Apparently one of the things that I do when I have a new material that's plausible for the purpose is make a yarn needle; I've done a couple in African Blackwood (but I'm not sure whether I'm going to do any more, given the conservation status of that wood) and lately have been making some to sell in aluminum bronze.

I've been taking the bronze ones as an exercise in handmaking; I'm making and casting the alloy myself, milling the eye out with the lathe, and the rest is files and sandpaper.