If you are somebody who loves to knit blankets or clothes, then you’ll know that sometimes you can end up with pain in your fingers or in your wrists. You don’t have to have a name for conditions such as repetitive strain injury or even arthritis for knitting sessions to become uncomfortable.
Knitting can cause anybody of any age some pain, and if it’s important to you to continue knitting, then it’s important to you to continue to examine the problem to prevent it from getting worse. Here are some of the things that you can do to knit more comfortably.
• Choose the right needles. You need to have the right equipment to be able to knit comfortably. For example, if you were one somebody who used to love crochet before moving on to knitting, then you’ll know that you can get an ergonomic crochet hook to help you to crochet more comfortably. You could do the same with knitting needles. Finding knitting needles that are designed to sit in your hand comfortably is so important because you’re going to be moving a lot.
• Stretch. It can be caused by the way that you sit, but often it’s the way that you tense your yarn that causes you to have cramps in your hands and arms. Stretching them out can really help you to avoid any further pressure. Stretching out your hands and arms as you knit clothing or blankets will help. You can do the mattress and the upward palm stretch from the videos on YouTube to relieve stress and tension in your hands.
• Go lighter with your needles. We talked about finding the right needles for when you’re knitting, but you should really think about going lighter with them. Working on those larger projects on straight needles can become more heavy, which means you’ll end up adding stress to your hands and arms. Many knitters like to switch to smaller items, but it’s not the only solution. Switching down to circular needles, even when you’re knitting backward and forward, can make a big difference, for example.
• Learn to correct your posture. Discomfort while knitting isn’t just in the hands and arms, but also the back. You need to be able to sit comfortably. Some people like to wear those glasses that make you look like you’re looking through a submarine scope so that you can keep your head up while you look down at your fingers. This way, your eyeballs are pointed downwards, but your neck isn’t bent for a long period of time. It can help to have a sip of drink or have a bite to eat at the end of each knitting row to remind you to relax and uncurl.
• Try not to squint. It’s very easy to do it when you’re working with material like knitting materials, but trying not to squint will help you to knit more comfortably. You’ll be able to continue knitting for a much longer period.
