A knitter's account
They told me to give up knitting. I was down to three rows a day. Here's what got my evenings back.
If your hands cramp before the row is done, if you have stopped opening the yarn cupboard because it hurts to look at it, if a doctor has told you to just rest, then...
read this before you put your needles away for good.
How it usually goes
You get a splint, some exercises, and six weeks.
The advice is almost always the same. Rest the joint. Wear the splint. Do the exercises. Come back if it still hurts.
The specialist spent four minutes with my hand. He never once asked what knitting was to me.
It is not a hobby I do. It is the thing that holds the rest of the day together. There is no six weeks of nothing. There is only six weeks of sitting with my hands in my lap.
What happens next
So you do not stop. You ration.
First the mornings went, because my hands needed an hour before they would cooperate. Ten rows became three. Every evening became every other evening.
Then I stopped going to the group, because I was tired of being the slow one. And the projects do not wait. The birthday comes whether the cardigan is finished or not.
Every evening I spend not knitting is a row that will never exist.
The real reason
The pain does not start where you feel it.
The ache is not the joint being damaged. Every stitch is a pinch, and one small joint at the base of your thumb takes the load, not your fingertips.
Over the years it loosens, and your hand clamps down to hold it steady. That clamping is the ache.
Which is why resting does not fix it. Rest the hand for a week and the joint is exactly as loose on Monday as it was on Sunday.
I tried everything first
None of it let me keep knitting.
✗The thumb brace. It holds the joint still, and that is the problem. A brace is a device for not using your hand.
✗Pain creams. Twenty minutes of warmth. Then the ache comes back through it. And you cannot touch pale yarn with menthol on your fingers.
✗Rest. It works. I hated every minute of it.
✗Ordinary compression gloves. Closed fingertips, a slick palm that dragged the yarn. They went in the drawer, where I expect yours are.
What these do
Here is exactly what they do.
I put them on and knit. The support sits over the one joint that had been clamping, so my hand can stop holding it together and just knit.
My fingertips stay open, so nothing about how I knit changes. I still feel the yarn, split a stitch, pick one back.
From the very first evening I wore them, I got more rows before my hand asked me to stop.
It is not a cure. It takes the job of holding the joint away from my hand, so I can keep knitting.
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
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OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
OPEN FINGERTIPS · FEEL EVERY STITCH
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS 2+
60-DAY GUARANTEE
FREE SIZE EXCHANGE
Knit A Whole Evening Again From The First Night You Wear Them
Knitters who stopped counting rows
"Last spring I had a cortisone injection in the base of my thumb. It helped for a couple of months, and then I was right back where I started, putting my knitting down after a few minutes because the ache was too much. I have been wearing these every evening for about three weeks now, and the real difference is how long I can keep going. I sit and get proper rows done instead of stopping almost as soon as I begin. I am not going to tell you it is a miracle, but for the first time in a long while I actually finish the things I start."
"My daughter ordered these for me after my rheumatologist told me to give the knitting a rest. I did not tell him I ignored him. I finished the cardigan I started for her at Christmas. Do not tell the doctor."
"I am 69, and I had more or less made my peace with the knitting days being behind me. I was down to about fifteen minutes at a time before my hand made me stop. The first proper evening I wore these I managed a good forty-five minutes, and it was me choosing to put it down, not my hand forcing me. The ache has not vanished completely, but there is a real difference in how long I can sit and enjoy it now."
"Half the pleasure of knitting for me is the feel of the wool running through my fingers, and that is the very thing I lost with my old closed-finger pair, I was forever pulling them off just to feel a stitch. With the tips left open I keep that feeling, so it still feels like my own knitting and not like working in mittens. I can settle in with a bit of lace of an evening again and actually enjoy it, and my hands stay warm and comfortable the whole time."
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Made for hands that are still working
Every glove in your drawer was designed for a hand at rest. Yours has four hundred stitches to get through.
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✓
Open fingertips. Nothing between your fingers and the wool, so every stitch still feels like your own.
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✓
No velcro, no clasp, no slick palm. Nothing on them to catch your work.
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✓
Bamboo fibre. Warm after an hour, not hot.
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✓
Your gauge stays your gauge. A soft knit surface that does not drag your tension.
Here is exactly why it works
Rest cannot do this. A brace cannot either. The glove holds that loose joint from the outside. Your hand stops clamping. And the ache lets go with it.
Firm support at the wrist and palm where the load sits, and the fingertips left open where you need to feel the yarn.
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✓
Every part of the glove has one job: keep you knitting.
What the first evenings actually look like
Nobody is promising you a miracle. Here is what knitters tell us happens, in the order it happens.
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✓
The first evening. You put them on and the ache that usually arrives by the second cup of tea takes longer to come. You get more rows before you put it down.
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✓
The first week. The morning after a long evening stops being a write-off. You are not paying for last night's knitting with today's hands.
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✓
By week three. You stop counting rows to ration them. You start counting because you finished something.
