My Weasel Doesn't Pop

One day, my brother-in-law, George, who knows I’m attracted to all things to do with spinning, called.   He found something at an estate sale. 

What is it?

“It looks sort of like a spinning wheel,” he said.   “Is it a niddy noddy?” I asked.  “What’s a niddy noddy?” was his reply.  “A tool you wind yarn onto.”   “I don’t know, but it definitely has something to do with spinning,” he said.  I tried hard to come up with some yarn tool matching his description.  For all I knew, he was looking at a wine press, so, in the end, I told him not to buy it. 

This is a Niddy Noddy

George not only bought it, but gave it to me as a birthday gift.  When I first saw it, I was a little confused.  It was big, old, and I didn't know what to do with it.  It sat in my room until my son figured out it clicked at one rotation.  That's when it clicked for me (sorry for the pun). I jumped for joy. George found a spinner's weasel. 

Winding yarn on weasel

It turns out a spinner’s weasel, is a mechanical yarn measuring device.   Spun yarn is wound off the bobbin onto a reel or weasel, which makes a popping sound when a given yardage is reached, hence the saying; Pop goes the weasel.
Now, when I sell a skein of yarn or use it for a knitting project, I  have the yardage-Yeah!

 weasel with full skein of yarn

Thank you, George, for following your instincts and giving me my Weasel.

yarn ready to be washed

-Trish