Thursday, July 31, 2008

Buying strange things for cheap

Elaine and I took a trip out to Value Village this afternoon. She tapped her foot while I cruised through housewares, and then gladly tried on a bazillion fall jackets before settling on a purple reversible one.

We picked up a few other clothes, schmancy girly jeans (you'll see the pink ones below), some shorts for Arthur....

Then we hit the knitting needle shelf.


This all came in one bag. There were a few more, without the "head" on, and I've just tossed them. (What is the correct term for the knobby bit on the end? The knob, perhaps?)


Luckily knitting needles are really fine decorative objects... none of these has a mate.

And then there was this thing... (click to embiggen, as always)
About a foot long,


steel,





with an eye,


and both ends have these triangular points, excellent for piercing innocent fingertips.




Some kind of needle, for sewing really tough stuff -- that point indicates serious business. It's about the diameter of a sock needle, 2.5 or 3 mm.

Elaine, who really knows very little about sewing, said you could make a ruffle with it, piercing all the gathered fabric at once. This, she felt, would explain the great length. Clever idea, but I'm not sold on it.

So, anyone know? Anyone want it??

4 comments:

  1. something for sail making? No idea. but you can warm those odd needles and shape into bracelets or key chains.

    ReplyDelete
  2. what about suturing?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it is a leather needle. I would say it is for upholstery but those are usually curved. You can make new knobs, heads, end caps (??!) for needles with Fimo/Sculpy clay and then glue them on after they've been baked if you want to jazz them up a bit. I have a couple sets of Lantern Moon needles (donated when my daughter's hockey team made some charity scarves a few years ago) that are perfect except that they have no end caps. I keep meaning to make pretty clay ones, but have made do with a rubber band the few times I've used them so far. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello from Ventura, California,
    I am fairly certain that this is a rug needle, used to sew carpet together.
    tally ho!
    Ginny

    ReplyDelete

Comments are now moderated. You can be anonymous, or just use your name, without signing in to anything, though.