Why did "we" design a Niddy Noddy?
Virtually every Niddy Noddy that Nancy has ever owned, either broke or fell apart during use. Some of these units were very attractive and you could tell that a craftsperson had put a lot of time into the appearance of the unit. Unfortunately, the prettier they were, the weaker they were sometimes.
Some of the units were very plain and tried to perform the basic Niddy Noddy functions. However, regardless of whether they were pretty or plain, expensive or inexpensive, most either failed to solidly stay together, broke, or simply fell apart. Many times, this was due to the fact that the designer relied on connecting two pieces of wood together based on a friction fit. Wood changes significantly with the humidity level, unfortunately, and many wood joints will not consistently hold under different environmental conditions. We have avoided these problems in our design because we use wood to do what wood is good for, and then we rely on steel to hold things together.
Although our unit has hand turned cross-arms, we have not spent an excessive amount of time or cost on making them look elegant. Even though the design of our unit is attractive, you will not see any unnecessary turnings. Instead we focused on providing a highly functional unit which will last a long time and will not fail to perform its intended function.
The unit has 2 coats of a stained oil finish which properly protects the wood.
The unit is made from 1" diameter birch hardwood which is turned on a lathe to achieve the right taper. Because we paid special attention to the potential failure points (the cross-arms), we designed the unit to have the maximum 1" thickness at the critical connection point - where the cross-arms meet the handle. The design of the cross-arms is capable of taking the various stresses of the yarn as it wraps around the Niddy Noddy.
Lengths - Some of the units on the market can only measure one or two of the required skein lengths. Our unit will measure all of the lengths required for competition: 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 yards. Plus, you can make a smaller 27" sample length. We have extended the product line by offering a 34" long handle which allows the user to make a 4 yard skein. The beauty of this long handle is that the same cross-arms and ball knobs are used - giving this 4 yard Niddy Noddy great strength which is really important when you have such a long lever effect.
As a result of the shortcomings of what we had seen and used, we developed Nancy's Niddy Noddy to meet all of the requirements for a well designed Niddy Noddy. Then we designed a sturdy denim zippered sack to hold all of the parts. We put a handle on it and a snap hook so you can connect it to your wheel or other item. What good is a Niddy Noddy if you cannot carry it easily when you travel with your wheel?
Easy Start - special groove is cut into the handles so that the user can attach their yarn when starting a skein. Something that has typically been absent from other Niddy Noddies.
We think that Nancy's Niddy Noddy™ solves the Niddy Noddy problems that Nancy had experienced during the past few years. Why don't you be the judge? We promise that our new Nancy's Niddy Noddy™ will do for making skeins, what our Katie a-Go-Go™ Lazy Kate did for plying yarn. They both have set a new standard for spinning equipment accessories.
