Am I holding my yarn incorrectly?

[WorkinTwinMama]

When I hold my yarn, I can only go a few stitches before my fingers start to hurt... it’s not my working hand it’s the one holding the yarn... picture below. I know it must be a bad habit but not sure what to do differently?  Can you share pictures or ideas of how to hold? Thanks in advance!! 

[Tampa Doll]

Everyone holds their yarn different.  I wrap the yarn once around the palm, under the top figure like you and then I anchor with between the baby finger and the one above.  I will get a picture later to show you.

[Tampa Doll]

ok here is the picture. I took two. One with my hand open, so you can see how I put it on my hand and one with the hand closed.  This way I can somewhat control the tension on my yarn also.  This is how I do it whether it is yarn or thread.  Hope this helps some.

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[Bailey4]

We all hold it differently.  You didn't mention how you hold your hook which can also determine how you hold your yarn.  My first rule of thumb though is when it hurts you need a better option.

I use a modified knife hold but as Tampa Doll mentioned I use more palm.

I tried taking pictures but holding a hook and taking pics is not something I do well.  I grabbed some yarn and just started a swatch to demonstrate.

 

This is a flattened picture not actually crocheting to show how the yarn drapes.  I don't think about it much anymore and none of the pics I saw online looked like what I did.  This is what has worked for me over the years. 

 

This shows more like what my hands look like when I'm crocheting.  Although again hard to demonstrate when I'm holding the phone with one hand and trying to take picture with the other but as I said I"m a modified knife grip and the way I hold my yarn is also modified to match that. 

 

I don't know if that helps but my suggestion would be to experiment with using more of your hand to support your work.

[magiccrochetfan]

I put the yarn over my ring finger, under the next, and over my index finger.  I can raise and lower index finger to control the yarn.  I was taught to wind it once around my pinky but now i only do that if i really need a tight tension.  i have a few pics my husband took for me a while back.

[Granny Square]

Interesting thread!  I'm not sure I can get a pic of my hold, but a little background - I learned to knit first from my mom, whose forebears were Germans from Russia, so I learned the 'German/Russian' way.  When I later learned to crochet from a friend's mom, I ended up holding my yarn the same way--over the first finger of the left hand, under the second finger and up over the remaining 2 fingers--so sort of a S shape, but my fingers 'stay put', and pretty much together - the first finger does not raise high in the air, and the yarn is not wrapped around or really gripped in any way by my fingers.  Very similar to Bailey4, except her yarn path appears to be only over the first finger, not back over the hand.  Baily4's way is Like this video...

...the speaker has a heavy Russian accent, and she's showing knitting (so you don't really need to follow what she's saying), but my main reason for linking is to show there's no "cat's cradle" look of fingers held apart -- I crochet (and knit) like she knits, it's all very close to the left fingers, which are all held together.

Not that this way is right by any means, just showing a way to do it without so much left hand manipulation.  There is no right way, whatever works -- but just sayin',  your photo, and Tampa Doll's, make my hands hurt just looking at them.  I also have a pencil hold for the right hand, FWIW.

[WorkinTwinMama]

Thanks everyone - from what I can see here, it’s not holding my yarn that’s hurting, it’s how I’m holding my work... I’m holding it still with my yarn hand and it looks like many are using the hook hand to also hold the work. I’ll check out some videos too to see if I can get the hang of it! I’m working with some tshirt yarn now, doing double crochet and every stitch I have to stop and relax my hand... not very productive!! I’ll see if I can get my husband to take a picture of the whole thing to post. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by WorkinTwinMama

[magiccrochetfan]

To me it looks like you have quite a stretch between where you're holding the work, and where you hold the working yarn to put tension on it.  I think that stretch, while pulling on the yarn,  would hurt my hand.  

So I think you may also want to try tensioning by wrapping around a finger.  Then you can bring your index and middle finger down closer to the hook.  

[Granny Square]

In the video of the Russian knitter that is similar to my knit and crochet tensioning style, the yarn spanning the work, left first finger and the hook/needle is a fraction of an inch -- barely greater than the amount to be pulled thru the loop.  In fact I have a little callus on my left first finger because my hook or needle touches it every stitch as I pull that little yarn gap thru a stitch.

My left hand fingers hold the work between thumb and first finger and otherwise don't move or spread apart at all.  I could probably thread the yarn thru my fingers in my tensioning pattern and tape my fingertips together and still stitch normally - I just now focused on keeping my left fingertips together and made a few stitches on my current project, and yep.  My right hand doesn't hold the work at all, just wields the hook, and that's where all my 'hand issues' are in my old age; my left hand just sits there pretty much.

Not saying that the way I do it is more correct than any other way, it just causes zero pain issues with my left hand.  If I switched from pencil grip to knife grip on my right, it would probably help my right hand knuckle stiffness, but I imagine it might disagree with my right wrist...sigh.

 

[Tampa Doll]

I also learned to knit first, so that may be why I hold my yarn the way I do.  I also hold my hook as a pencil.  Only when I get above an I hook, I hold it like a knife.

You have to find what is more comfortable for you.

[WorkinTwinMama]

Thank you all so much! I have found a new way to hold my yarn which allows me to better control the tension and also doesn’t make my hand hurt! Hooray!!! See pic below of the finished hat I crocheted for my brother in law for Christmas. Handmade Pom Pom on top. Finger-knot scarf for my mother in law from loopy yarn 😊

[Granny Square]

Yay on no more hand pain!  BIL and mom are going to love their presents.