I am working on my "Over the River and Through the Woods" quilt, so I am doing a lot of hand embroidering and my middle finger was getting really sore from pushing the needle through. I collect thimbles, but have never been able to use them. When I have a thimble on my finger, I use another finger to push the needle through. Crazy, uhh! I think I found a reasonable alternative. I purchased some corn pad (for your feet) and cut off pieces to put on my finger where it hurts. I can get several small pads out of one corn pad. I used them all weekend and loved them. It made a big difference and they are very inexpensive. I paid $1.50 for 9 pads which I can cut up to make at least 36 small pads. Not a bad deal!