I have heard that the careful and well-taught Europeans have developed working methods that reduce the amount of overtwisting and undertwisting of the threads that results from using continentals on a flat pillow with the hands down method. Knowledgeable people have explained these methods to me and frankly I don't understand why they are said to work! I use continentals on a cookie pillow - I just let 'em roll and try to balance the amount they unroll with rolling them in the other direction.
I don't have hand problems, but I cannot pick up Honiton bobbins comfortably. They are too narrow and they lie right on the pillow because there is no bulb or other projection to hold them above the pillow. My big fingers simply cannot get enough purchase to pick them up!
I can pick up spangled bobbins because the beads hold them slightly elevated. But, I don't like spangled bobbins so I use continentals. The bulb holds the narrow shaft slightly above the pillow which makes them easier to grasp. And, like others on the list, I find that I put my finger on the bobbins just above the bulb and a *very* slight pull on the bulb will enable me to pick it up easier.
By the way, when I started lacemaking I knew an elderly woman whose hands were almost completely frozen into hooks by arthritis, and she made lots of lace - she used continentals and had developed a method of hooking her baby finger under the bobbin and popping it up into the air over the other bobbin, that didn't require her hand to flex at all. She tensioned by stroking the shafts of the bobbins with the heels of her hands. Her main problem was putting in the pins. By the way, she made very nice lace - it just shows what you can do with willpower.
Adele (who has to admit she doesn't know what RSI is, but is assuming it's some kind of arthritis)
North Vancouver, BC
(west coast of Canada)
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