Sunday 8 February 2015

Harikuyo

Today is the memorial day for used and broken needles and pins.

A couple of years ago I made a special needle book, the last page of which was an "honourable hard work" page for retired needles.
For the past year I have kept my "retired" needles very carefully just to see how many I use in a year.
I am surprised how many there are.   My faith in John James needles is at a low ebb -  the eyes of their needles are very weak and break so very quickly.  There were too many needles this year for my "needle resting place" so the rest sat in a tin waiting to be disposed of today.  

According to Japanese tradition retired needles are stuck into a block of tofu and thanks are given for their help in the years work.   I am thankful (but not to Mr John James!) for my needles but I refuse to waste tofu and instead the HD3QBEM and I are having a  tofu dinner tonight.
Our local haberdashery store has relocated to another suburb so I was not able to get the very narrow ribbon to complete the Christmas Stockings but I am pleased with the way these have turned out.   After experimenting on these I have decided that I like my hardanger picots to be knobs not loops and have made the 'life decision' to make knobs from now on :-)
Tonight I plan to return to my Casket stitching and build a house -  well perhaps lay the foundations.


6 comments:

Ali said...

What an interesting tradition and it has opened your eyes to the make of needles you use...um and so do I. Wonder how many I get through? hope you enjoyed your tofu dinner. Ali x

Ann at Beadlework. said...

I was reminded of this yesterday on plays with needles blog. Your needle book is so neat. Have you tried Piecemaker needles - I use them all the time. They're not as good as they used to be but they're the best I've found.

Queeniepatch said...

For some reason I miss this date every year! I have my collection of broken needles in a glas jar; it's getting so full I would need a large block of tofu! However, I'd rather eat the tofu than 'waste' it.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

What a great idea. I have no idea where my old needles go. They just vanish into the ether!

Pamela said...

Beautiful hardanger stockings!

Susan Elliott said...

You get the Greatest Number of Broken Needles Award Margaret!! I am beginning to think that John James must have changed the manufacturing of their needles because I've had more trouble with new packs than with old ones. I have no idea if this is true but perhaps they would like our needles to break more so we'll buy more packs??? Hope you have a new year of stitching full of blessings and bounty...and fewer broken needles!! xo Susan