A niddy-noddy is a four-armed contraption used to wind spun yarn into a skein for storage. They can be made of wood or of PVC. The PVC ones are useful if you wish to wet your yarn and dry it on the niddy, or if you wish to dye or handpaint skeins in multicolor patterns.
Hold your niddy with the top arm pointing sideways, and the bottom arm pointing at and away from your body.
Hold the loose, starting end of the yarn agains the center shaft (it is shown beneath Stasia's thumb in the clip.)
Lift the working yarn up over the right, top arm...
beneath the back, lower arm...
above the left, top arm...
and below the front, lower arm. Repeat until you reach the end of your yarn supply.
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Then, tie the beginning loose and, and the final loose end, together in a secure bow. You may have to unwind the final end just a little so you can make the two ends meet comfortably.
Before removing your yarn from the niddy, secure the skein in several places with undyed, cotton yarn wound between the strands: separate the skein into two halves at each securing point, and wind your cotton between that split, making a little figure 8 as you do so. Tie securely in a knot.
When you have tied your yarn in at least three places, you are ready to remove it carefully from your niddy-noddy. A niddy which has one arm with a flat end will make this step easier than one which has arms which are all carved into "U"s, because by the end of winding, a skein will fit the niddy pretty tightly. Keep this in mind when winding, and try to keep your tension even, but not too tight. (The "flat" arm on the niddy in the photo is the one in the upper right.)
Once your skein is secured and removed, you can store it or it can safely be submerged in water to "set" the twist of the yarn. To "set" your twist, simply lay the skein in a bath of warm water. Do not agitate. You can use a little soap if the yarn needs to be washed, followed by several rinse baths. Lift the skein out gently, inserting your thumb in the center to help keep the strands separated. Gently squeeze it but don't wring it. Place it in a towel and roll the towel up around it to get out excess moisture. Then you're ready to dry it.
If you plan to weave with your yarn, or if it is an "unbalanced" yarn (one that doesn't hang straight but twists up on itself as a skein) you may wish to hang dry it with a weight for tension. If you will be knitting with the skein and it is a well-balanced yarn, you can just dry it flat.
To wind a skein for storage, simply remove it from the niddy, twist it several times, allow the twist to fold back on itself, and thread one end through the other to hold the wound skein in place (see video).
The niddy-noddy used in this video was fashioned by Edward Tabachek
and is of Russian Olive wood.Questions? Visit the Spindlers Yahoo! Groups discussion list to chat about this clip!
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