Niddy-Noddy

From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information

About this item

In the 18th and 19th centuries, women used niddy-noddys to measure yarn (once around was 2 yards) and to keep it from tangling. One hand held the center vertical piece while the other hand wrapped the yarn around the two horizontal members. Its design inspired the rhyme, “Niddy-noddy niddy-noddy, two heads and one body. ‘Tis one, ’tain’t two, will be two by and by.”

Related Items

Details

Item typeTools & Equipment
Textile Working
Datecirca 1800
TopicClothing, Textile, Fashion, Costume
EraColonial settlement, 1620–1762
Revolutionary America, 1763–1783
National Expansion and Reform, 1816–1860
MaterialWood
Dimension detailsWidth: 13.25 in Height: 17.75 in
Catalog #1914.07.27
View this item in our curatorial database →
Niddy-Noddy. ca. 1800. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1914-07-27/. Accessed on December 9, 2024.

Please note: Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.