Here’s another indispensable tool in my workroom. I don’t keep it in my “tool box” with my scissors or anything else – no, no, it has a special place right next to where I sit, because I use it daily.
And besides, if it were in my tool box, it would make a mess of everything!
You may very well have one of these already (if you do, I bet you love it, too!), or you may have seen or heard of them and thought you didn’t really have a need for it. I thought the same thing until I bought one. And now – well, it’s True Love. We won’t be parted! We’re drawn to each other, like… like… magnets.
This jolly device is called a telescoping (or telescopic) magnet. In its unfurled state, it is about five inches long.
But stretch it out to its 35″ maximum length, and it is a Wonder.
The use of this tool is obvious: it relieves you of having to bend down from your seated position while stitching to pick up your needle when you drop it.
Or your scissors.
Or your pencil sharpener.
Or your thumb tacks.
Or your tambour hook.
Or your fingernail clippers.
Or your…
You get the idea! Anything metal that a magnet would seek that weighs apparently up to five pounds (according to the manufacturer), this thing will pick up.
It has a Very Strong Magnet on the end.
Now, you might be thinking, “I don’t need help bending and reaching.” Well, I suppose I don’t, either. If I need to get down on the floor to get something, I can. But with this thing, I don’t have to!
But it’s better than that. My problem is not so much in the Picking Up of the Thing.
My problem is in The Finding of the Thing. I drop needles All the Time. It’s almost a ritualistic thing with me, though I’m not sure why. Needles are very hard for me to see on my floor in my workroom. So I just swipe the telescoping magnet around in the general vicinity, and I will always land a catch! Sometimes, I’ll land two or three needles that I didn’t even know were there.
This is a Particularly Handy tool for stitchers who live with other people with bare feet, or who have little children, cats, dogs, or pygmy hippos. Never a good idea to leave stray needles on the floor in any of those cases!
Being a Very Strong Magnet, I keep mine parked on my file cabinet underneath my work table. I don’t leave it on the table where it could come in contact with my camera or my iPad or any other sensitive electronics.
And with it parked in its place, I always know where to find it – which means I can always find my needles.
If you don’t have a telescoping magnet, put one on your list. It will fast become your best friend!
Where can you find them? Lots of places! Needlework shops, hardware stores… Amazon in the US carries a whole variety of telescopic magnets, and so does Amazon UK.
You might even find one in your husband’s tool box…
On a personal note, I’ve been sick, sick, sick for the past two weeks. I’m taking this weekend completely off, in hopes of forcing a more rapid recovery. Email response will be a bit slow, if at all, this weekend. Bear with me…I’ll be back Monday!
