From the past.

A very long time ago my Nana made a little Knitting Nancy for me. They weren't called that back then, they were just cotton reels with 4 nails knocked into one end and we used them to make a little knitted cord. These days that has a name too; I-cord and its very easy to make using two double pointed needles. Anyway, back to the cotton reels. It's just about impossible to buy wooden ones now, they're all either plastic or cardboard, so when I had a mad desire to make some knitting Nancies I had no option but to start from scratch and make some cotton reels. I am not a woodturner so the man of the house had to show me what to do and this is the result. I started out with a squared length of wood, turned it with a sharp thingy which is called a gouge, then sanded the result with coarse, then fine sandpaper, and now they are ready to be cut apart with a saw. Next I must drill a hole down the centre of each, for the wool to go through, and lastly hammer some nails in one end. That little one you see there with a cord partly made is a commercial cotton reel that I used years ago and had laying in a draw waiting to be reborn.
I remember how I used to love to change the wool colours often and couldn't wait to see the new colour appear at the bottom of the cotton reel. Nothing has changed, I can't wait to see that pink come through.
I used a toothpick to work the stitches over the nail heads. When I was little I used either a longer nail or a hair pin.
Gotta go now, I want to work on that pink until it shows at the bottom of the cotton reel.
Hope you're having a good day. Bye for now until next time.