Sewing needle threaded (Period)

Double-pointed knitting needle palewise (Accepted)

A needle is a slender sliver of metal or bone, sharpened at the end and used for manipulating thread.  In Society armory, the default needle is the “sewing needle” (often so blazoned):  a metal needle with a hole in one end for thread, used for hand sewing.  It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms (from dial. Italian gugela) of de Agugellis, mid-15^th C. [Triv 41].  Sewing needles are sometimes found threaded; their points are to base by Society default.

There is also the “knitting needle”, which should be double-pointed; one of the earliest representations of knitting, the Buxtehude altarpiece c.1395 [Richard Rutt, A History of Hand Knitting, p.49], shows needles in this form.  Although a period artifact, the knitting needle is unattested in medieval armory.  It doesn’t seem to have a default orientation in Society blazonry; the illustration shows a double-pointed knitting needle palewise.

The Shire of Mendersham bears:  Azure semy of needles argent, a laurel wreath Or.

Eibhlín an Fraoich bears:  Per chevron azure and argent, a sewing needle azure.

Zeresh la Tricoteuse bears:  Per bend azure and sable, a unicorn’s head couped argent, armed and crined, and two double-pointed knitting needles in saltire Or.