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Do you back your pieces?

Can I have a copy of your patterns?

How many colours do you use in your pieces?

What yarn do you use in your pieces?!

QUESTION: "What brand/type of yarn do you use??"

Aching Hands and Wrists?!?!?

QUESTION: " You work on so many different projects and seem to get them out uber quick, do your hands hurt? The muscle around my thumb hurts and I'm actually noticing rub marks from my hook on my fingers. What do you do for your busy hands?"

When I first started crocheting properly at the end of 2008, I noticed that my hands started to cramp up quite quickly! I searched every forum you can imagine to get some tips on how to prevent my fingers seizing up after only half an hour of crocheting, so quickly tried them out. Some worked for me, some didn't. Some made perfect sense, others were perfectly ridiculous !
Here are some tips that help me BUCKETLOADS when it comes to hand cramps!

Take a break ! Over time I have learnt to rest my fingers before going overboard. I start to get tingly sensations in my fingers and my wrists start to click, which is my flashing warning sign to give it a rest The worst thing you could do is try to push through the pain, even if you only have one row left! I was so eager to finish my AC/DC piece, I remember pushing through the clicks and cracks to knock off the last 12 rows and by god, I could hardly bend my fingers without searing pain for the next week, rendering me useless!! Pretzel-finger syndrome!!!
I now crochet in 15 minute blocks. After 15 mins, I stop, stand up, and do some basic hand exercises

Hand Exercises - after a quick search for "finger stretches, hand stretches, etc," I compiled a series of finger, hand and wrist stretches that I do in between 15 minute blocks of crocheting. First I tend to splay my fingers out, stretching them as far as they can go, before then curling them up to form a fist (repeat x 10), I then gently massage the palms of my hands, working from the middle of the palm out to the end of each finger. That usually takes about 5 mins for both hands. I then bend my wrists backwards and then forwards using my other hand like this...



Funnily enough, I don't tend to get too much pain in my crocheting hand. I actually get the most pain in the index finger of my left hand ! I tend to stick out my index finger as I hold my working yarn, which leaves it a bit stiff and sore! Which leads me to think that maybe trying a different grip on your hook may alleviate any pain your experienceing in your crocheting hand.
I've also noticed that MY NECK gets extremely stiff!! After I complete a row i'm finding that I have to do a few simple neck exercises (which make me look like a pidgeon...so attractive...)
I must get into the crocheting zone and look like a bloody statue sitting there cause my neck is completely set in stone sometimes! Very strange!
So as long as you don't push yourself too hard and you take lots of little breaks, hopefully some simple exercises should help ease the pain and it'll be smooth sailing from here on in !

It's only now as I come to write this that I realise the first time I picked up a copy of 'The Philosopher's Stone' was in 1999. It's only now that I realise that that was 13 YEARS AGO. By God. I could really use that time-turning hourglass of Hermione's right now....
Anywayz! Mid way through 2009, I decided to have a crack at making my own crochet patterns and guess who I decided to do first?!? Young Mister. Potter
As far as first impressions go I was pretty chuffed! At least it looked like him and of course the bigger plus - it only used 4 colours (which therefore made it cheap as chips to make!)
At first I thought it would make a cute cushion for the lounge but then inspiration reared it's beautiful head! Why not make lonely Harry a couple of friends to accompany him on said couch?!?
It wasn't until I had them all lined up on the floor that I thought 'this screams Brady Bunch...'
So taking inspiration from the opening and closing credit's of "Here's the story, of a lovely lady..", I went about choosing 9 characters for a Hogwarts Bunch Blanket!
NOT AN EASY TASK!!!!!
SOO many too choose from! So many faves! But as of December 2010, I managed to whittle the selection down to 9 and complete them!

♥ Potter Patterns!

Your Potter Panels!

poprocker [@] totallee [.] net