Knitting

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Ideas to Help Make Knitting More Comfortable

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how to make knitting more comfortableI have long had RSI (repetitive strain injury) problems with my hands, wrists and arms when I knit too much. It can be anything from pain to numbness to stinging to stiffness, and it keeps me from knitting as much as I’d like (and I haven’t been knitting much at all lately because I’ve been on the computer too much, which also hurts my hands and arms).

I know all the right things to do — stretch before, during and after knitting sessions, rest between rows, sit with my arms propped up, use circular needles, ice when I need to — but I don’t always actually do those things, so it’s nice to be reminded what’s best for our bodies when we knit so that we can do it comfortably for longer periods.

This post from Love Knitting has a great rundown of things you can do to make knitting more comfortable, and it covers a lot of the ground I just mentioned, as well as a few other things.

I’d love to know what you do to make yourself comfortable and to avoid or recover from knitting-related injuries.

[Photo via Love Knitting.]

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Comments

  1. Too late for me. I knitted my way to carpal tunnel syndrome. It was my own fault for knitting for hours & hours every day of the week so am glad to see this being addressed here. My first surgery is in 2 weeks and then the other hand will have surgery 8 weeks later. Avoid obsessive knitting or you will end up like me.

  2. I have RSDS have had for 20 yrs just in my left hand and I am left handed I agree if I over use it I get into trouble thanks for the exercises brings me back to the days of PT !!!! Pace yourself !!!

  3. I got the pains in thumb and forefinger from knitting and crocheting for hours on end each day so badly I had to rest my hands for two whole weeks. What I did to end the pain was to change the positions of my fingers: for crocheting, I altered how my right thumb was angled during my work> I just slightly bent my thumb instead of having it turned up on the hook, as most people do and were taught to hold the hook. In knitting I just barely changed positions of my fingers on the needle and yarn, it took some getting used to, but it worked!! The pain does not arise on account of stress on the digit, but because of the repetitive motions. Once you alter your hand/finger position just slightly, it will stop the repetition on the same joint(s).

Have you read?

Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

  • the simple cinching method mentioned above
  • sewing the stitches together
  • three needle bind off
  • grafting
  • crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!