Spoonie: A term used by people who have chronic illnesses that are often invisible and that cause fatigue. The term was coined by Christine Miserandino when she used spoons to explain the fatigue her lupus caused. A spoonie only gets a limited number of spoons (energy) each day and each day is different. If you start out your day with only 8 or 9 spoons and it takes a spoon to shower, another to get dressed, another for breakfast, and another to drive to work or the grocery store or take the kids to school, it is difficult to get through the day. It becomes necessary to weigh each decision—“If I get a shower, will I still have enough energy to wash a load of clothes so we have clothes for tomorrow?” Or—“If I go grocery shopping today, we are going to have to get takeout tonight because I won’t have enough spoons left to cook let alone clean the kitchen afterward.”

Fibromyalgia introduced me to the spoonie world. Summer air conditioning and fans are painful for me when the air hits my hands. I needed something I could carry with me and use just on my wrists and top of my hands where cold air causes pain. These are perfect for adding protection right where I need it without causing more pain. I hope you also find them useful.

Notes on Fit:
My hands are often swollen and my skin signals pain at the slightest touch, so the loose cozies are made to fit quite loosely. The loose cozies on size 7 needles have about an inch of ease for my comfort level. (30stitches on size 7 needles.)

However, these were big on several of my testers. The close fit feels okay on me, but not when my allodynia is active. For those with even smaller wrists or who want an even closer fit, I would suggest using size 6 needles instead. The great thing is that these are a quick knit so knitting multiple sizes is easy.

A swatch is not recommended because one of these actually has fewer stitches than a swatch would. Knit one and try it on to see before you cut your yarn to find the best size.

There are also 2 optional rows which you can add as many times as you like to make your cozies longer.