Factoid of the day

A NiddyNoddy was a cross like object which allowed you to wrap thread to make skeins.

photo wikipedia

How to make a niddynoddy from PVC Pipe

other variations of NiddyNoddies:

Swift

A swift is a tool used to hold a skein of yarn while it is being wound off.^[1] It has an adjustable diameter so that it can hold skeins of many sizes, and rotates around a central rod.[

One substitute for a swift is to have someone else hold the skein.^[3] This has several disadvantages however, first a willing second person has to be found, and secondly unless the other person has had a lot of practice holding skeins, the yarn winds off a swift much better. Yarn tends to catch on the hands and wristwatches of the person holding the skein, and a swift has neither hand nor watch to catch the yarn.
Another common substitute is the back of a chair. The disadvantages of this is that the skein is not kept under tension, and thus the yarn has a tendency to get tangled, and one has to stop very often to untangle it.

Spnner's weasel

Spinner's weasel or clock reel is a mechanical yarn measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with gears attached to a pointer on a marked face (which looks like a clock) and an internal mechanism which makes a "pop" sound after the desired length of yarn is measured (usually a skein). The pointer allows the spinner to see how close she/he is to reaching a skein.
 

hence the phrase "pop goes the weasel"

all of these things must have been around for awhile, but the word dates back to 1400
and Leonardo DiVincie painted a Madonna and child with pne in 1490...

w

wikipedia 

The yarnwinder serves as a symbol both of Mary's domesticity and the Cross on which Christ was crucified, and may also suggest the Fates, understood in classical mythology as spinners.

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