Winding Yarn on a Niddy-Noddy

Watch this tool demo video to learn how wool yarn, spun on a spinning wool was taken off the spindle to be stored for later knitting or weaving.

Transcript of movie: Once the spindle on a great wheel is full, the yarn needs to be taken off. I would put it on a niddy-noddy to let the twists settle in overnight and also to measure it. Once around the niddy-noddy is two yards. Then I would remove the yarn and hand twist it into what is called a skein and it stays that way until I’m ready to knit and then I would roll the skein into a ball, and could do my knitting. In the 19th century, a woman might say the following rhyme as she measures the yarn as she wraps it around the niddy-noddy: Niddy noddy, niddy noddy. Two heads, one body. ‘Tis one, ‘tain’t two, ‘Twill be two by and by. ‘Tis two, ‘tain’t three, ‘Twill be three by and by, etc.

Niddy-Noddy. View this item in the Online Collection.

Details

TopicIndustry, Occupation, Work
Clothing, Textile, Fashion, Costume
Home Life, Household Items, Furniture
EraColonial settlement, 1620–1762
Revolutionary America, 1763–1783
National Expansion and Reform, 1816–1860
Grade levelElementary (K–5)
Middle School (6–8)
High School (9–12)

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