a crocheters hands are a wonderous gift

as crocheters our hands create magical , wonderous things with a ball of string and a hook.they are hard working and precious to us , so we need to take care of them because they do get tired &weak from time to time from fatigue & stress of all we do with them. NOT just crocheting but in everything we do
so im passing on some of the tips ive picked up in the last 30 odd years to help my hands along
1.if your hands are geting tire,tingly or numb while crocheting TAKE A BREAK!!! Dont over work them crochet is meant to be fun and relaxing not hurtful and a chore lol
2;try massaging your wrists all the way to fingertips {your ask hubby,boyfriend etc to do this}it gets the circulation going,and feels great
3:if your working on a large project like afghan take breaks often to let wrist and hand rest do a little wrist excerise by flexing them up and down and side to side {twist} dont to hard i keep one of those little squishy balls in my bag that i use i give each hand a couple of squeezes that helps too
4:i also use a heating pad in the winter mostly i put it on the arm rest an if i need it just pull it in my lap an my crochet hand rests right on it
and you know to take aspirin or aleve if needed or us ben gay or a creme like it
well that all for now ill post more tips later
happy crocheting
Dee

Pens,crochet,& recycling

Ok so what do pens,crochet and recycling have to do with each other? you may ask! well how about fun and funky steel hook holders yup thats right. i cant take credit for this someone showed me how to do it ao im passing it on. They work great for those of ur who have wrisit problems heres a pic of some i made

I used all types of different pens i had that didnt work any more and they are much more comfortable to work with

works best with hooks size 14-2 steel hooks for larger hooks you will have to enlrge tips and use markers or highlghter body

other items you might need are other then your old pens and markers your hooks ,a saw if you need to saw your hooks down ,sand paper for sanding rough edges,glue if you need to glue in place,something sharp if you need to make tip bigger

work on a hard flat surface

Take apart pen saving all the pieces except ink holding part the springs and other parts will be used to stabilize the hook in side also can use fiber fill or foil once apart take your hook to see if it will fit through tip

if it fits snuggle with enough room to make stitches on hook thats good now see how it fits into body does the hook fall back in side if so youll hace to stuff it with something so this doent happen cotton ball,foil pen part etc test hook as you go once you can screw it on an hook is stable voilia your done!!!!! a new hook holder now go put it to work