I've been stitching with platinum needles for perhaps twenty-five years. In my early stitching days, I never thought there was a difference in the type of needle, but a teacher in one of my classes recommended platinum needles as the very best. I gave them a try, figuring I wouldn't notice a difference, but lo and behold, they were the best! They are also very expensive! Instead of six needles for a couple of bucks, they started out at a couple of bucks apiece. Then, the prices gradually increased to about $3.50 each, and most recently $4 a needle. At those prices, when you drop a needle, you go hunting for it, you can't afford to lose too many.
Where does the odyssey part come in? Well, the story goes like this: Supposedly the one company making platinum needles had one (and only one) gentleman who knew how do to the platinum plating process. He retired, and no one else was able to or wanted to do the platinum plating, so they quit making platinum needles. Quel dommage! The stores carrying platinum needles quickly ran out, and I was thinking I would have to give gold needles a try. In my odyssey, every time I went to a needlework vendor's website, I looked for platinum needles, without success.
Then one day, I struck gold, or in this case platinum. I ran across a website that offered them for sale. But, one more hurdle, they were a wholesaler, not a retailer. So I had to find a retailer. I emailed The Fiberworks in Waverly, asking Karol if she would be willing to special order some platinum needles for me - and guess what! Another customer had wanted some so she had already placed an order and had some in stock! Yippee! I'm back in business. Apparently, the wholesaler bought all the remaining stock of platinum needles from the needle company and is now selling them. So, since I want platinum needles I need to stock up now, because the remaining stock won't last too long.
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