Loose ends had better watch out!!

I have just acquired a whole ARSENAL of weapons in the never-ending war on loose ends. They will also be useful for delicate repairs in lace and fingering-weight yarns. In other words: *jackpot*!!

It would seem that the Meijer store in Jeffersonville, IN is closing down its needlework department. Truth be told, although we shop there regularly, I never even realized that it *had* a needlework department. In any case, their inventory appears to have been rather limited, so while I do feel a pang of regret at the sadly shrinking market, the absence of this particular shopping outlet is no big loss to me and will have precisely zero impact on my access to tools and supplies — except, of course, for the fact that the day before yesterday I stumbled upon the closeout sale, where I managed to pick up this little treasure for a mere $3.

The crochet hooks are stainless steel, in six sizes ranging from 1.3 to 3.25 mm, with lovely narrow heads that are ideally suited for picking up stray loops one at a time without splitting the plies.

Other than the two tiny tools that I use for beading (0.5 mm for 8/0 beads and 1.0 mm for 6/0 ones), until recently the smallest crochet hook in my trusty array (all bought during the 1970's and 80's) was an old 3.25 mm one from the same brand as the new kit (i.e. Boye). I also recently got new aluminum hooks in US sizes C (2.75 mm) and D (3.25 mm), but lovely as they are, those have wide heads that make them difficult to use with finer strands of yarn. They are better for DK or sport-weight, or even worsted. So in other words, I just filled in a big gap in my tool box.

Score one for the good guys. :-)