Niddy Noddy, or what not to do

Since I got my Babe spinning wheel, I've spun three yarns that are all still on the bobbins. I realized I needed a niddy noddy, a perpendicular-shaped contraption to wrap the yarn around to make a skein of yarn, if I wanted my bobbins back. I then learned that if I wanted to crochet from this skein, I'd need to use some way to wind it into a ball; otherwise, the yarn would be one hot, tangled mess. I could use someone's hands or something called a swift, which looks like a broken upside down umbrella. I found plans to make a PVC Yarn Swift and Niddy Noddy from The House at Two Palms blog.

A trip to Home Depot resulted in most of the items purchased according to the plans I wrote down in my notebook:

ah, math

I built just the niddy noddy and used Camaj Handspun Yarn's YouTube video for guidance, How to use a niddy noddy and twist a skein of yarn. 

WARNING! Make sure that you really push in those ends to the T-connectors. Three different times an end (not the cap-the six-inch pipe) popped off, and I had to wrassle with it just to slip on my yarn. Then I saw that I had about 4-5 strands that were going the wrong way, so I had to unwind some of the yarn to fix the problems. I was as delicate as possible with the yarn, but it still got unnecessarily fuzzy. I hope I don't lose the pegs again! They're pretty well smooshed and pushed into the t-connectors now!

I had spun a yarn from hand dyed falkland from Charisse at Color Craze Fiber. I call it "Appalachian Sunset" because it reminds me of the gorgeous blazing skies I'd see when I lived in the NC mountains. The only "goal" of this yarn was to spin it in a way it was not overspun and to learn more about how the Babe flows. My wheel and I have to get to know each other! That means this yarn had to get off the bobbin so I can make MORE!

Next step: Steam the yarn