Death by cable needle

Aaargh! My cable needle will be the death of me one day.
At the moment I'm knitting a cable and aran scarf.  When I'm in the middle of a row I tend to hold the needle in my mouth between cables.  Not always a good look on the train I know, but what can one do?  Between rows I tend to stash the needle in the weave of my jumper or cardie.  No worries, if I forget to put it away, enough strange looks will alert me to a cable needle being worn as a brooch and it soon gets put away. 

Death #1 (actually blindness)
I have a favourite jumper my Mum knitted in the 80s.  It has a farmyard scene (yes it's the Patons 8 ply Herdwick one) with a crossover neckline.  I have discovered it's a great place to stash the cable needle.  Until I forget to put the needle away and it pokes me in the eye when I take off the jumper.

Death #2
When I get to sit in my armchair in my PJs and knit, I'll put the needle in my top pocket.  Of course I forget to put it away, until I roll over in bed, it slides out and tries to stab me in the throat.

Death #3
Last weekend we went for a drive. I got my knitting out, no cable needle. Darn it, where was it? Oh yeah, I was knitting in my PJs last night.  Hmmm, I didn't get stabbed and it wasn't in the bed when I made it in the morning.  Gasp!  It was still in my pyjama pocket and now it was in the wash.  Oh no ... I had visions of it getting caught in the holes in the machine and a) blowing up the machine which was washing when we went for our drive, and/or b) getting stuck in one of the holes of the drum and shredding my clothes as they went past. Thankfully when I got home both the machine and my clothes were in one piece with the needle sitting at the bottom of the drum.  Yay! All is good with the world.

Have a close look at the needle though.  See the little scratches about 1cm in from each end?  I thought surely my teeth could not have done that?  I would have no enamel left.  What could have caused these marks, so severe it snags the wool?  Aha!  It did get caught in the holes in the washing machine. 

 

So lucky am I that I

a) have not yet poked myself blind

b) have not yet stabbed a hole in my throat, and

c) not killed the washing machine and my clothes are still in one piece.

Someone up there is looking after me and I say a little thankyou.