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warning labels gone amok
Nov. 7th, 2011 09:27 pm"The contents of this pack (needle or any other item) have to be used carefully and for needlework only. These should be used with all due care as these may cause injury if used improperly by an untrained/unfamiliar person. Always restrain children's access to these tools and store these securely."
You know what this was a warning label on? A fricking interchangable knitting needle cord.
Yes, I suppose that one could strangle someone with it or somehow stab someone with the cord key and give them tetanus, and yes, a toddler could probably choke on the end cap, but come ON! A steel crochet hook is more hazardous than this cord, but the one I bought in this same order doesn't have a warning label. No warning label on my new yarn either. (Caution: if swallowed, could tangle in your gut and cause issues.) There is not a warning label this dire on my flipping sewing machine! (Oh. Wait. I got my sewing machine in 1988. Modern ones probably do have "WARNING: THIS THING CAN KILL YOU" on their flimsy plastic shells.)
The only other needlework implement I own that's got this level of warning on it is the needle from the needlefelting kit, and that's at least deserved -- it's not just sharp, it's barbed.
Believe me, of all the needlecraft paraphernalia that I'd be concerned about causing injury to myself or the insufficiently chronologically endowed people in the household (and over thirty-plus years of needleworking I have stepped on a DPN twice, stabbed my finger many times on sewing and cross-stitch needles and occasionally on sharper-pointed knitting needles, injured my thumbnail while doing something dumb with a pair of scissors....), these are *very* low on the list.
You know what this was a warning label on? A fricking interchangable knitting needle cord.
Yes, I suppose that one could strangle someone with it or somehow stab someone with the cord key and give them tetanus, and yes, a toddler could probably choke on the end cap, but come ON! A steel crochet hook is more hazardous than this cord, but the one I bought in this same order doesn't have a warning label. No warning label on my new yarn either. (Caution: if swallowed, could tangle in your gut and cause issues.) There is not a warning label this dire on my flipping sewing machine! (Oh. Wait. I got my sewing machine in 1988. Modern ones probably do have "WARNING: THIS THING CAN KILL YOU" on their flimsy plastic shells.)
The only other needlework implement I own that's got this level of warning on it is the needle from the needlefelting kit, and that's at least deserved -- it's not just sharp, it's barbed.
Believe me, of all the needlecraft paraphernalia that I'd be concerned about causing injury to myself or the insufficiently chronologically endowed people in the household (and over thirty-plus years of needleworking I have stepped on a DPN twice, stabbed my finger many times on sewing and cross-stitch needles and occasionally on sharper-pointed knitting needles, injured my thumbnail while doing something dumb with a pair of scissors....), these are *very* low on the list.