Hand and wrist pain is a common story for crocheters, knitters, and other crafters who spend a lot of time making repetitive motions with their hands.

If you visit the doctor, you may be told you have carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, arthritis, an RSI (repetitive strain injury), and that may be the case… or it may not.

Before you consider serious medical treatments like steroid injections or surgery to help with your hand pain, I’d suggest you read my story below, and see if you can fix yourself without the need for drugs or surgical interventions.

Disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional, and if your doctor has diagnosed you with a condition, their recommended treatment may be the right solution for you. But I’d recommend you try this simple self-administered pressure treatment first – it can’t make things any worse, it’s fast and free, and it may relieve you of serious pain!

My Story

In 2007, I was mis-diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.

The pain was debilitating. I could no longer perform everyday tasks without agonizing pain: turning a door handle; pushing open a door with my palm; using a computer mouse; operating a can opener…

I was referred to a specialist, given a fancy wrist brace to lock my wrist straight, and told that if that didn’t fix the problem, my only other options were steroid injections or carpal tunnel surgery.

I wore the wrist brace for months, and learned to mouse left-handed. The brace helped with the pain, but the problem didn’t go away.

Eventually, I found a cure that was ridiculously simple, I could perform on myself at no cost, and has completely fixed the problem.

None of the doctors I visited considered this as a possibility.

The cause of all my debilitating wrist pain was a knotted muscle near my elbow.

Myofascial Pain Syndrome, Trigger Points & Referred Pain

When you overuse a muscle, it can cause sensitive areas of tight fibres to form, creating a knot in the muscle. The point where the knot forms is called a trigger point, and pressing on it causes an achy pain.

Now, here’s the crazy part: the muscle knot at the trigger point can cause serious pain in a different part of your body. This is called referred pain.

So the pain you feel may be caused by a trigger point elsewhere. No matter how much you treat your hand or wrist, you won’t be able to fix the problem if the pain, like mine, is caused by a trigger point in your upper forearm!

Treat Yourself

Once you know where the trigger point is that’s causing your pain, you can ‘unlock’ it – and stop the referred pain – by releasing the muscle knot yourself.

I learnt this ischemic pressure technique by watching a video from Dr Jonathan Kuttner, an expert in chronic muscle and joint pain. He has a couple of quick videos that explain the process – I highly recommend you watch them:

• Trigger Point Treatment
• Switch Off Myofascial Trigger Points Gently and Effectively

The process is the same to ‘turn off’ any trigger point. The key is to start with low enough pressure on the trigger point so it doesn’t hurt, then to gradually increase the pressure, but never to the level where it hurts.

(From experience, I can tell you that, if you’re too forceful, you’ll end up feeling like you’ve bruised yourself, and you don’t do any good. Slow and gentle is the way to go.)

My Treatment

Coincidentally, the trigger point Jonathan demonstrates ‘turning off’ in his video is the same one that caused my carpal tunnel-like symptoms and wrist/hand pain, so I could follow the instructions in his video exactly.

I’ve never been able to feel the nodule of knotted muscle he describes, but I know I’m in the right place when I feel the tender spot on my arm.

In 2009, when my condition was agonising, I could press the trigger point in my arm and immediately feel the referred pain in the back of my hand and wrist! That’s what convinced me that this was a) a real phenomenon and b) the cause of my problems.

Here’s me from an email I sent in 2009 when I’d just cured myself of my supposed ‘carpal tunnel syndrome’:

The myofascial thing is amazing – my wrist was so painful I couldn’t put any pressure on it while it was at all bent, so I couldn’t even open a door or a jar without it being agonisingly painful. I got one of those wrist splint things and it helped me to avoid the pain but it didn’t get better. And then I was googling and found this AMAZING thing – basically it was a referred pain caused by a muscle knot just below my elbow. And by doing gentle acupressure [sic] with my finger on this point, I healed it! I know it sounds like rubbish, but it’s totally true – when I pushed this exact spot on my arm, I could feel the pain in my wrist, even though I wasn’t doing anything to my wrist. Total magic.

Since then, I’ve rarely had the pain escalate to the terrible point it was at. I always treat it as soon as I realise what’s happening, and the knot has never had a chance to form as badly as it was back then.

