DIY Niddy Noddy (Cheap PVC Pipe!)

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Learn how to make your own Niddy Noddy to easily make yarn into skeins with these easy step by step instructions

Have you ever noticed how really expensive our little fiber toys are? All of these knitting, crochet, weaving and spinning tools that we “need” cost a bunch of money!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely appreciate and love all of the beautiful wooden Niddy Noddies that I see for sale.

However, when starting out with a new hobby, you may not have the extra money to spend and maybe you want to wait and see if spinning or knitting is something you really want to pursue.

Dark green yarn wound on a white PVC Niddy Noddy

The good news is that you can very easily make a lot of these fiber art gadgets for a whole lot less money than buying new ones.

So far, I have not figured out how to make a yarn ball winder yet but I have learned how to make a simple PVC Pipe DIY Niddy Noddy.

This handmade Niddy is made with easy to find, very inexpensive PVC pipe that I bought at my local hardware store.

The super cool thing about making your Niddy out of PVC is that is you cut a variety of different arm sizes so that you can wind up all different length skeins of yarn!

What is a Niddy Noddy?

It is a piece of equipment that you use to wind yarn from a Ball or Cake shape into Hank form. (The reverse of what a ball winder is used for.)

Red yarn wound up in a skein or hank and red yarn wound in a ball or cake

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Supplies Needed

1/2″ PVC Pipe (at least 40″ long)
2 – 1/2″ T Connectors
Measuring tape or large ruler
Pencil or Marker
Small Tooth Hand Saw
Safety Glasses
Sandpaper

How to make a Niddy Noddy

Once you have your supplies gathered, you can make your Niddy pretty quickly. (Buy extra PVC pipe and connectors to make yourself different sizes of Niddies.)

Note: If you are not comfortable using a hand saw, you can probably get your local hardware store to cut the pipe for you but it really is very easy to do.

1. Measure the PVC Pipe

For each Niddy, you will need to cut five pieces: Two for the top arm, two for the bottom arm and one center piece. (see photo below)

First, measure and mark with your pencil four pieces at 6″ long each. These are the top and bottom arms of your Niddy.

Next, you will measure and mark the center post. This can be any size that you want, depending on how long your want your hank of yarn to be.

For a 6 foot hank of yarn, make the center piece 12 1/2″ long. (I also have a smaller one for sample skeins. It measures 7 1/2″ long and makes 3′ 6″ (42″) hanks.)

The seven cut pieces of PVC pipe taken apart and laid out on the ground

2. Cut the PVC

Put on your safety glasses and using the hand saw, carefully cut the five pieces of the PVC pipe at the pencil marks. You may need to brace it on a table or countertop.

3. Sand the cut edges

Take a piece of sand paper and sand all of the cut edges. Take your time with this and make sure all of the edges are smooth. You don’t want any rough edges that can snag the yarn or scratch your skins.

4. Assemble the pieces

Finally, all you have left to do is assemble your handmade Niddy. To do this, take the center piece and attach a T Connector to the top and bottom of the pipe.

Next, insert the shorter arm pieces into the other openings of the T Connectors. Turn the bottom end so that it is perpendicular to the top brackets and you are done!

Make sure to check out my super popular Beginner’s Guide to Hand Dyeing Yarn and Dyeing Speckled or Sprinkled Yarn

If you wish, you can personalize it by painting it and adding end caps to cover the cut pipe. Some people also like to glue the parts together. Since I take mine apart and switch center posts a lot, I don’t glue mine.

This DIY Niddy Noddy is also perfect for travel. Simply take it apart and it stores almost flat.

I hope this tutorial has helped you to make your very own, inexpensive Niddy. If you have any questions, by all means let me know in the comments below.
Enjoy!

How do you use a Niddy Noddy?

Honestly, it took me a few tries before I figured out just how to skein some yarn onto a Niddy so don’t feel bad if it seems confusing at first.

This is one of those things that is much easier to learn by seeing than ready so have a look at this video for instructions.