in which we wrap yarn

Now isn't this an interesting... stick?

I received this lovely carved dowel from my husband for Christmas.  kinda hefty for a wand (I have girls.  sticks today are wands, not bats or guns), too short for a walking stick.

this... is a Nostepinne.  yeah, I hadn't a clue either.  (apparently, neither had the gals at the local yarn store, which makes us smile.  leave it to the engineer to find a yarn accessory that no one's heard of.)  but what a fun, simple, tool this is!

I was never interested in a ball winder, though I love my swift, and I'm fairly adept in hand-winding center pull balls.  however, they often are too tight in the middle no matter how loose I attempt to wind, and the first few yards are kind of sticky.  this tool fixes that, since one wraps yarn around the wood, and not fingers.

for real instructions, you'll want to direct your browser to some sort of Famous On-line Video Website and type "nostepinne," but for the simple idea, here's how it works:

~ find a ball of yarn a 9 year old used on a 24 hour car trip and stored in a backpack with lego kits, pencils, and library books; or a hank of yarn, or an otherwise needing-to-be-re-wound pile of yarn.

~secure one end to the nostepinne near where you hold it.  they say you can hold the end of the yarn with your thumb, but I like the rubber band method.

~ start by winding along the dowel, keeping the winding flat.  then you'll start to criss-cross and turn (not shown;  this is where the videos are helpful), eventually starting to wind like one does when winding a center-pull ball by hand...  just like doing it by hand it starts awkwardly, then gets easier and easier.

~ when finished, tuck the end into the ball, release the tail from the rubber band, then slide ball off the nostepinne.  the tail should pull easily from the center of the ball!

Jeff found this nostepinne on etsy, where there are lots of beautiful ones from which to choose.  a neat, portable, gift idea to impress that yarn geek in your life!  (this yarn geek was certainly impressed!)

do you have any yarn you'd like me to wind?  I'm kind of addicted...