I never even heard of these until...

[hilltopper46]

... my wife asked me to make her one.

The one with the wooden pegs was the first one I made. Turning those wooden pegs one by one and then getting them to roughly the same length was a chore.

So for the second one I used finishing nails ... She Who Praises All My Work said I might have gone a little bit overboard on the number of them (16).

(Edited to Add - thanks for all the responses - I am still getting PMs, occasionally). These are 'Knitting Nancys" or spool knittters. They make a cord of knitted yarn or string that can be used for various purposes.)

Anyway - I'm sure all of you know what these are, BUT if you do, keep mum for a bit (or send me a PM if you care to) and see what others might come up with.

Hint - they are NOT the king and queen for a really big chess set.

 

[PenTurnerfromMaine]

It's the funniest looking hair brush I've seen in a while.

 

[Jim Smith]

I'm not sure what they are, but they look like they might be used for making bows for gift wrapping. Just one man's guess.

Jim Smith

 

[hunter-27]

tool for removing spider webs?

 

[MattDaddy]

Armpit scratcher?

 

[Sabaharr]

They look like tools for spinning thread from cotton or wool.

 

[ngeb528]

Armpit scratcher?

ouch!!

 

[rjwolfe3]

Medieval Torture Device?

 

[Fred]

I need to make some of these as my cat would love them as back scratchers. (She drags her 'hair brush' sround my den just hoping I see her and will brush her for hours on end.

These 'tools' would definitely get down to her skin which is something the brush doesn't do very well.

Aside from the brush idea I will go along with Jim Smith's educated guess of them being used in making fancy bow's and such.

 

[ldb2000]

Some kind of loom ?

 

[YoYoSpin]

Sheep skin rug brush ?

 

[John M]

some kind of knitting thing or something? to make some of the flower deals.

 

[CSue]

They are brushes for longhaired cats (with pegs) and shorthaired cats (with nails). Great idea.

If thats not it, they're for gathering wool . . .

 

[wolftat]

You are supposed to keep them in your hand for when you are in a crowded place and someone bumps into you, you then jab them with it. Is that it, if not it would work for that.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

Homemade spaghetti drying rack!

 

[1080Wayne]

Guess my age is showing . Haven`t used one of those for nearly 60 years .

 

[mtcsss]

For knitting cord or rope from yarn

My kids had one of these some years ago and used it to knit long cords or ropes from yarn. The on they had was made from plastic though. A later one was developed with a little hand crank which automatically knitted the strands. Am I close?

 

[hilltopper46]

mtcsss - you are spot on - CaptG sent me a PM and he had it as well - and JohnM is close.

If you are interested you can do a web search for 'knitting nancy' or 'knitting spool' to find more variations and information.

She Who Praises All Things I Make wanted to make some knit straps for a dress she was making which led to her asking me to make these - but I don't think the product would necessarily have worked that well for straps.

They were interesting to make and interesting to use.

 

[nava1uni]

Aren't they for knitting? They make tubular pieces of knitting that can be sewn together.

 

[Rmartin]

It's obvious, they're for holding corn cob pens.

 

[desertyellow]

One thing is for sure... You should not sit on one of these

 

[wolftat]

Manual stunguns.

 

[parnelli_97]

Bowl Mandrel... You mount it in your chuck then put your bowl blank up against it and use your deadblow to pound it in....

 

[Longfellow]

Horse Reins

When I was a boy we used them to make what we called Horse reins, a sort of braided rope that our mother coiled and stiched together to make mats for placing things on. We spent hours at it seeing who could make the longest rope. Of course this was back when you were lucky to have even a radio in your home. No TV,Cell phone,( we didn't even have a land phone), computer, Game Boy. We made our own entertainment.