Needlepoint Bits & Pieces

I have lots of little bits of news and information to share with you. Instead of waiting for enough to do several columns, I’m putting them together in this post.

New Products

For charted canvas lovers, Needle Delights has two new projects. Contentment uses a soft pastel palette to create a design with boxes in various sizes and stitches. Zig Zag 2 has diagonal stripes and could be a great stash buster. Laura Perin has a companion piece to her Country Roads. Mountain Trails features pine forests, a lake, mountains, and more. It’s stitched on Congress Cloth.

A new company is making gorgeous laying tools from old pieces of silverware. A 12-step process is used to make the tools that have blunt points. These are real treasures.

Sandy Arthur has another in her series of small books coming out later this spring. This volume covers ideas for beards and mustaches. It will be out in May sometime. Many shops are taking pre-orders for the book.

Princess and Me’s new canvases include several national Santas. You can find ones for Scotland, Mexico, and Germany. Another new design is of a blue macaw (parrot) in a Santa hat. A delightful pair of ornaments have either a girl or boy reading. Raymond Crawford has new zodiac designs.

Corraling Threads on Spools

A big frustration for me in needlepoint is that spools of thread constantly roll out of my reach. I look with envy at the lovely yarn bowls my knitting friends can get. If you have never seen one, these bowls are just big enough for one skein of yarn. They have slits or holes to feed the yarn out. You can knit away without the yarn running away or getting out of control.

I’ve looked for one small enough for a Kreinik spool for years. I tried making a bowl out of thread scraps. It was too tough to make the slit. I thought about small flat sauce dished. The spools rolled out. Small ramekins keep the thread in but break if they fall. Now I am trying several; different round boxes. One is made for holding knitting markers. The other is a resin ort box. I used it last night, and it worked well. My testing continues.

Ideas for Ort Containers

I found a collapsible box when I was cleaning up that is used as a container for orts. It has some problems, though. First, it isn’t very sturdy, so it easily falls off the table. Second, the construction, an open cube has flimsy sides, so I feel it will collapse. I wanted something better.

I am testing out two new ideas. The first, pictured above, is designed for quilters and is made from lightweight cotton. It folds flat but sits nicely on my table. Because the opening is smaller than the base, thread scraps don’t fall out. I’m using it now.

The second, pictured above, is a fabric book with felt pages inside, called an Ort Book. The scraps of thread get dropped onto the felt and stay there. It’s neat and easily portable, but I wonder how I will clean it out. I’m going to try it out next week.

Both of these came from Etsy.

Fobs for Needle Threaders

I loved my friend Vicki’s idea to put attachments onto needle threaders to make them easier to find. I also agreed with her that the fobs cost way more than the threaders. I’ve been looking for cute but inexpensive ideas. They need to have clasps, not just rings. The clasps need to be large enough to get to the center of the threader.

Zipper pulls are one idea. But so far, most of the ones I have seen are childish.

Recently on Etsy, I found knitting stitch markers that are available with big round clasps, pictured above. I’ve ordered some and will let you know how they work out. The marker on the lower right is the kind you want.

I’ll let you know how they work.

What’s your needlepoint lifehack?

I love how many of these ideas repurpose things made for other uses. They are what are often called Lifehacks. I’d love to put together a whole bunch of your ideas into a future article. There will be thread grab bag prizes. Just put your idea into the comment box.