Favorite Notions #6

This is another tool that lives next to my sewing machine: the knit picker.  It looks like a tiny, little latch hook (for those of you who remember the latch hook rug craze of the '80s) and is extremely useful for repairing knit sweaters.  That's not what I use for mostly, though.  I use it for pulling serger thread tails back under the stitching to keep the ends secure.  This little tool pulls the thread tail under quickly and neatly--you can do it with a much shorter thread tail than threading a needle to bury the tail.  This is especially useful for projects that require a hem or a binding to be finished before the seam is sewn--I try to avoid this situation as much as possible, but sometimes it's just plain inevitable.