Pete -

Bless you, it's a challenge, isn't it?  Just take it easy and go slowly – knitting usually helps when my hands are bad, but sometimes I have to change how hold the needles or yarn until I find a position the doesn't irritate my worst spots.

I actually started knitting years ago on the advice of my physical therapist (arthritis and repetitive motion injuries).  I love cables, laces, and fine yarn socks, but a lot of days my hands just can't manage the smaller needles and more complicated stitches well.  So I always have a simple project on the needles, usually a pebble stich scarf or a basic dishcloth, simple knit/purl stuff, loose stitches.  Fifteen minutes a day keeps my fingers nimble, and if I skip a few days, my hands ache so more more.   I still follow the PT advice — knit regularly and frequently, but not in marathon stretches.   Warm up the hands on the therapy project, and then switch to something more challenging when/if the fingers are up to it.  Right now, I'm also hampered by some lingering numbness in the left hand, thanks to a very stubborn steer that wouldn't load into the trailer last summer — ended with nerve damage in the fingers.  The knitting makes such a difference, but the stitches aren't so pretty.  Getting better, but still nothing to show to company.

LauraP

Knit, crochet, or tie knots in barn twine to make a catfish net . . . doesn't matter so much what craft you pick, so long as it's a good match for your hands.  I used to crochet a lot.  That hurts now . . . a lot.  Knitting doesn't hurt unless I really overdo it, and I don't have time to sit still in one place long enough to overdo it these days.  But I didn't learn to knit until '93 when the physical therapist put the needles in my hands and got me started.

Two rules helped me when I first started –

1.  The therapy counted, not the quality of the knitting.  The point was to get the fingers moving and regain control and flexibility. 

2.  My rule – no bargain basement, junk yarns for therapy projects.   It had to feel lovely in my hands and look lovely, too, so then I'd enjoy the therapy instead of hating it as much as certain other exercises.  I was such a slow knitter then that I could enjoy one whole skein for eons and then rip out the swatch and start over.  I could get a lot of therapy time out of a good yarn that way.

I love to knit but, due to odd circumstances, had not done so for a number of years … I distract easily to new playthings! … and, when I picked up the needles again, discovered that my hands were not, um, cooperative.  I can't knit in the morning as a dogged bit of carpel tunnel makes that difficult with numbed finger and thumb.  However, washing the morning dishes in water as hot as I can stand it, followed with lots of hand lotion rubbed in soothingly does wonders to start the day!

The happy discovery was that my hands don't hurt anywhere as bad with circular needles that dealing with the rigid straight needles (I gave all mine to my daughter).  Once there is several inches on the needle, it props in my lap and I don't have to clutch to hang on to them.  Most everything I knit is either circular or working back and forth on a circular needle.  I prefer bamboo or plastic needles now versus the slick fast metal needles of my youth as the texture of the wood prevents stitches from LEAPING off the needle tip (they never slip gracefully one at a time!) causing me to clutch harder.  Once you are used to knitting, invest in circulars … they also travel quite well without poking through totes! I'd suggest starting with 24 inch lengths; 16 inch are tight and can hurt after awhile.

Oh, wait! another discovery was putting point protectors on a 2 double-pointed needles (they go up to large size), turning them into straight "shorties" … this allowed knitting slim strips or narrow scarves with virtually no needle weight.  Hope this helps!