Hi Ali,

I have cranky knees too and am always trying to figure out how to pacify them. When my knees give me trouble in a bent knee pose like baddha konasana, I often find some relief by flexing my feet from the pinkie toe side. You might know this trick already.

If not, just play around with flexing your feet with the legs just hanging around generally, and notice that pulling back from the pinkie toe side creates a rather unique sensation -- the shins tend to activate a bit. Try this in pigeon or baddha konasana or any other pose where the calf rests toward the ground. When you come into the pose, notice if your foot has any tendency to sickle. If so, bring just a bit of activity into the pinkie toe side of the foot (or 'activate' the foot, if you will) and see what happens. For me at least, playing around with the flexion in that side of my foot draws the crankiness out of my knees.

Best of luck with it....
Tracey