Sixes and sevens

articles in confusion are said to be all SIXES AND SEVENS . The Deity is mentioned in the Towneley Mysteries as He that “set all on seven,” i.e. , set or appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from these, Hall i well thinks, has been derived the phrase “to be at SIXES AND SEVENS .” A Scotch correspondent, however, states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and that amongst needle-makers, when the points and eyes are “heads and tails” (“heeds and thraws”), or in confusion, they are said to be SIXES AND SEVENS , because those numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished.