A what? A niddy noddy is a simple device to make hanks (yarn wrapped in a large circle) of yarn, usually used after spinning onto a spindle. I thought that maybe my swift (was which is used to hold hanks while winding yarn into a ball or cake) would work and I wouldn’t need a niddy noddy (say that 10 times fast), but the swift doesn’t keep it under enough tension and my single ply yarn was kinky.

I already had 1/2” PVC pipe, so I went to the hardware store for two tee fittings and four caps. I cut the pipe into lengths of one 16” and four 7” pieces with my band saw. Assembling was easy, and I gave the finished H shape a half twist.

Winding the yarn took a little thought, but once I had it down it was a nodding kind of action, so I can see why someone called it a niddy noddy (although I still think the name is akin to thing-a-ma-jig).

I made the central post 16” so that the resulting height with tee fittings would be 18”, which should make each loop of yarn around 2 yards. So I think I made about 84 yards of yarn. I used some contrasting bits of wool yarn to tie the centers so that when I do take it off the niddy noddy it shouldn’t become a tangled mess. The nice thing about using PVC is that I can rinse the yarn to set the twist with the yarn still under tension on the niddy noddy. We’ll see how the yarn comes out when it is dry!