I've given up on seam rippers. I get impatient and often end up ripping the fabric. Plus I don't like having to pick out all those tiny cut threads. Instead I use a "pickit needle"...[my name for it]
It is a stout blunt needle used for needle point. It has a big eye into which I thread 6"-8" of bright yarn or cheap ribbon. Then, when I drop the needle or it gets mixed up in my fabrics I can see the ribbon tail and pull the needle to me. I have three of these that I keep stabbed into a pirce of batting hooked to my thread rack. I can pick out stitches with very few little pieces of thread. Much much easier to manage. On one needle I have a tiny safety pin in the ribbon. If I carry my to-be-ripped project to another place, in or out of the house, I can pin the needle to the project or my shirt so I can find the needle. Also I have a shelf near my sewing table. On the underside of the shelf I have put a dozen or so good sized cup hooks. My scissors and sometimes a measuring tape, especially the shorter one that I accidently cut in half, hang from these hooks.