The making of a sooper-DIY niddy-noddy

I realized a few days ago that I was in desperate need of a niddy-noddy. I have three whiteish sweaters from Goodwill, that I plan on dyeing, in various stages of reclaiming (one 100% wool, one 50% wool/50% acrylic, and one 50% wool/50% nylon — I should really look up the difference between acrylic and nylon…). The other balls of yarn that I have wound into hanks have been done around the back of a chair which, frankly, is a pain in my ass. It’s not terribly portable, I have to stand up to do it, and I’m lazy. The laziness really comes into play in the fact that I didn’t want to have to go to a hardware store to get PVC to make myself a niddy-noddy and I really don’t have the money to buy one. So I googled for DIY/homemade niddy-noddies and came across a blog post where someone had made one with wood from their backyard. “Hey! I’ve got some wood in *my* backyard (and the next-door backyard)”, I thought. And even though I have only the most rudimentary of woodworking skills I figured I’d give it a shot.

In John’s pile of firewood I found a straightish dead branch of a work-with-able width and next door I found another straightish piece of newly cut wood of a slightly thinner work-with-able width. Using a dull hand saw I cut them roughly to size and de-barked them (would that be the correct term? It sounds more like what a terrible person might do to their noisy dog :S ) with our totally awesome Bushman knife. (A little side note about the Bushman: the handle is hollow so you can use a suitably sized branch to make a spear, which we did at a cookout and I had a hilarious time attempting to throw it straight!)

Then came the sandpaper. And more sandpaper. And a little bit of a steel wool scouring thingy. And more sandpaper. And wood splintering. And more sandpaper.

My original plan was to use duct tape to put the pieces together. (Actually, my original original plan was to whittle the ends of the center piece to go into drilled holes in the crossbars, but my wood was just not the right sizes for that.) Sadly, no duct tape was to be found, and going to CVS to buy more would have been too much effort. Luckily, John’s an Eagle Scout and has mad lashing skillz. With said lashing skillz he put the pieces together.

And….. TA-DA! A sooper-DIY niddy-noddy!

The sooper-estimated size is a 60 inch hank (ie once around the thing). And the yarn pictured on it was my birthday gift to Hayley!