Sayings (3)

I`ve not found much history yet on the sayings, so I`m going to ponder round one!

“A stitch in time saves nine” – why nine? why not eight, or ten or twenty??
What type of stitching were they doing – sewing, knitting, crocheting?
Were they using old bone needles or metal ones?
What type of thread were they using thin dainty silks or coarse thick twine?
It sounds as if it was repairing something rather than making it, so were they doing chain mail armour? (chain stitch soon runs undone!) or some large tapestry wall hanging? Perhaps it was mail sacks? Or perhaps something entirely different!
Wonder if we`ll ever know