I’ve developed the same problem in the other arm too, and now I can always find the trigger point on each arm – I feel a tender ache when I press on them. I try to do the ischemic pressure treatment whenever I remember, to stop the knot from forming in the first place. This works really well for me!

Finding Other Trigger Points

There are trigger points all over the body, and you can consult a trigger point diagram (like this one) that shows the position of the trigger point (marked with an X) and the possible locations of referred pain for that point (shown as a cloud of red). You can use those to help diagnose if any of your unexplained chronic pains may be caused by trigger points, and try to deactivate them if so.

I’ve had several other problems with pain that have also turned out to be trigger point related:

• I get pain at the base of my thumbs when I crochet (or use my phone) too much, and I’ve discovered that there are two trigger points in the thumb. Treating the lower trigger point at the base of the thumb seems to help me.
• I also occasionally get terrible upper back pain. When I have it, I can never get comfortable and I can’t sleep for the pain. The back pain turned out to be caused by trigger points, and now when my upper back and shoulders are hurting, I can usually fix it by unlocking the trigger points in my levator scapulae or trapezius muscles. (Here’s Jonathan’s article Trigger Points for Neck Pain).

Give It a Go

I have no idea how many people with hand pains from crochet or other crafts may also actually be suffering from a simple trigger point caused by a knotted muscle in their forearm, but please do try some trigger point pressure therapy and report back here if it helps!

A couple of tips on what to expect:

• If your pain is bad, I’ve found that it may take daily sessions over a week or two to completely turn off the trigger point, but you should be able to feel an improvement immediately.
• Your trigger points will probably reactivate in time, but knowing where they are and how to treat them means you can fix yourself in future before the stage of agonising pain, limited function and sleepless nights.

I hope this works for you as well as it has for me.

Here’s to more crafting, with less pain! 🙂

My patriotic Beaver just can’t wait until Canada Day (July 1st) to start his celebrations!

I’ve just updated my Maple Leaf Collection crochet pattern to also include instructions for making this small thread Canadian Flag too – it’s perfect for an amigurumi to hold.

If you’ve already bought the Maple Leaf Collection, log back into your PlanetJune account, go to your old order for the Maple Leaf Collection and re-download the Canadian Flag Background PDF – you’ll see a new page at the end with the updated details for the thread flag!

Canadiana crochet patterns

I have a small, but growing, collection of Canadian-themed patterns now – the adorable Beaver, and the Maple Leaf Collection (which includes the Canadian Flag background):

Find all my Canadiana crochet patterns here!

Are there any other Canadian icons you’d like me to add to my Canadiana pattern collection? Let me know in the comments!

I have a very special new design for you today – it’s a beautifully-shaped Seahorse crochet pattern:

Aren’t they sweet? I’m so pleased with how they turned out 🙂

Seahorse Fun Facts

• Seahorses are a very unusual-looking type of fish.
• They live in sheltered areas of warm seas across the world.
• Seahorses swim upright, using their dorsal fin (at the back) to move them forwards and their pectoral fins (at either side of the head) for steering.
• They are slow, weak swimmers, so they use their prehensile tails to grasp onto seaweed, coral, etc so they don’t drift away in the currents.
• Unlike most animals, the male seahorse cares for the babies. The eggs are kept safely in a special brood pouch on his stomach until they are ready to emerge as fully-formed miniature seahorses!

About the Design

My seahorse design is realistically shaped and about 9″ (22.5cm) long when worked in worsted weight yarn.

It’s an elegant low-sew design, as the entire head, body and tail are crocheted as one piece. The only sewing is to attach the fins and coronet.

I made my samples in Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice worsted weight yarn in realistic seahorsey shades, but you have lots of scope for creativity in your yarn choice!

• Multicoloured or variegated yarns would work well.
• Glossy or sparkly yarns would add a magical touch.
• Scale it down with finer yarn and a smaller hook for a cute miniature seahorse.
• Make a giant cuddly seahorse using my Giant Amigurumi techniques!

About the Pattern

As always, the pattern includes full instructions and detailed step-by-step photographs for assembly and all special techniques used, so you can follow along and make a perfect seahorse.

