom.
early in the morning 'till late at night. Despite the workload, (Staff Photo)
Determined to be self-supporting
through weaving and Ieathercraf
By Marilyn Duff
DRAYTON — Watch Vietta
Martin working at her loom. With
her dark hair neatly parted in the
middle and pulled back under a
lace prayer cap, she plies her
shuttle back and forth with -
amazing dexterity.
But Vietta.,,Martin, a Waterloo
Markham Mennonite willnever
be able to see what others see in
her work. You see, she can't see.
Miss Martin has been blind
since her eighth year. She lost her
sight over 30 years ago in a
schoolyard incident when a snow-
ball aimed at so` neon else
hit me. It was a complete acci-
dent."
Eventually the sight in her
other eye began to deteriorate
until it left her completely blind
several years ago.
Today, she sits working at her
loom sometimes" -from six in the
morning until late at night.
She's determined to become
self-supporting, an ambition she
hopes to . realize primarily
through her weaving and leather -
craft. Self-supporting, despite the
fact that she now cares for her
aging mother, who recently had a
heart attack and despite the fact
struck her in the eye. that materials that she needs are
, "It was a mild winter day," she becoming increasingly hard to
said. 'We were just coming out of ter
school when it happened. One of Miss -Martin has been weaving
the boys..thre* a snowball at one for over 10 years now. And al -
of the•bigger girls. It missed and though she's very modest, she's
collected dozens of first prize
ribbons at different craft shows.
Six Firsts
Last summer at the Canadian
National Exhibition, she brought
home six firsts and a second. At
one point when she entered a
competition against the sighted,
she :also -brought home a .first.
Her work can be seen at the
Drayton Fall Fair, to be held this
month, the Drayton Tulip Festi-
val,
estval, the Maple Syrup Festival in
Elmira and Eltnira's Sap Bucket
crafts shop.
She sends some of her work as
far away as a craft shop in New
Brunswick \ and also sells from
her home, RR 2, Drayton. She
can be contacted at 638-2624,
except Sundays.
If the loss of her sight was an
accident, Miss Martin also
learned to weave as the result of
an accident.
"After I finished public school,
I put in time on father's farm,
helping with the milking and
WINNING WAYS — Vietta Martin, above, displays a rug,
,oven aro her Boom, which wan a first at the CNE. Miss
Martin, is very modest about her talent, despite the fact she
has literally dozens of red ribbons. (Staff Photo)
Crossroads
Pubhshed every Why as the big. action c -country section to
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1jD.CW•
WORDS OFTEN MISUSED
Do of say. "Don't lees tell
turn our secret." Say, "LET'S
NOT tell him our secret."
Distirislh between EXPE-
DIENT (advaz ag eoos ;desirable )
and EXPEDITIOUS (quickly
done; Rte). Thus: "Your
solation segs EXPEDIENT,"
and.. "Rave you a claire EXPE-
DITIOUS cnetl od?''
Do act say. ''Our recorcls
date back to ffio." Much better
to say, "oar records date FROM
l950.—
Do
am®."Do cmt say, "I don't mow d
rite cs ern or cot.'' Say. "I
don't know WHETHER OR NOT
ate is eazz..•'
OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED
Papaya. Pronounce pay-pa--
ya. ac,cers second syllable.
Sa n erne . (rilse). Pronounce
so-azari, accent sed syllable.
R.esge. Mimes wry "e as-
ki2."
C .ulnae. Accern SEC-
MED
EC-
G D syllable. cot tbe nrst, as
soee!tiessd.
Ctatse 1! e. Proexs
she z-Dq, acne= o® seed
word Acta c4 as" cb se Ione,"
often besrd_
IICE6 STUDY
"Ulm a woad three tines and
pt lis yours.— Let cs terse
us3 vq ab aTy by rsair.teriag oaf
word etzb day. wac;""s for Cies
Ceasezi :
NEVES. a int d comae -
Wm. a tie; a fait. V. Elan
cow azye turins of cans*
smt,
Dt3PAW E : to CUSS or
smolt d dpt at env.
er=pc . be *. "A grod ries
des cot &swags age efforts
dam,"
CCWITIMINCY:
teen but p.a,e
cepa of an tayeM4ns are
pct for arY
other chores," she said.
;' "But after all my brothers and
sister left home, I hadn't enough
to do. I really began to feel back
in the bush. I felt down all the
time. I felt there was no future in
life."
Started Braille
Put that changed the day she
asked her older sister for a
Braille wrist watch. Her sister
found the only place she could get
what she wanted was at the
Canadian National Institute for
the blind.
When the CNIB found out about
her, they immediately sent out a
teacher.
"I can still remember the day
my teacher arrived," said Miss
Martin. It was Feb. 20, 1961. I'll
never forget it. I was so afraid I
couldn't learn."
At that time, .Miss Martin still
had about one per cent vision left
in her good eye.
"To most people one per cent is
nothing. But to mei it meant a
. tremendous difference. Even
with one per cent I could still see
windows and shapes. But now I
can't tell the difference between
night and day. -
The first thing she learned was
Braille. Because she was still
afraid she couldn't learn, Miss
Martin's brother, who's sighted,
studied it with her for a short
while.
To her surprise, however, she
found that Braille wasn't so diffi-
cult. Weaving, on the other hand
took a lot of patience, she dis-
covered.
She learned the fundamentals
on a small handloom, and then
progressed to the loom she now
" , on loan from Wellington
County.
The hardest thing about weav-
ing Miss Martin finds is setting
up the yarn properly on an in-
credibly complicate& set of
treadles. Quite frequently, her
nephews and nieces help her with
this chore as she can't do it all by
herself.
As for colors, Miss Martin has
everything labelled in Braille so
she won't pick up yellow thread
when it's red she's after. "Where
there's a will, there's a way," she,,
said.
Rugs, baby blankets, shawls,
aprons and placemats are the
most popular articles she -sells.
But if at the end of a busy day, a
slight flaw is discovered in one of
her articles — usually due to the
fact that the loom has not been
threaded properly, that article
will never be seen at the shows or
bazaars.
"I've got my name to think
about,'said Miss Martin.•My re-
putation is all I've" really got."
AN INCH IN TIME— Above, Miss Martin useS a Braille tape measure just to be sure her
work is yniform: All her thread is also labelled by color in Braille. The bruise on her eye
was acquired in a recent fall.
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