Weird random questions for anyone

[dianec42]

In my capacity as know-it-all, I recently stumbled upon something I don't know, and it's driving me nuts.

I asked on Reddit, but apparently I did a terrible job of phrasing the question, so allow me a brief story time here:

Aida cloth and tapestry needles both come in various sizes/scales. For aida cloth, it's 14/16/18 etc; for needles it's 24/26/28. For both, the higher the number the smaller the thing.

And for aida cloth (or evenweave) the numbers actually mean something - 14-count aida has 14 squares to the inch, for example.

Question: What about needle sizes? Do the numbers mean anything in absolute scale? Like, you could fit 28 size-28 needles in a centimeter or something? Or are they just arbitrary and relative?

I can't be the only person who wonders about these things, right? Right? :D


Bonus question: Is "Stitch People" out of print? What's the go-to nowadays for people and people accessories? I'm too lazy to design my own (barely getting un-lazy enough to try putting something together from parts).