Pin of the Week: Finger Yoga

Since I have been sidelined by a crafting-related injury that has made my hands and arms hurt, I’ve been researching some stretches and things that can make my hands and arms a little stronger and healthier.

It just happened that I came across a pin for Finger Yoga the other day, and while I haven’t explored it completely it does look like it has some interesting stretches, nicely illustrated with big pictures.

It uses the traditional language of yoga to describe these “poses,” including backward arches, forward folds and twists. You’ll find some traditional yoga mudras (hand poses) as well as other stretches that I imagine are also good for people who spend too much time at the computer as well as too much time at the knitting needles (and I happen to do both, so I’m excited to delve into this one a little deeper).

Some of these are downright scary looking to me — remember that you should be really gentle with yourself, don’t stretch to the point of pain and if something does hurt, stop doing it!

Want to follow my Pinterest knitting board? You can find it at that link right there!

[Photo via Finger Yoga.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve been enjoying knit amigurumi animal patterns lately (see also: this adorable knit pigeon) and of course being a knitter I love llamas.

So when I saw this little llama pattern I knew I had to share it.

The appropriately named Llama patter from Annie Ahn calls for fingering weight yarn, and it uses two colors for the body and three for the little blanket. The pompom can be made to match or in another color. All of these parts take tiny amounts of yarn so you can use whatever scraps you have left over from socks or other projects and change colors whenever you need to.

It might also be fun to use some mohair or other fuzzy or textured yarn on this one to give your llama a different look. In all the project uses between 100 and 150 yards, or 91-137 m, of yarn and the llama comes out about 10 cm/4 inches tall.

The body of the llama is worked in one piece, so this project is suited to intermediate knitters or those who have comfort working in the round and with all those little pieces.

This one is made to be small so you can carry it around with you (it would be super cute on a keychain or as a zipper pull) but I think it would be a lot of fun to knit this in larger yarn, too, to make a bigger llama. You could even make a whole family in different sizes just by using different weights of yarn and corresponding needles.

The details are so cute, from the shaggy hair to its little accessories, but you could make it plain or change it up by knitting a tiny scarf or even working a little fair isle pattern on the legs or body. So many fun possibilities!

The pattern is available on Ravelry in English and Korean.

[Photo: Annie Ahn]

Next Pattern:

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