Knitting Merges With Woodworking: We Made Our Own Nostepinder
January 3, 2013 by jenyjenny
It was nostepinder night at Knitting! We started with some blanks of cherry wood that my DH had cylinderized to make it go quicker (in case our wood turning took longer than we figured it might). Trish was the first to start out at the Jet mini-lathe. DH bought this pretty baby a short while ago, and put it on a rolling stand to make it easy to move into the optimal turning position. Lucky for us, we had a beautiful January night with no rain or wind, and a balmy temperature in the low 70′s. Yay!
Tricia perfecting the turn
She chose to put in a few little coves and beads on her nostepinde. We used
Easy Tools for this work, and everyone seemed to be very happy with them.
applying some grit
Trish was a natural. After forming the tool and adding some unique flourishes, she sanded it with a couple of different grades of paper, and DH helped put on a linseed oil finish and cut it off with the parting tool.
Tricia and her brand new nostepinde that she just finished making a moment ago!
Next, Ethel took on the mini-lathe.
Ethel roughing out the pinde
While she was sanding, Lois drove up. She showed us a bowl that had been made from a beech tree in their own front yard. Marvelous workmanship!
Lois with beech wood bowl
Ethel and her finished nostie
Ethel was very satisfied with her functional work of art and was eager to get right into center-pull yarn ball winding.
Ready, set, wind!
Now we were ready to wind. Just for more clarification, we watched a great You-Tube video about
how to wind the yarn by Noreen Crone-Findlay. I have watched this so many times now, I almost know it by heart. Noreen mentioned that her husband had made that particular nostie, and we loved the shape and design burned into the wooden handle. And thanks to Kathleen Cubley at Knitting Daily blog, whose irresistible post on
Discovering New Tools awakened me to the possibility that we, too, could have our own personal, individually-crafted nostepinder! I’ve been wanting to merge knitting with woodworking all last year, and this was the perfect chance to make it happen! A fabulous start to an artsy-craftsy new year!
Ethel is making a cowl out of the Red Heart Boutique Magical yarn that was featured on the cover of Love of Knitting magazine, and was the article in their Knit-a-long. A truly gorgeous purple and gray, thick and thin, sparkly and matte combination yarn!
Aslan Tango ball giftie from Ethel
She gave me a skein of acrylic/polyamide Tango yarn that she had wound into a center-pull ball using a size 35 needle for a nostepinde, prior to making the actual tool tonight! Thanks, Ethel!
Tricia and her knitted afghan
Trish almost made it out the door without showing off her WIP, a beautiful knitted afghan of white and many colors. Inspiring! Thanks to everyone for coming to Knitting and making it so fun. Looking forward to many yarny adventures in 2013.
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Super start for the new year, Hon. I love, love, love my nostie and hope that constant sniffing of the linseed oil (can’t help myself) doesn’t destroy too many of my aging brain cells. Later last night I realized why I was having trouble keeping pressure on the ‘easy tool’ – I don’t have enough strength in my thumb. By the time I tucked in for the night, my arm and shoulder were aching. So happy that I was able to experience turning on a lathe before I got to old and weak. Thanks Jen’s DH! Oh, and you also, Hon.
I had so much fun making my own. I will get the handle of using it. I will let nothing defeat me. I will have the afgan there again next week.
LOOKS like it was a blast. I opted to try to get some sleep, but alas, as is always the case on Wednesday nights, especially after travel, I was too wired to sleep. Finally fell to sleep after 1 am.
I am quite envious of all, I have wanted to learn to turn wood since my dad & brother got a lathe and showed off some of the things they were working on. (nothing spectacular, more of a male bonding thing that last only a few months) Perhaps another day.. (but I wouldn’t have traded my day with Izzy for a dozen nights turning wood)
We will turn wood some more!