I’ve also included stitch diagrams in addition to written instructions for all the fins and coronet, so you can use whichever instructions work best for your learning style.

You’ll love the way it magically comes together…

Buy Now & Launch Discount

Ready to get started? Pick up my Seahorse crochet pattern from my shop right now. Or, if you’re not ready to make it just yet, add it to your Ravelry queue or favourites so you don’t forget about it:

And for one week only, you can take an extra 50c off the price: add the Seahorse pattern to your shopping cart, and enter the discount code MAGIC at checkout! (Offer ends Thursday 6 June, 2019.)

I feel that there’s something almost magical about these special creatures – don’t you agree? And their beautiful elegant shape lends itself so well to a sculptural design like this.

I really hope you’ll enjoy my Seahorse pattern. Don’t forget to share photos with me when you’ve made one:

• Post in the PlanetJune Ravelry group
• Tag me (@PlanetJune) on any social media
• Email me a pic to june@planetjune.com

…I always love to hear from you, and to see what you’ve been making from my patterns. 🙂

The standard way to finish an open-ended piece in amigurumi is to join with a slip stitch (sl st) to the next stitch, to reduce the height jog of the spiral between the first and last stitches of the final round. It’s a quick and easy method, and is perfectly fine if you’ll be stitching the piece down to something else so the edge won’t show in the finished amigurumi.

That’s not always the case, though – sometimes the edge will be visible in the finished piece, and in this case the sl st finish isn’t the best choice – it leaves a little bump that’s impossible to hide completely.

When I decided to make a video tutorial to show the most invisible finish for an open edge in amigurumi, I realised that, while there’s a standard method for amigurumi worked in joined rounds (and this actually forms the basis of my Perfect Stripes Invisible Join), there’s no consensus for amigurumi worked in spirals…

And you know what that means: it’s time for another crochet investigation!

Method

All my candidates are based on the standard invisible finish for joined rounds, but I considered two ways that the method can be varied that may affect the look of the finished edge:

1. Should there be a slip stitch before the join, or not? A slip stitch would reduce the height difference before the join, but might end up more visible than without.
2. Should there be a duplicated stitch, or an additional stitch added? The additional stitch was my original preferred method from 2009 (there’s no need to maintain the stitch count if the edge won’t be worked back into, so the duplicate stitch isn’t necessary) but is that a good reason to keep doing it? (Of course not – not if there’s a better way…)

So that gives us four candidates for the experiment:

C: no slip stitch, join in next stitch
D: no slip stitch, duplicate stitch join
E: slip stitch, join in next stitch
F: slip stitch, duplicate stitch join

The photos below show the results of each test, together with:

A: the piece after the final stitch is worked, before any join (note the difference in height between the final stitch, below the hook, and the next stitch to its right)
B: slip stitch join (the yarn tail isn’t woven in here, but you can clearly see the knot just below the tail that can’t be completely hidden)

Results

I compared the 4 samples and noted my observations (don’t worry if you can’t see all these in the photos above; they are much more apparent when viewed from multiple angles):

C: height jog very visible; stitch count not maintained
D: height jog minimised; skipped stitch visible from front; stitch count is maintained
E: height jog minimised; sl st visible from front; stitch count not maintained
F: height jog minimised; sl st and skipped stitch visible from front; stitch count is maintained

C is an immediate fail: you can clearly see that it does the worst job of blending the height difference between the start and end of the final round.

F is the next to go: there’s an extra bar visible beneath the V from either a slipped stitch or a skipped stitch, and F has both while D and E only have one each, so it’s the worst in terms of invisibility, with extra bars visible beneath two stitches.

That leaves D and E. They’re both pretty good in terms of invisibility, but I’m going to award the prize to D: the fact that it maintains the stitch count around the edge makes it the most versatile; you can use it for an open-ended piece or one that will be stitched to something else with no problems, so this means you’ll have one fewer technique to remember!

Refining the Technique

While working on the test, I also noted that the downside of any of these methods is that you have to pull the duplicate stitch very carefully to the right size to make it look truly invisible, which makes it more difficult to then weave in the yarn tail without disturbing the size. So, I came up with a tiny refinement that makes it much easier to control the size of the duplicate stitch and keep it held in place once you’ve adjusted it to the right size.

