My Toolbox (and Needle Sizer)

I have been thinking about needles and telling what size a loose needle is, and it dawned on me you might like to see my little toolbox. It has a needle sizer I made up in the lid.   The numbers are the sizes of the needles, 28, 26, 24, B for beading needle, 22, 20 and 18.

The box came from Stapes I think.  I bought several of them one year.  There is a tray inside that lifts out and I put a piece of Congress cloth in the lid (backed with blue felt you can just see peeking out at the bottom right corner) with a variety of needle sizes in it.  I used a thread from Gloriana I liked and just made up patterns.  I use it to figure out what size needle I have when I am writing a stitch guide in case I forget what I used.

My favorite scissors and laying tools, and thimble and other tools I use a lot are inside the box and it lives in a drawer next to my stitching chair.  Because the box is about six inches long and maybe three wide it can go on trips with me, too.

So what neat tools do you have by your stitching chair?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 30, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Things You Might Need UPDATED A THIRD TIME

Suddenly this week there are a lot of online postings about various tools folks might want to use to help them stitch.   Makes me think someone turned on the big neon sign in the sky and it read Tools, Talk Tools!

Who am I to not listen?  LOL

Here are the items you might want to browse.  First is Bedecked and Beadazzled talking boxes.  But they are just any box, they are elegant leather boxes and containers in all colors to hold wonderful tools.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2012/07/boxes-for-storing.html

UPDATE:  You can see more of the boxes here.  The second link is to the company website.  Rowallan is a Scottish firm, a specialist in leather goods.
http://nystitchingsisters.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-accessories.html

Mary Corbet has a set of needle I.D. cards that look very useful if you have a lot of needles you don't know the size or name of.  These come from Access Commodities which has donated a set to Mary to give away.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2012/07/needle-id-cards.html

Needlepoint Tool Time's blog is showing off the new tubular Sparkles and the skin thread collection from Access Commodities (which I think it hard to find, so act now).  I believe the instructions on how to use the silks for shading skin was written by Tony Minieri, so that alone is worth having.
http://stitchplaywithneedlepointtooltime.blogspot.com/2012/07/happy-4th-of-july.html

Here's their website.
http://www.needlepointtooltime.com/

Finally, here's a really good photo and description of the EZ Beader.
http://peaceloveandstitching.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-flower-progress.html

UPDATE:  A friend just sent me this link to an Italian line of automatic needle threaders.  She got hers for $5 on Amazon but shop around and make sure you get the size you will use most.  Anyone with trouble threading needles probably should look into getting one of these.  Thanks, L!
http://www.automatic-needle-threader.com/adw/automatic-needle-threader.html

UPDATE:  Bohin makes a needle threader, too.  This video talks about how it works and gives tips on how to use it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZpRd5xGpyc&feature=youtu.be

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com