I'm a Tool Tuesday

OK, it's not that I am a tool, it's that I have a tool, or actually, a couple of new tools. Cole has been a busy bee making me some cool stuff while off work lately. First, he made me these cone holders. I have lots of cones of yarn lying around for plying, and they tend to tip over, roll around, & annoy the crap out of me when I'm spinning. So I had him slap together a couple of cone holders! The tapered model is the 2nd iteration, designed to accommodate cones with smaller center holes. They work great, and look as good as me in the bargain. ;) I put a bit of no-slip carpet padding underneath (as I do with my lazy kate), to keep it from sliding on our hardwood floors. Think I'll put him to work on a horizontal, tensioned version like this soon. It avoids adding additional twist to the yarn like the vertical models do. Want one for yourself? I think a vertical paper towel holder would serve the same purpose, AND be a good reduce, reuse, recycle way to repurpose an unwanted household item. There's a how-to tutorial on I'm Tinking. Not handy yourself? No Homo habilis around the house? There's a cost-effective lazy susan version for sale at Catz in the House on Etsy.


One day Cole saw me trying to McGyver an empty Zatarain's Creole Rice box, DPN sock needle, & duct tape lazy kate for multiple thread bobbins, and he came up with this one. He used scraps of redwood & bamboo floorboard plus a section of wire hanger - reduce, reuse, recycle! I love that he can fabricate functional art from crap in our garage. Works like a charm, too. I'm gonna have him add 2 more horizontal wires so it will hold more spools.


The last one is a tote box to hold the canning jars I use for saving yarn scraps (not much goes to waste in this house). I've currently got 12 color-themed jars going, so he's making me a second one now that we know this one works for me. It's made of more redwood scraps; Cole is a woodworker/carpenter, so he brings home lots of leftovers from jobs he works. It's great being able to dream something up & then have it in my hot little hands within a week or so! And I love that he's DIY like me!

I'll leave you with this shot from yesterday. I always look forward to the first daffodils of the season; means spring & Farmers Market are right around the corner.

Tags: handspinning, tools, DIY, repurposed