The LN-4 hand was developed and named by industrial engineer Ernie Meadows as a memorial to his daughter, Ellen, who was killed in an automobile accident. He wanted to give free prosthetic hands to landmine victims throughout the world. This mechanical, non-medical prosthetic hand proved so successful that it is now fitted on victims of any kind of accident and people who were born without a hand. There is never a charge to the recipient of a hand.

In 2005, a project called Give Hope - Give a Hand was organized and supported by Rotary International. To date, it has provided over 5,000 prosthetic hands in over 41 countries. Recently a team of Rotarians and their spouses from El Sobrante, Concord, Chico, Sunrise, and Willows traveled to Vietnam where they fitted a total of 60 LN-4 hands on recipients. What a rewarding experience! Seeing someone write his or her name, hold a cup or use a comb for the first time in years was very gratifying.

During the fittings, some of the recipients mentioned discomfort from the plastic ribs on the prosthetic hand. The installers placed a piece of soft fabric inside the ribs and the discomfort was gone. It was suggested that a knitted tube placed on a recipient’s stump would provide a cushion.

You can support this program by knitting stump sleeves:
Use sock-weight yarn (preferably a cotton, bamboo, corn, linen or other cool, washable yarn) and US #2 double point needles, (gauge is approximately 8sts/1")
Loosely cast on 70 sts. Join and work in the round until the tube is 6-7" long. Bind off loosely. Weave in the tails.

This pattern should make a sleeve 8"-9" in circumference. LN-4s are distributed all around the world, so you are welcome to vary the size of the sleeve. You can make different sizes by changing needles or increasing or decreasing the number of stitches cast on.