Making a DIY niddy noddy

Once you start spinning yarn, at a certain point you will need to figure out how to get it off your bobbin and into a skein. The tool used to do this is called a "niddy noddy," which is a silly name, but I suppose not as silly as a lot of other spinning tools. ("Orifice hook," anyone?)

1. Your arm: the niddy noddy you carry with you
The easiest, cheapest, and most low-tech way to do this is with your arm. Wind the yarn over the palm of your hand and around your elbow. This is tiring if you have to wind very much yarn, and you want to be careful to wind the yarn loosely. Otherwise your fingers will be turning blue by the time you are finished.

2. The back of a chair, if you have one the right size and shape
Winding yarn around the back of a chair has the advantage of not cutting off your circulation. But I never happen to have a chair with the right kind of back when I need one. And as with using your arm, given the size of your average chair, you will be producing a smaller-than-standard skein of yarn.

3. DIY PVC niddy noddy
A better solution for the crafty spinner in the modern era is to use PVC pipe. Even if you already have a niddy noddy, you may want to make your own out of PVC for two reasons: 1) you can take it apart and stow it in your bag for travel, and 2) because you can customize it to create skeins of any length you like. I once made a giant niddy noddy that produced six-yard skeins, back when I was hand-dyeing sock yarn.

The best PVC to use is half-inch pipe. If you want to create a standard two-yard hank, you will want to make one with a central shaft 15 inches long. Robyn Wade at The Anticraft has a great tutorial on creating this simple tool from hardware store pieces.

Image courtesy Flickr/devaburger