Training to Knit

 

It seems that it is possible to have too much knitting in my life. My elbows are really hurting from too much time at the needles. I do some exercises, hand stretching etc, when I knit but not very conscientiously and probably not until something hurts. I do want to continue knitting for many more years so I'm going to have to clean up my act and get on board with regular exercises. Here is an excellent post that I found with some hand exercises which I'm sure will help me and maybe you too. Hand and Shoulder Exercises for Knitters

I'm also sure that my posture when knitting is awful. I'm short, really short, so chairs for normal people don't fit me. This causes my back to curve too much when sitting and knitting for hours. So more pillows needed behind me when I'm sitting but also more exercises to strengthen my core (crunches, yuck) so that my back is supported.

Here's a post which I found really interesting from a knitter and personal trainer - yes, we could train to be knitters, knitting athletes?! Exercises for Knitters from FitKnitChick I find her first suggestion for 'taking breaks' the hardest one to do. But her idea of moving from couch to chair to another chair in the room when I know I'm going to be knitting for quite a while really interesting and one I'm going to try. So simple but I bet it's going to help. I didn't understand most of the training jargon but yoga and pilates classes probably take care of most of that. So here I go, off to sign up at the gym to train for knitting.
-Deb