This may have been addressed on the Board before. I know I read it somewhere and it was a good idea, but cannot remember what it was. I have been good at keeping the little container the needle came in on my table until I need to change it. However I have a few strays and even with a magnifing glass I cannot recognize the numbers.

get someone young!!! i have some magnifers that my hubby had, very small ones in a small box. different strengths. that works for me.
perhaps this could help you keep them organized better.
http://www.nancysnotions.com/product...+pincushion.do

I can't offer advice on how to see them, cause i struggle too. However somewhere I saw a pincushion that was divided into sections with needle sizes written in. you placed your machine needle in the proper section as you switched it out for another.

Oops! should have clicked on the link before I posted-that's not the one I saw but it's the same idea.

my husband just told me i should share this discovery......
i don't know what it's called but you look into someone's ear with it, it's lighted and magnified, it's the only thing i have found to work for me.
i don't know why needles are soooo hard to read! i can thread one with no problem but i sure can't read them!
anyway i paid about $13.00 for this thing at the drugstore because we are having ear trouble in this house, now i have another use for it.

I used to use an old microscope but it died.

I use a jewelers eyeglass

[quote=kathy]
i don't know what it's called but you look into someone's ear with it, it's lighted and magnified, it's the only thing i have found to work for me.

I think it's called an otoscope.

I don't know about all, but if you use Schmetz...they are color coded with a band around the shoulder of the needle.

The color just tells you what type it is. So, like a sharps, jeans, microtex, stretch and so on. I can't read them either.

If you get a thread counter lens (also called a linen tester) you should be able to read the stampings on needles.

When I get them I put them in a labeled drawer in a tiny fishing lure box. Since the container they come in is labeled it's an easy and convenient way to store them.
It has a lot of drawers so a lot of small sewing "thingeys" stay hidden in plain sight.

Lol...I'm a ninny...couldn't work out how you look into someone's ear with a needle and how that would help...lol. Then I read it again and went....ooohhhhhhh...lol. Maybe I need my glasses checked...lol

Buy a cheap pin cushion. With a pen mark off sections and write needle sizes in each section. When you take an 80/12 out of your machine, put it in the 80/12 section on the pin cushion. That way you can easily keep track of our "loose" needles.

I have a dickens of a time reading those darn numbers too, luckily I inherited a really small very strong magnifier from my grandfather that does the trick!

Thanks for my morning laugh.

This is what I use too. I got mine from ebay for a few dollars and it's brilliant.

It took me a while to realize that the needles actually had numbers on them. I use a magnifying glass that has a super-close-up area. And I also use the tomato pincushion to store any good needles that I take out of the machine. I just marked the sizes in the divisions of the pincushion with a sharpie.

cool idea!

I use a little thingy to look at negatives with. I got it when I took a photography course. It's called a lupe. It's 8x and I have no idea what I paid for it.

I was just trying to figure out how to do this myself this morning!

That is really funny :D

I don't like hassles so I don't even try to read needles. I really make an effort to put the needle back in the package, if it is a stray needle I toss it.

Thank you for a morning laugh!