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Are you a fibre artist who knows or lives with a woodworker? Have I got a deal for you! Ask your friendly, neighbourhood woodworker to make you a lovely, hardwood niddy noddy. If you meet with any resistance, simply inquire as to whether they would rather spend their afternoon sitting in your studio, hands outstretched as you wind yarn around them, listening to Nero Wolfe books on tape. Please don’t tell me I’m the only poor slob that gets stuck doing this. (Oh well, at least it wasn’t Miss Marple.)
“What is a niddy noddy”, you ask? (It’s okay – I had to have it explained at length.) A niddy noddy allows you to wind yarn into a neat skein, without outside assistance. It’s really quite ingenious but don’t ask me to demonstrate. That’s my wife’s department.
Noddies are usually available in two sizes; one makes large skeins and one makes small skeins. My niddy noddy is a smaller version based on an antique belonging to a friend of mine. It is approximately one foot long and the heads are around eight inches in length. (If the nomenclature is incorrect, I apologize. All I do is make them.) I can’t be specific about the measurements as my shop stuff is still in boxes.
The most intriguing aspect of my design is that I have developed a quasi-production means of building them. Everything is turned on the lathe with only a small amount of hand work required to complete them. I won’t go into details as I am still considering writing up the method for publication in a woodturning magazine – a recommendation made by my friend and mentor, Ernie Conover.
There are three basic parts to a niddy noddy. There is a spindle, or handle, that is attached to two heads – one on each end. The heads are not aligned. They are at a 90 degree angle to each other as sighted down the length of the handle. The handle is turned first and a tenon is cut on each end. The tenon is split on the bandsaw to accept a wedge during assembly. Then the heads are turned, drilled, and mounted to the handle. During mounting, a hardwood wedge is driven into the kerf that was cut in the through tenon. The tenon is sanded smooth, then some final sanding and finish and the project is complete.
I started out with a prototype to test the design and my methodology but it turned out too bulky. This finished niddy noddy is more slender and elegant. The prototype and the finished noddy in the photos are made of scrap red oak and wedged with rosewood. Here you can see the bead detail and wedge more clearly. I have made much nicer noddies from Honduras mahogany but, as usual, I gave them away before I remembered to photograph them. Hopefully the shop will be in operation soon and I will get back to making my wife the niddy noddies I promised her.
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