Intrigued? Good! I’ll explain all in my new Invisible Finish video tutorial 😉

Continue to the Invisible Finish for Open Edges in Amigurumi video tutorial >>

Way back in February, I announced on Twitter that I was going to make a Giant Dinosaur:

Giant Dino is happening! It should be around 3ft long ?
Ingredients:
1. A dino pattern from my Dinosaurs Set 1 (I'll leave which as a surprise!)
2. Techniques from my Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi

Result and pics to follow… pic.twitter.com/Jaxk8lnp2M

— June Gilbank (@PlanetJune) February 7, 2019

And now it’s time for the big reveal!

Georgette the Giant Purple Triceratops is 36 inches (over 90cm!) long, weighs 1.9lbs (850g) and is impossibly soft and cuddly.

I made her using my Triceratops pattern from Dinosaurs Set 1 and the techniques from my Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi.

Isn’t she huge?!

Although she turned out beautifully, I did have a few hitches along the way…

Yarn

I was excited to find a new (to me) yarn to try for this project: Bernat Blanket Extra. According to my calculations, one strand of Extra would be the equivalent of the two strands of Bernat Blanket I use for most of my giant ami, so it seemed like the perfect yarn for Giant Amigurumi! In the picture below, it’s the purple yarn second from the top:

Pictured top to bottom:

While I was correct that a single strand of Extra is an ideal yarn for Giant Amigurumi, I made a bit of a miscalculation and used the weight instead of the yardage when I was figuring out how much yarn I’d need (using the calculation method from the book). Converting from 2 strands of Blanket to 1 strand of Extra, the yardage is a straight 2:1 conversion, but the weight isn’t quite the same (as the Extra weighs just a little more per yard than 2 strands of Blanket).

Thanks to that mistake, I didn’t buy quite enough yarn for the Giant Stegosaurus I had planned 🙁 , but I ran the numbers and realised I had enough to make a Giant Triceratops instead – problem solved!

Structure

Giant ami aren’t as rigid as standard amigurumi, and, even though they are light for their size, the weight of Georgette’s head, including the horns and frill, was a bit much for her front legs – they were squashed down a little, which made her chin touch the ground. So I added an extra round to her front legs to offset that ‘squish factor’, which worked out fine 🙂

Other than that, I followed the pattern, together with my book’s technique advice, exactly:

• The secure magic ring was a lifesaver, especially for those giant horns!
• It turns out that a giant triceratops frill is very floppy, but the stiffening flat pieces technique sorted that right out.
• The large size crocheted eyes were the perfect finishing touch.

Awww, don’t they look just like a mama triceratops and newly-hatched baby?

Georgette is exactly 4 times the length of the standard Triceratops, and 15 times the weight! But she’s extremely cute and cuddly – yay for non-scary dinosaurs 😀

Make Your Own!

If you’re inspired to try crocheting a giant dinosaur too, here’s what you’ll need:

• The PlanetJune Triceratops crochet pattern, or another dinosaur pattern
• The Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi ebook for all the special sizing-up techniques

Of course Giant Amigurumi isn’t limited to just dinosaurs (although I’m still tempted to buy more yarn to make a giant stegosaurus!) – see the book for lots of other examples, and advice for which amigurumi patterns will be easiest to scale up to giant size.

Please share photos of your giant amigurumi projects on any social media using the #giantamigurumi hashtag, and tag me @planetjune so I can see what you’re making! And if you’re a member of the PlanetJune Ravelry group, you can also share your giant amis in our ongoing Giant Amigurumi CAL 🙂

I’m still smitten with Giant Amigurumi – they’re just so much fun, don’t you think? Who could resist a giant purple triceratops?!

Yesterday, I took the opportunity to learn more about photography and plants at a photowalk workshop hosted by Colour Paradise Greenhouses and taught by local photographer Abbi Longmire. It was a great pairing – Abbi encouraged us to experiment with our cameras, and the greenhouse offered beautiful and varied subjects to photograph (and maybe some ideas for future PlanetJune plant designs…)

I used the manual (M) setting on my camera for the first time ever(!) and, after a shaky start, ended up with some half-decent shots. I thought I’d share my favourites with you – bear in mind that composition etc is not my strong suit and I’m very much a beginner at this type of photography!

