At a loss, or the needle in the toy box

We all have them: little bags, pouches & boxes with our favourite & most necessary tools in them. And you don't know how much you rely on them till you misplace them.

I joined some friends up the street for a knitting afternoon & potluck. A few kids, lots of chit chat, good advice, catching up with old friends and some knitting. A scarf, a shawl, a baby jacket and a felted bag were the projects the knitters were working on. I had my little tool box out. I always keep it close at hand. And somehow, with the moving and shifting and making way for more folks, it vanished. I went to cut a thread and it wasn't there. I was in a kind of shock. I never lose it. It could have fallen behind a cushion on the couch, perhaps got kicked under another piece of furniture. Pull out the cushions, crouch down on the floor, go through the tote bag three times. Couldn't find it. Well, maybe I shouldn't be so attached. It'll turn up. The hostess promises to keep an eye out for it when she cleans up tomorrow. I hate to bother her. I feel like I'm making a bit too much of a fuss. She's got two young kids, a third on the way, her husbands away for two weeks and she has a big show coming up. She has more pressing things to worry about than my little box of knitting knick knacks.

There are toys everywhere. A little one could have picked my kit up when my back was turned, thinking it was an interesting, pretty little box. After all, it was green with a friendly looking bear making a pot of tea on it. It's just a freebie tin from a box of Celestial Seasonings tea....

And then I really started to worry. It's full of needles both sharp and blunt, folding scissors and pins and small things like stitch markers & a row counter that a toddler might try to munch on. So I mentioned to the hostess that it might be serious. We don't want to find a toddler fiddling with the box. Oh dear. Earlier one of the mums found she was short a needle. A 7mm needle. Hmmm. Is one of the kids starting a collection so he or she can knit with us? I'll show them how!

Walking home I was wrestling with the feeling of losing something that has almost been a charm to me, and the more unsettling feeling of what if some harm came to a child. My scissors were not just folding scissors. I keep a Leatherman micra as my main tool. I love my Leatherman, it comes in handy at picnics and while traveling. It opens letters and boxes as well as cutting yarn. It has tweezers and a ruler, screwdrivers, a bottle opener and a very sharp little knife. YIKES. Please let that box turn up somewhere harmless. And next time I go knit in a place with lots of kids running around, I will just bring the most innocuous scissors and bluntest needle I can find.