Many knitters will have a moment in their knitting career when either their fingers, their wrists, their hands, their arms or their neck will start to ache. It might just be a little twitch or an occasional cramp, but you should definitely stop and change something in your knitting style to avoid any further injuries.
Today we would like to show you a few tricks on how to prevent these symptoms in the first place and show you some of the best ergonomic knitting needles. You might ask yourself why they can save your knitting? Well, here’s the reasons why.
Does Knitting Hurt Your Hands?
Knitting can hurt your hands if you are not applying the right technique or you are too tense whilst knitting.
There are different types of pains that knitters can experience during different stages of their knitting careers.
Most novice knitters will reach a stage where their hands get tired. They tend to put too much tension either on the yarn or on the needles. Cramping fingers and hands will be the result.
More experienced knitters tend to get repetitive strain injury caused by many hours of knitting without taking adequate breaks. This discomfort can be chronic and also needs to be avoided.
How Do I Make Knitting More Comfortable?
There are plenty of ways to make sure your knitting setup is optimum. Here are some areas to focus on.
Knitting Posture
Posture is everything! Having a healthy posture will ensure that you are relaxed and comfortable, this is the key to many hours of joyful knitting.
Sitting relaxed on a chair or on a couch is the first step. Ideally you should be able to slightly lean back without having to bend your back. You can always support your back with a lumbar cushion.
Your shoulders should be relaxed and your elbows rested. It is important that you don’t have to raise your shoulders to make your elbows more comfortable.
If you are sitting on a couch, place a couple of cushions under your elbows to enhance your comfort.
Lighting
Lighting is important too. Make sure that you have enough light to easily read your pattern. This will avoid you from leaning forward when trying to read complicated knitting charts. It will also ensure that you don’t strain your eyes. Your vision is super important when knitting.
Warmup and Stretches
Before you start knitting and regularly during breaks in between your knitting marathons, you should slightly stretch your fingers, hands and wrist. This will warm up your joints and ensure good circulation.
Hydrate
To ensure constant hydration we also recommend having a drink close to you. Whether it’s your favourite coffee or tea, a big glass of water or a lemonade, staying hydrated will make you feel much more relaxed.
Use Ergonomic Knitting Needles
Last but not least, make sure that your knitting supplies are good quality and adequate for your project. Using a slippery needle with a very slippery yarn might be hard on your hands.
Having ergonomic knitting needles can make all the difference. Take a look at the KnitPro Nova Cubics or the wooden Cubics knitting needles. They are custom designed to provide a comfortable experience.
What Are Ergonomic Knitting Needles?
Ergonomic knitting needles are special shaped knitting needles, built with comfort in mind.
What does that mean?
‘Normal’, conventional knitting needles are round, whereas ergonomic knitting needles have flat surfaces which make them easier to hold on to.
Our Nova Cubics collection consists of knitting needles that have a cuboid shape. The cuboid shape gradually gives way to perfectly tapered needle tips. The needles are made out of lightweight brass material that make them a joy to work with.
Our Nova Cubics collections includes all kinds of knitting needles: single pointed, double pointed, fixed circular and interchangeable circular knitting needles.
They are available individually or as part of knitting needle sets.
You might wonder how to measure the size of a cuboid shaped needle? It is really easy. You simply place the needle in your needle size viewer as the needle is measured diagonally.
Most knitters find that they have really even stitches with the Nova Cubics needles. This is mainly due to the fact that holding on to the needles is so easy that you will be able to have a consistent tension on your yarn.
Why Can Ergonomic Knitting Needles Save Your Knitting?
It’s really simple. Using ergonomic knitting needles for arthritis can reduce the pain of repetitive strain injury or even avoid it before it comes up. RSI is one of those things that can be difficult to get rid of, once it appears.
Many knitters with Arthritis swear by the Nova Cubics knitting needles, some even say that they are the only type they can use!
So, before pain gets in the way of your crafting, you should definitely try out ergonomic knitting needles. They could be the perfect solution.
Conclusion
Knitting shouldn’t hurt your hands, it’s the technique and posture that make all the difference.
So, before you start your next knitting marathon, have a good look at your posture and make sure to take regular breaks.
If you would like to find out more about the Nova Cubics collection you can always visit our website.