(These are unprocessed, out-of-the-camera shots – all I did was resize them to blog size.)

Not too bad, are they? 🙂

Thanks to Abbi and Colour Paradise for the inspirational afternoon! I hope I’ll be able to bring what I learnt into my nature photography, and maybe even my pattern photos…

Since leaving the warmth of Africa for the Great White North, one thing I really miss is being able to see lizards all the time – both when out exploring nature, and in my own garden. I grew to love lizards after observing them in the wild for so long, and I’m considering getting a pet bearded dragon one day.

Until then, I now have the next best thing with my new addition to my amigurumi menagerie – a life-sized Bearded Dragon crochet pattern:

She’s such a cutie!

Bearded Dragon Fun Facts

• Bearded dragons, aka ‘beardies’, are one of the most popular reptiles to keep as pets.
• These lizards are docile and friendly, and eat insects and vegetables.
• In the wild, bearded dragons can be found in the Australian deserts.
• Beardies can flatten their bodies and change colour when they bask in the sun, so they can absorb more heat.
• When threatened, they puff out their spiky ‘beard’ throat skin and open their mouth wide so they appear larger.

About the Design

My bearded dragon is roughly life-sized and realistically shaped, at about 12″ (30cm) long. It has an alert stance, a wide body and wedge-shaped head, and tiny spines along the sides of its head and body, just like a real beardy!

I made my sample in a heathered yarn (Lion Brand Heartland) which adds a subtle variegated effect which I love, but you can use a solid colour of yarn instead if you prefer. Fancy bearded dragons come in a wide range of colours (orange, yellow, brown, grey, and even red or white) so you have lots of scope for making life-like beardies in all sorts of colours.

About the Pattern

As with my other lizard patterns, the realistic legs are wired with pipe cleaners, but the pattern also includes tips for omitting the pipe cleaners if you want your beardy to be baby-safe.

The pattern includes stitch diagrams for the spines in addition to the written instructions, so you can use whichever instructions work best for your learning style.

And, as always, close-up photos aid with every step of the assembly, so you can be confident you’ll be able to make a perfect bearded dragon too.

Buy Now & Launch Discount

Ready to get started? Pick up my Bearded Dragon crochet pattern from my shop right now. Or, if you’re not ready to make it just yet, add it to your Ravelry queue or favourites so you don’t forget about it:

And for one week only, you can take an extra 50c off the price: add the Bearded Dragon pattern to your shopping cart, and enter the discount code BEARDY at checkout! (Offer ends Wednesday 8 May, 2019.)

This bearded dragon design has been over a year in the making, but I’m really happy with the end result – I think I got the alert beardy pose just right, and the tiny spines don’t overwhelm the design, even in worsted weight yarn.

I hope you agree, and that you’ll enjoy my Bearded Dragon pattern 🙂

PlanetJune Herps

With this new pattern, my herp (reptiles and amphibians) pattern collection is now up to 10 designs: 5 lizards, 3 turtles and 2 frogs! You can find all the PlanetJune reptile and amphibian crochet patterns here 🙂

Do you have any other herp pattern requests? Let me know in the comments!

I’ve updated my How to Crochet in the Back Bumps of a Chain article with a brand new video tutorial! Now you can see exactly how it’s done, with my helpful highlighted stitches to guide you.

In the video, I’ll also show you my tips to make sure you’re starting from the back bump of the correct stitch (something that confused me for a long time!)

And, as always, the video is available in right-handed and left-handed versions.

Why would you want to crochet in the back bumps of a chain? Not only to make a neat, non-loopy edge at the bottom of a rectangular piece like a scarf or blanket, but also to make small details for amigurumi, appliques, etc.

You’ll see back bumps details in a lot of my patterns, for example Cephalopod tentacles, Snow Star snowflakes, Iguana toes and spikes, Maple Leaves 🙂

I hope you’ll find this new video tutorial helpful! (And please let me know if you have any video requests for me to demystify any other techniques I use in my patterns!)

Go to the video tutorial >>