Knitting Needle Box

It is amazing what I find when I am not looking. Yesterday I was putting some thread away in a cupboard & spotted this box. I had forgotten I had it, I thought someone else had it. It is a box made for my Mother by a family member, especially for her to keep her knitting needles in. I have had it since she passed away & have not looked inside it since. So of course I had to open it.

Inside I found the remainder of my Mother's collection of knitting needles, and the box was quite full. There were a great variety of sizes, both plastic & metal. Some of the metal ones sadly had gone the same as mine, coatings coming off. They have since been cleaned & sorted, damaged & odd ones tossed.


The box now looks like this, and is full again, complete with a combination of my own, my Mother's, & possibly my Grandmother's knitting needles.

After hearing the story of the lady in the store last week & her experience with coatings coming off her needles, I have started to ask my other textile aquaintences. Most have never heard of it before, but one lady (J***) in my stitching group yesterday had also had the same trouble. Another lady said that it was from lack of use. Mmmmmm................... posibility. I have been knitting on & off over the years, but over the last 15 years it has been with large size needles, not the finer ones. What is interesting to note though is the needles that have remained in their packets are still OK, while the ones left out of their packets are not. Even the ones of my Mum's that I found yesterday ( & certainly would not have been used in the last twenty odd years) are OK if they were in their packets.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................................interesting.............