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✓
We cannot promise your pain will go, or that you will knit for hours. But we have done everything we can so that you can, with as little ache as possible.
Knitters who got their evenings back
"My own doctor told me last year I ought to give the knitting up, and I very nearly did, I was down to a few painful minutes at a time. These have taken enough of the ache out of my hand that I now knit for hours where I used to manage minutes. I bought two pairs on the offer and I am glad I did, one is always in the wash so I am never without them of an evening."
"Got these for my wife. She'd stopped bringing her knitting to our Sunday afternoons because her thumb was playing up. She's been wearing them a few weeks, and last week she brought it along again, first time in about a year. Really good to see."
"The pain had settled right into my right thumb and first finger, the very ones you knit with, and it got so bad I honestly thought my knitting days were behind me. These sit over those joints with a bit of warmth and gentle support without getting in the way, and the tips are left open so I can still feel the yarn. I am knitting of an evening again, and I did not think I would be saying that."
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How Lunaire Compares
| Pharmacy gloves | Thumb brace | Lunaire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel the yarn | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knit in it | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Nothing snags your work | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Comfortable after an hour | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Supports the thumb joint | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Made for a knitter | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Feel the yarn
Knit in it
Nothing snags your work
Comfortable after an hour
Supports the thumb joint
Made for a knitter
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The Evenings Are Easier To Keep Than To Get Back.
I will not rush you. Nobody who has knitted for as long as you have wants to be rushed.
But the joint softens a little more each season, and the rows get a little fewer, whether we are ready or not. The projects keep their own time. The grandchild arrives when she arrives.
None of this is to frighten you. It is only that the evenings are easier to keep than to get back.
Sixty days to see for yourself
Take the full sixty days with them. Knit through your evenings, count your rows, and give them a real chance to prove it.
If your hands are not doing more than before, every penny comes back to you, no risk at all.
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Knitters who carried on anyway
"I have rheumatoid arthritis and some evenings my hands flare up badly. These let me carry on knitting even on the bad days, where before I would have had to put it down and give up for the night. It took a day or two to get used to the snug feel, but being able to keep going with what I love is well worth it."
"My husband ordered me a pair after a specialist was pushing me towards surgery I did not want. Wrapping the yarn had got so painful I had very nearly given up. I put them on and within a couple of days I was knitting properly again. I am going back to tell him I am managing without the operation, at least for now."
"My own rheumatologist first put me onto compression gloves years ago, so when my hands got worse I ordered these. They keep the swelling down and support my wrist and thumb where it hurts, and I can knit for far longer than I could before. They let me get back to the things I actually enjoy."
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Before you decide
Will they get in the way while I am knitting?
No. The fingertips are open, so you feel the yarn and work every stitch normally.
No velcro, no clasp, and the palm is smooth, so nothing catches the wool or changes your tension. The support sits on the back of the hand and thumb, out of the way.
What if I order the wrong size?
We send you the right size for free and you keep the first pair, so there is no risk in ordering.
You do not post anything back or pay anything extra, just tell us the size you need. If you are between sizes, choose the larger one. A slightly roomy glove still supports the joint. A tight one is uncomfortable.
To check, measure around your palm just below the knuckles: S 14cm (5.5"), M 15cm (6"), L 16cm (6.3")
How will I know if they are working?
You will notice it in two clear ways. First, you get more rows in one sitting before your hand needs to stop.
Second, your hand feels better the next morning instead of stiff and sore.
Wear them every evening for about a week, and judge by how much you get done, not by your pain level from day to day.
Are these for arthritis?
Yes. They support the joint at the base of the thumb. That is the joint these conditions affect: CMC arthritis. Osteoarthritis. Tendonitis. De Quervain's. They all affect this one joint. It is also where everyday knitting strain lands.
They work by supporting the joint at the base of the thumb, which takes most of the load when you knit.
If your hand hurts in the same spot every time you pick up your needles, that is the joint these are made to support. You do not need a diagnosis for them to help.
Will they help with crochet, spinning or quilting?
Yes.The strain comes from the repeated hand movement, not the craft itself. Crochet, spinning, and quilting all load the same joint at the base of the thumb.
Crochet, spinning, quilting, cross-stitch and hand-sewing all benefit the same way knitting does.
If a hobby leaves your hands sore, these will help you do more of it before you have to stop.
How do I wash them?
Wash them in cold water by hand, or on a gentle cycle inside a mesh laundry bag. Lay them flat to dry and do not tumble dry, as heat can loosen the compression over time.
Cared for this way, they keep their shape and support for a long time.
Many people keep two pairs so one is always ready while the other is drying.
I have had a cortisone injection, or surgery.
In most cases yes, but check with your own doctor first, especially if you are still healing.
These are a supportive glove, not a medical treatment, and are not meant to replace anything your specialist has advised.
Many people wear them alongside their doctor's advice to get more comfortable hours out of the day.
If you have had recent surgery, wait until your doctor has cleared you to use your hands normally.
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