Recently, I strolled through the aisles of various craft stores and departments intent on looking for gadgets and other stuff that might be of interest to needleworkers.

The first thing that caught my eye was a line of trims called Destination India manufactured by Wrights – the company that makes rick-rack, bias tape and other sewing trims and notions. The Destination India trims are embroidered net and ribbon studded with sequins and other things that glitter, trim that makes it easy to whip up a skirt in the gypsy or bohemian mode. Destination India fabrics also are available.

A few aisles over I found Linea stencils for embroidery. You place the stencil – leaf, Celtic knot, flower, heart or other design – on the garment or fabric you want to embroider, trace it with a white pencil, chalk or other marker, and voila, and the design is transferred with no muss, no fuss. I bought several.

In the same aisle I found Create-A-Button kits which allows one to make ornamental buttons using a form that has little holes punched in it. You sew through the holes with different colored thread to make a design.

In the yarn section I found “Knitting Made Easy” and “Crochet Made Easy” on CD-ROM for those who find a computer an indispensable aid to knitting.

In one of the many catalogs I receive – Herrschners, Keepsake Quilting, Halcyon Yarns, Woolland Works, Nordic Needle and others – I discovered the Knit-A-Round knitting wheel, which operates like the knitting spools we played with as children. This gadget comes in a 12-inch and a 101/2-inch diameter so one can knit hats and other things without using knitting needles.

I also found the Meno Trigger Grip Crochet Hook designed to ease repetition stress on hands and fingers. At $30 these are not cheap – even with a hardwood handle – but if that’s what it takes to keep on crocheting, it’s well worth the investment.

Or how about the Top-Down Raglan Calculator CD-ROM, which will write a seamless raglan sweater pattern knit from the top down? All you have to do is enter size and gauge and the pattern is written for you.

Another gadget, the Quilter’s FabriCalc, will calculate and store yardage for blocks, borders, sashing and other quilting math tasks.

But perhaps the best doodad I found in one of the catalogs was this: Glow-in-the-dark straight pins. Imagine the possibilities.

Snippets

. Recently I received as a gift from a family member a book that I just love. It’s “The New Crewel” by Katherine Shaughnessy. Her intent in producing the book is to regenerate interest in crewel embroidery, based traditionally on ornate Jacobean designs to decorate chairs and bed curtains at one end of the spectrum and cute, campy animals and flower designs mass-produced and sold in kits in the 1960s and 1970s on the other end of the spectrum.

Shaughnessy accomplishes what she sets out to do by offering simple, stylized designs based on her observations of the natural world with such names as Falling Snow, Fishing Net, Snowshoes and Moon Rock. Her colorways range from bright white to misty blue to old red.

My favorite design in the book is a circle sampler composed of a grid of 6 squares in which circles have been worked in a variety of stitches including French knots, stem stitch, blanket stitch, satin stitch and spiderweb stitch. The piece is worked in white, cream and pale yellow-green.

Like most needlework books, “The New Crewel” includes a bit of history about the craft, tips on techniques, stitch how-tos, projects to do and other useful information. Visit www.larkbooks.com to learn more about the book, or call your local bookstore or public library to find out how to obtain a copy.

. The Fiber Arts exhibit and demonstration held at Bangor Public Library on Feb. 25 attracted 1,300 people.

. Churches in Castine, Orland, Bar Harbor and Bangor have organized shawl-knitting ministries. If other churches or organizations have such groups please let me know so I can compile a list and let others know time, day and place of the meetings.

Ardeana Hamlin may be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.