Take Care of Your Hands

Some people who I have taught in person know that I had an extreme hand injury back in 2002 where I lost all feeling in my right arm due to an engineering project I was working on at work.  It changed my career and by 2005 I was out on my own after two years of doing no embroidery or even picking up my kid, surgery and rehabilitation (my right index finger didn't move anymore after the surgery).  Yes, that finger is pretty much everything you need to embroider.

So I have owned my own companies to allow me to duck in and out and take breaks during the day/week to manage my right hand for over 20 years.  I was doing a really good job of it, sure at times things got sore but I would do something else for a day or two and then things would calm down.  But this summer, in May, everything went awry in a 'tragic LEGO accident'.   If you think I stepped on one and fell, you would be wrong.  Nope, some changes in the way silk threads are now spooled had me needing to keep some 10,000 spools on hand to deal with class packing and orders.  Totally different than the order on demand system we used to have.  And I had nowhere to put them and especially not in a way where I could access the spools to fill orders.

So I told my boys that the robot stuff had to go and the closets (yes, three closets) of their precious LEGO models had to go.  Did they want to sell them or take them apart for their own kids?  The latter was the answer and we got to work over several weeks.  Well, as the therapist says - you have been teetering all the time on the edge of repetitive stress injuries again and that pushed me over the edge.  

So you might wonder what happened to some projects I was talking about launching, caskets to stitch, things you may have seen on YouTube just waiting for finishing.  It was an all stop as my arms fell asleep at night and I lost the ability to write my name.  At least this time, I had all the professionals in place and I started about 4-6 hrs a day doing all the things they told me.  Down to about 1.5-2 hours a day now (phew!).  My functionality has come back so that I can be proactive on my business instead of just treading water.  I look forward to stitching a little in the new year as it is looking like that might be feasible.  I have gone from not being able to lock the door by turning a key to being able to pack heavy books and take them to the post office.  It was both hands this time and that really sucked.  Still some trigger thumb and wrist pain that comes in and out but the functionality is noticeably better every week. 

I was talking with my main therapist this week and said I was thinking of telling other stitchers some of the things we have found.  She encouraged me to do it.  I have been her 'best patient ever' she says because  I not only do what she says but find all kinds of wacky ways to do more and take therapies with me on travel.  I am always bringing the latest gadget in with me to show her.  

The big things are stretching your hands and forearms (plenty on youtube of that), heat and cold on the muscles, and massage or percussion of the muscles.  Once I 'get back' to normal, these things will be done with less frequency to keep my hands and arms loose and working.  So some of the things to consider for yourself are:

Ways to heat your muscles on your hands:

Use a Paraffin Bath.  I was very skeptical about this and yet it was the most impactful therapy as the hot wax sticks to injured muscles and imparts a deep and long heating.  Use a personal one that is deep and wide so you can eventually get your forearm/elbow in it.  Make sure it has an auto temperature cycle to melt and bring down to 131 degrees and hold there.  After dipping your hands about 10 times, wrap in saran wrap or use the largest bags you can find (the finger gloves are useless and hard to use) to put your hands and arm in.  Use an old oven mitt over this to retain the heat and sit and watch Flosstube for a half hour or more.  A week of this and what I can do is noticeably different.  

Travel with Paraffin Gloves.  I have had to travel a great deal this fall and needed something and was dreading not having the paraffin bath to take the pain away as well as keep the progress moving forward.  Well there are plastic gloves that exist with paraffin inside a layer against the skin with scrim keeping it in place.  So I got a dozen of them and could use them four times each before I needed to throw them away.  A good way to try the concept as well.  I found the European microwaves were hard to use them with but would boil water in a pan at an airbnb and dip the glove in it (open end outside the pan with a clip on it).  

Use a small rectangular heating pad.  While I watched TV or traveled, I would bring a 18-24" long and 12" wide heating pad.  I could wrap it around my arm muscles and hand like a burrito and it would get really nice and warm.  Once your hands get really tight, the arms need warming to work better so all the stress isn't in the fingers or wrist.  

In a pinch if I was in a hotel with no microwave or stove - I would fill the sink with hot water and put my hands or hands and forearms in.  

Keeping your muscles cold

Ice water baths in a sink are enormous.  The contrast of hot and cold is a tried and true means of healing muscles.  If you have just been stitching a bunch, do a cold bath for your hands to remove the inflammation from the muscles.  A cup of ice in a sink with water or even a large bowl in the sink.  Get the wrists in at least and hopefully the forearms.  When I am not able to do this, you could buy a cold can of soda and hold it in your hands and roll it on your wrists.  I have used this trick for 20 years now.  

