A friend of ours wanted me to make her a niddy noddy. That is a tool used to wind yarn.
She wanted it to be a 2 yard yarn winder and she wanted to have it a nice, dark color so I chose walnut for strength and beauty.
She wanted it to be a 2 yard yarn winder and she wanted to have it a nice, dark color so I chose walnut for strength and beauty.
To complete the project, I ended up making several trial niddy noddy pieces. The first one was a little too long and Mom was happy to have it, so things worked out perfectly. The second one, I did the handle a little too thin so I made another, thicker version to better match the arms. There were many days of trial and error, but I wanted to have it perfect. After all of that I finally finished it, it has a nice tight seal, can be taken apart for travel, and winds a full 2 yards.
She also wanted me to try to do something with an old evergreen burl they had on a tree stump. When I got it from her it looked like I could make at least a couple bowls from it... but, when I started to work on it a little there was lots of rot and termite damage. Ended up needing to soak it, and carefully cut out the best wood pieces, dry them slowly then work with what remained.
I ended up being able to make 2 shallow dishes and one pen. It was a fun project, I learned more, and it smelled so good turning it. Over all she and her husband really liked everything I made and they were very happy with the quality.