How Long Should I Sit and Knit?

I get this question a lot. Now I do a great deal of knitting and crocheting. In fact, I do this every day. Rarely, ever, do I not have a hook or needles in my hands.

A major part of being able to continue to do what I do, is by taking care of myself. What exactly does this mean? We all know sitting for long periods of time does not do the body good.  So MOVE!!

We have all heard the importance of keeping the body moving and the benefits of doing so. If I were to spend all my time knitting my joints would lock up on me and I may not be able to move from that position. No matter what your age, sitting for long periods of time is not recommended.

In my opinion, giving myself 20-30 minutes of knitting or crocheting, and then 10 to 15 minutes of movement works well.  Now for me this is in addition to my weekly exercising which consist of indoor cycling and pilates. But regardless of how often one exercises it's not healthy to stay sitting.


Here is my solution to getting it done and not killing myself to do it.  I designate days of the week to work my patterns. These days also include getting chores done. I start off by outline my projects, usually working 4 or 5 at a time. Yes, I know, that's a lot. Once I have that outline I  note the chores I will tackle. One day may be laundry, another day will be vacuuming and dusting, another cleaning the bathroom - oh what fun that is.

On laundry day I start by getting the piles of clothes organized and getting a load started. I then get into one of my many comfortable seats and starting knitting. A load of laundry goes for about 30 minutes. Once that bell goes off on the washer, I pause my project, and move the items to the dryer and start the next load. Now I'm back to my projects. The bell for the dryer goes off and up I am again.  Every time that bell sounds I'm up and moving around. Now lets remember those clothes do have to be folded and put away which gives me a longer break from the yarn and still has me moving.

I think you get the point.  A little bit of chore then a little bit of knitting. This works for me and I feel like I have gotten so much accomplished.

If you have a method to accomplishing your projects and moving while knitting/crochet, please let me know. It is so important to stretching the body to prevent unwanted injuries.

I'd love to hear what you think about this post.