Day 16: Have you ever had a knitting-related injury?
Knitting:
No, not really. Nothing like sitting on a knitting needle... or stabbing myself in the neck, like that woman in The Happening. ;o)
The second worst that's happened to me so far is that my hand can get a little tired if I knit too long.
The worst worst is that I've "broken" the skin on the right side of the pad of my right pointer finger. Not broken in the way that there was blood. ~shudder~ More like it started out as a little crack in the surface of the skin and has now turned into a small, dry, peeling area on the fingertip.
This all happened because I'm a "pusher"-- meaning that I tend to push that finger against the point of the left needle, repeatedly, during knitting, pushing the needle back so that the next few stitches are within knitting distance. I didn't notice I was doing it until the tip of my right pointer finger got a bit sore after a certain number of pushes against the (relatively) sharp needle. That was a little annoying, but it wasn't until this past week that I developed the messed up skin issue-- which is more irritating, but not really painful. (I wonder if this patch of dry skin is a sign that a callous is forming...)
My husband suggested I might try a rubber thimble (possibly also called a "thimblette") of the kind that bank tellers use when counting paper money. I wonder how it would hold up against repeated needle jabs, how well it would stay on my finger, and if I'd loose some dexterity-- but it's a possibility.
Alternatively, I've read something on TECHknitting about how to alter your technique to avoid the sore finger... I think it would be a struggle to change the way I knit, at this point, but possibly worth the effort... (...Also, eek. One of the comments refers to no cartilage being left in a thumb joint because of a specific repeated motion. *queasiness* Now I am scared to use my hands for anything at all... (g))
Crochet:
Hm... Before I got used to crocheting, my hand(s)/fingers got numb, sometimes... Also, I think I've crocheted too much a time or two (a pretty long while ago), and made my whole right arm/elbow sore... And when I made my Amineko Cat from size 10 thread, the repeated pushing of the head of the tiny steel hook against one of my fingers made it pretty tender-- but that's all that comes to mind.
Knitting:
No, not really. Nothing like sitting on a knitting needle... or stabbing myself in the neck, like that woman in The Happening. ;o)
The second worst that's happened to me so far is that my hand can get a little tired if I knit too long.
The worst worst is that I've "broken" the skin on the right side of the pad of my right pointer finger. Not broken in the way that there was blood. ~shudder~ More like it started out as a little crack in the surface of the skin and has now turned into a small, dry, peeling area on the fingertip.
This all happened because I'm a "pusher"-- meaning that I tend to push that finger against the point of the left needle, repeatedly, during knitting, pushing the needle back so that the next few stitches are within knitting distance. I didn't notice I was doing it until the tip of my right pointer finger got a bit sore after a certain number of pushes against the (relatively) sharp needle. That was a little annoying, but it wasn't until this past week that I developed the messed up skin issue-- which is more irritating, but not really painful. (I wonder if this patch of dry skin is a sign that a callous is forming...)
My husband suggested I might try a rubber thimble (possibly also called a "thimblette") of the kind that bank tellers use when counting paper money. I wonder how it would hold up against repeated needle jabs, how well it would stay on my finger, and if I'd loose some dexterity-- but it's a possibility.
Alternatively, I've read something on TECHknitting about how to alter your technique to avoid the sore finger... I think it would be a struggle to change the way I knit, at this point, but possibly worth the effort... (...Also, eek. One of the comments refers to no cartilage being left in a thumb joint because of a specific repeated motion. *queasiness* Now I am scared to use my hands for anything at all... (g))
Crochet:
Hm... Before I got used to crocheting, my hand(s)/fingers got numb, sometimes... Also, I think I've crocheted too much a time or two (a pretty long while ago), and made my whole right arm/elbow sore... And when I made my Amineko Cat from size 10 thread, the repeated pushing of the head of the tiny steel hook against one of my fingers made it pretty tender-- but that's all that comes to mind.