Get an Ice Ball.  I can't always stand in front of a sink to cool the muscles so other things are needed to cool the hand down.  She recommended an ice ball and for months it was my favorite go to item as it will stay therapy cold for many HOURS outside the freezer.  There is a gel inside the metal ball and one side is insulated, so you roll it and the backside is cold and rolls over your hand/muscles.  The size is such that you can rest your palm on it.  

Get some Ice Gloves.  As I have been able to start doing more, I imagined being mobile while cooling my hands and wondered if there were any gloves where I could navigate the computer mouse while wearing them.  YES!  The gel in them doesn't get hard and so I can do a little work or carry things around and open doors, etc.  Apparently you can also microwave them to have heated gloves which my therapist is quite excited about trying.  

Massage the Muscles

My neuromuscular specialist says our fingers are like little hamstrings and they get tight all the time.  So one way to loosen them up after working a bit is to use one of the sports percussion devices.  But the normal ones are a bit strong for hands and aren't portable.  Theragun makes a small travel one called the Theragun mini and all of us love it.  I keep having to give mine to overseas friends and get a new one.  It fits in the hand well and it is not as strong and so works great on arm and hand muscles.  I keep mine now next to where I sit (when my husband hasn't stolen it!!) and can use it after working on the computer for a bit.  I expect to use it a great deal after I start embroidering again.  

It fits into my on-board luggage and so I can take it with us.  Since we were hiking all year up until my hand accident, I had been bringing it around on trips for sore and tight leg muscles.  

Use KT tape for support.  Many people use arthritis gloves when stitching but there is another option that is both supportive and therapeutic as well and is used by athletic trainers.  My goal is never to get through the pain to do what I want, but to get back to normal.  So I have found the KT tape really useful.   There are plenty of YouTube videos by trainers on how to apply the tape to the different parts of the body/hands to support things like thumb pain or sprains, wrist or palm injuries.  I am down to

just a strip on the side of my hand from just below the knuckle of the thumb to the broad part of the wrist in a diagonal with a half strip.  That takes the place of any sort of wrist strap or glove and so I love it so much more because it gives a shocking amount of support AND the stretching of the skin from the muscle with the adhesive to the knit strip brings blood to the muscle group and helps healing.  So it's like lots of micro-massage.  You can get flesh colored ones so they aren't as noticeable (but today I am wearing slimming black - ha ha).  Get the 'gentle' version which has a less aggressive adhesive as no matter what, it will peel back with washing of hands, cooking and showering so you won't be able to keep it on for days like athletes do for other parts like shoulders.  The gentle type will come off easy and not irritate your skin as much.  

Keep your hands limber and healthy!  I am looking forward to the next month or two when I can pick up a needle again for a little bit.  While I can technically do it again, I want to be pain free when doing so.  But doing all of this has made me get better much faster than the prognosis.  Last time it was over three years, I am at the beginning of month eight and can work much of a day now which is huge.  I'll be keeping many of these routines in place going forward and won't be taking apart LEGOs either!!

Witney Catalogs 2022-2024

Witney Antiques in the UK has had a three year exhibition series on 17th century schoolgirl embroidery and other decorative arts worked by schoolgirls which just closed.  As part of this extravaganza, Rebecca published three catalogs which were interlinked documenting the pieces which were on sale or loan from private collectors.  

It is rare to see many caskets and stumpwork in one place, not to mention the 'toys' or smalls that might have been made by the girls and housed in the pieces.  Rebecca had been saving items for years in order to do these exhibitions as well as books.  Usually the annual exhibit is accompanyed by a well photographed softbound catalog with researched commentary about each piece to help buyers who can't make it to the exhibit make decisions.  This catalog has become a highly desired book for lovers of embroidery since there are so few publications in the embroidery field.    

These latest three books are an exceptional exception to the typical Witney catalog.  First, they are over 2-3 times the size of the usual books and they include additional essays about new research in schoolgirl embroidery.  Volume 1 (2022) is a softbound book which documents dozens and dozens of English band samplers.  The second volume (2023) is a hardcover book which documents the Elizabeth Hall collection and family members embroidery.  Elizabeth Hall attended the Shackelwell school near Hackney, a quaker boarding school for girls.  Her wrapped card casket is in pristine condition and it contained a wealth of embroidered items and samplers from later quaker family members.  The family had a trove of letters which allowed Rebecca to learn much about this family, published in the book.  It is rare for a new casket and additional embroideries to come on the market, much less with bibliographic information and associated with an actual school.  

The third book (2024) highlights the first known decoupaged casket as well as a mind-blowing number of newly seen whitework samplers, caskets, stumpwork mirrors, etc.  

Thistle Threads has all three of these books at the moment for sale in the shop.  The 2022 catalog on samplers is in low supply.  If you are interested in spending Christmas in an embroidery-stupor, put these books on your Christmas list!