I did get a few questions about the purpose of a Niddy Noddy (or Niddy Naughty as one commenter pointed out. hehe), and since illustrations always work best...
A Niddy Noddy is capable of taking any yarn (such as this summery yarn I got in the mail from my $10 Swap partner today. Thanks ScrapingD!)...
and turn it in to a pretty hank, like this!
by a process that looks something like this:
You just hold the yarn in the same hand that's holding the center bar and wrap the yarn around and around with the other hand. Here's a YouTube video from JoyofHandSpinning that shows exactly how that's done. She also uses a beautiful traditional Niddy Noddy made of wood. Love (1). This process is useful for dyers, spinners, or even just anyone who likes to store their yarn in hanks instead of messy balls. :)
Also, because the overall length of the tool is 18", it manages to produce something close to a 2 yard skein, which gives you a quick and dirty estimate of how many yards you have in your skein.
As a side benefit, I've also proven that my spray paint for plastics didn't come off on my yarn, YAY! For those who noticed that one of the arms is bent in the picture above it's because I didn't glue all the pieces together so I can ship it in a little bitty box. I have the four arms are glued to the center "T" piece on my own, but I didn't glue the long arm to the short sides so that I could store it like so:
Brilliant, amiright?
Yes, BRILLIANT! That's awesome! Thanks for posting how it works
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, I get what it is now!! Super cool!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever design! But I'm just saying "hi." Since I don't dye, I wouldn't want to win this away from someone who could really use it!
ReplyDeleteFYI - you seem misunderstand some terms here. The Niddy Noddy helps you wind yarn in hanks. The yarn you picture is already in a skein, and can be knit from that directly, without having to wind it into a ball (either by hand or with a ball winder).
ReplyDeleteHanks, skeins and balls are three different things. You can knit from a ball or a skein, but not from a hank. Why bother taking something from which you can knit directly and wind it into something from which you can't? Sure, it looks pretty, but it's not really useful.
However, winding into a hank *is* necessary for dyeing.
wow i was just thinking to myself the other day that i really should pick up some PVC pipe and try to make myself my own Niddy Noddy. looks like we both had the same idea!
ReplyDelete