I'm glad you brought the thread position up amma. It's an excellent point! Before I got my new machine (which has a holder that takes the thread high above the machine,) I was using an older machine that just had regular holders, and I had a terrible time with my thread and needles breaking. I had no idea what I could be doing wrong. My dh built me a little thread holder (much like the one you described) to stand behind my machine and bring my thread up through a hook, and away from the back of the machine. Suddenly everything was working perfectly!!!