When I was shopping for my Turkish Drop Spindle, I found myself at The Woolery. It's not the first time. I've made quite a few purchases from their on line store. But while I was looking around, I stumbled onto something I had never seen before. It's a 6.5" long, 1 ounce, collapsible Niddy Noddy Spindle. Made in Canada and manufactured from hardwood, it looks like a strange little toy. At the low price of $8.50, I had to add one to my order. I must say when I went back looking for this spindle to give you the link, I had a terrible time finding it, so in case this ever happens to you, it can be found at The Woolery under spinning accessories and then click niddy noddies and scroll down about 1/3 of the page. It's easy to miss.
Now I have no idea how a hard core drop spindle spinner would feel about this niddy noddy spindle, but I kind of liked the idea especially for something to do while on travel. I don't think I'll be making all my yarn this way, but I love little toys I can take on the road with me. With this in mind, I packed my new Niddy Noddy Drop Spindle in my carry on with a wool batt from my stash. Yes, I took the whole wool batt! My biggest fear in life is having nothing to do. LOL!
This is the trip I've been talking about. I just spent 5 days in Asheville, NC visiting my brother and sister in law who are about to have a baby. When I say about, he or she is due tomorrow! So I got this idea. I decided to see if I could make a project from start to finish using my niddy noddy drop spindle in five days. My own Fiber Challenge! So I spun in the airport in Phoenix waiting for my plane to board, I spun on the plane, I spun on the two hour car ride to Asheville, I spun before we went to bed. Every chance I got, I added yards to my tiny little niddy noddy. (This picture is a little blurry because I took it with my phone) On the night before our second to last day in Asheville, I declared my spinning done and just hoped I had enough yardage. (With my time limit, I planned to make another Spiral Baby Beanie and use the handspun as the second color in the spiral pattern.) The sink at our hotel was nice and deep. Keeping the yarn on the niddy noddy, I gave it a warm soapy bath. I used a hand towel to squeeze out as much moisture as possible and balanced it on the air conditioner hoping that the blowing air would speed the drying.
In the morning, my yarn was still a little damp so I took it hiking with me. Well actually, it sat on the dash of our rental car in the sun while I hiked on this mountain top. Pretty, huh? By the time we got back from our hike, the yarn was completely dry. As we drove down the mountain, I carefully pulled it off the niddy noddy to find the twist perfectly set. I had a nice sport weight single. How about that? I wrapped the yarn into a ball while fending off motion sickness coming down the very curvy road. I have a tough time with curvy roads.
After lunch at the Bier Garden (my husband is a home brewer so we spend lots of time at microbreweries) and a couple hours hanging out in downtown Asheville, I started my beanie. The next day we went to a park and so did the growing baby hat. Using all my down time, by dinner my baby beanie was done! One more present for my neice or nephew! I completed my Fiber Challenge! Wait, I had to add a pom pom. OK, now I'm done!
So the Niddy Noddy Spindle gets my full endorsement. It's so cute and very easy to work with. I love that I can wash and warp my fiber right on the spindle if want or need to. It's a wonderful little spinner. It's so fun to think that my little niece or nephew will wear the hat I made for them while visiting their Mommy and Daddy!
*Note - Sadly, the Woolery no longer carries this item, but you can find 24" niddy noddies, so perhaps you could make one of your own!
Cute spindle!
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