Well, ok, they're not your regular nostepinnes. Actually, they're wooden spinning mill bobbins that have been repurposed. These are longer than most nostepinnes, which is good if you're trying to wind up a skein of chunky yarn (i.e., most of my stash).
A few years ago I started to make a sweater in Antique Homespun, but got stuck. Since then it's been sitting in my stash waiting for me to frog it and start over. I kept putting it off because winding a pull ball by hand was such a chore. Then I heard about nostepinnes and watched a video. I searched on Etsy and found these. They were longer than any others I found (7.5" - 10.5"), and a much better price. It took me a few months. . . ok, several months. . . to get around to ordering them, but I finally did it. Two days later (!!!!) they arrived and I've been playing with them for the last couple days.
My first attempt looks rather like a corny dog. It didn't help that the ball I was trying to work from was still attached to the sweater panel, so I got to fight multiple twisting strands. Unwind from one ball, wind, onto the noste, disentangle, repeat. Over and over and over.
For my second try I grabbed a hard ball of Bernat's Boa in Bluebird. Let's just say that things did not go well. It looked like I had a very small, very hard, dark blue feathery lollipop.
So today I found a small odds and ends ball of Homespun in Tudor that I could play with, and went back to the video. This time I watched it as I wound my yarn, pausing it at times to catch up. And voila! I have my first fairly flat-ended ball that will pull from the center without rolling everywhere. Yay!
Tomorrow I plan to take a shot of the sweater panel before I frog it (so I can post it on Ravelry.com), and then I'm going to try again to wind a bigger ball. I just hope it doesn't turn into a giant bagel. LOL
My first attempt looks rather like a corny dog. It didn't help that the ball I was trying to work from was still attached to the sweater panel, so I got to fight multiple twisting strands. Unwind from one ball, wind, onto the noste, disentangle, repeat. Over and over and over.For my second try I grabbed a hard ball of Bernat's Boa in Bluebird. Let's just say that things did not go well. It looked like I had a very small, very hard, dark blue feathery lollipop.
So today I found a small odds and ends ball of Homespun in Tudor that I could play with, and went back to the video. This time I watched it as I wound my yarn, pausing it at times to catch up. And voila! I have my first fairly flat-ended ball that will pull from the center without rolling everywhere. Yay!
Tomorrow I plan to take a shot of the sweater panel before I frog it (so I can post it on Ravelry.com), and then I'm going to try again to wind a bigger ball. I just hope it doesn't turn into a giant bagel. LOL
