Okay, so today I knitted up a really cute, whimsical scarf for my 3 yr old; I crocheted a belt for my niece in a hemp-like material (apparently very in at the moment); crocheted a scarf; and worked on my Baby Blocks blanket.http://www.debbiemacomber.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=nnp&pageID=194
My fingers are really bruised on my right hand from crocheting and my neck is stiff from knitting. :waah:
Any tips or suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Bruised fingers sounds like gripping too hard. The sore neck sounds like you need to take more frequent breaks to stretch and move around.
you’re too tense.
for the crochet hook: go to walmart, in the stationary department pick up a package of those soft foam grips for pencils if you’re using smaller hooks, I used to put a cotton ball around the middle of my hook and then use scotch tape to hold it in place (i gripped my hook way too tightly).
for the shoulders and neck, dont’ sit hunched up. find a comfy chair (i stole my dh’s ergonomic desk chair, it’s way comfy or i’ll sit on the couch with my feet up on the ottoman and have the pillows adjusted behind my back with a regular pillow across my lap to help support the weight of the project i’m working on). get up every 20 minutes or so and do neck and shoulder circles to loosen them up. I made the mistake of doing a crochet marathon for a week… i didn’t sleep, didn’t clean… only got up to refill my drink, bathe, and use the restroom…
Pulled a bunch of muscles stretching after staying curled up on the couch to do the afghan.
Hobby Lobby has foam grips for crochet hooks, and I imagine you can find them elsewhere too. But it would be better in the long run to learn not to grip so tightly. Also don’t sit for hours at a time, get up at least every hour and walk around for several minutes, stretch out your arm muscles, and wiggle your neck and shoulders.
oh dear, I echo mason when i say that it’s probably way too much tension. I highly doubt that fingers are supposed to bruise from simply crocheting/knitting. Look on the net for some hand excercises you can do every 20 minutes/ half an hour. Sit in a comfortable chair too, a recliner if you have one. Knitting/ crochet should never leave you worse off than before you started.
As the Yarn harlot says “You’re not diffusing a bomb, it’s just yarn, relax”