Beaded Stress Ball

Pattern Info

This project was designed by JackieES.
Info can be found at:
HeartStrings #H18 Beaded Stress Ball »

Instructions

Squish and roll this beaded ball around in your hands to provide relaxation and quick relief to stress, aching or stiff finger joints. Tiny pressure points of beads have a meditative quality.

Difficulty:

Category: Knitting

Type of item: Functional

For: Unisex

Style: Whimsical, Cute, Casual

Materials

fingering weight yarn and size 8/0 (3 mm diameter) seed beads

What was your inspiration?

I bought a small flexible bead-woven bowl that a friend of mine had made. Not only is it a beautiful little container, but it fits in my hand and feels so good as a massage. Since I am a knitter, I wanted to design something beautiful and fun that would function in a similar way for hand therapy.

What are you most proud of?

I was really dredging up the old brain matter in trying to remember my solid geometry. It's amazing how you can learn all those formulas in school, and then they just sort of want to vanish when you need them. I wanted the design to be symmetrical and uniformly beaded all over. Stringing the beads might take a little while (depending on whether you have a bead spinner or not -- see below advice about starting), but the knitting is very easy and goes quickly. And it actually looks like a ball when completed!

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Stringing the beads on the yarn with a bead spinner will go faster than hand stringing. But even if you don't have a bead spinner, just relax and enjoy the process -- e.g. it's a great mindless task to do while talking on the phone.