mdog,
Have you considered using Tie::Hash::Sorted? It allows you to dynamically change the sort routine which it seems you want to do. Additionally, it allows you to modify the hash arbitrarily and still maintain its "sortedness".

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Tie::Hash::Sorted;
my $custom_sort = sub {
     my $h = shift;
     [ sort {$h->{$b}{number} <=> $h->{$a}{number}} keys %$h ];
};
tie my %hash, 'Tie::Hash::Sorted', 'Sort_Routine' => $custom_sort;
my @keys = qw(name number);

@{ $hash{$_} }{ @keys }       = ($_, '7.7') for qw(Me Chuck Zed);
@{ $hash{Wife} }{ @keys }     = qw(Wife 7.6);
@{ $hash{Dad} }{ @keys }      = qw(Dad 53);
@{ $hash{Michael} }{ @keys }  = qw(Michael 24);

print "$hash{$_}{number}\t$hash{$_}{name}\n" for keys %hash;
@{ $hash{Foo} }{ @keys } = qw(foo 42);
$custom_sort = sub {
     my $h = shift;
     [ sort {$h->{$a}{name} cmp $h->{$b}{name}} keys %$h ];
};
tied( %hash )->Sort_Routine( $custom_sort );

print "$hash{$_}{name}\t$hash{$_}{number}\n" for keys %hash;
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