Niddy-noddy

[2] Either one of the crossbars will have a flat edge to allow the skein to slide off, or will be completely removable.

Many spinners will spin a sample length of yarn, ply it, and skein it using a niddy-noddy before washing.

A niddy-noddy is held by the Christ Child in Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Yarnwinder, owned by the Duke of Buccleuch and currently on loan to the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh.

One end of the yarn is wound around the center piece and held firmly in place, while the rest of it is wrapped.

The time to skein yarn on a niddy-noddy depends on the yardage, and thus how many wraps need to be made.

A larger niddy-noddy can speed up the skeining, but a very large one can be bulky, and thus slow down the time to do one wrap.

Weavers often dry their yarn under tension with a weight at the bottom of the loop, to stretch it out and remove some of the elasticity.