"What on earth is "The Insect that Stole the World," Jim?"
Sorry - that should read, "Insect that Stole Butter" - never got the hang of multi-tasking.
Wonderful and extremely un-putdownable dictionary of word origins.
According to Chambers Scots Dictionary, a hissie is a needle-case - a case for needles and thread.
It's also a housewife
Goldstein gives sewing basket - the same thing.
If anybody wants a half decent, highly readable non fiction accounts of Reiving, try George McDonald Frazer's (he of the 'Sharpe' series) 'The Steel Bonnets'.
Jim Carroll