The nostespine, which translates as “nest Stick” is used for winding center pull balls of yarn. It is one of the simplest looking spinning tools, yet it can be one of the most confusing to figure out how to use. Vendors sell them, we buy them because we’re drawn to the beautiful woods and the attractive turnings and because....well...because it is a spinning tool and we wish to be well equipped spinners. But once we bring our nostepindes home, they tend to languish in our spinning tool baskets until we can find someone to show us how to use it. The problem is that there seem to be very few spinners around who actually know how to use a decorative stick to wind a center pull ball. Besides, everyone has a ball winder anyway, so why bother with something so slow and fussy as winding a ball on a stick?

Ball winders are bulky to carry along, need a table to clamp them on for use, and wind center pull balls that collapse. Nostepindes are hand held, take up little space in the tool basket, are highly portable, and wind center pul balls that do not collapse. A ball winder can jam up and break down; a nostepinde will do neither. Like to ply from center pull balls? Then you can ply right off of your nostepinde. Still the best things about knowing how to use a nostepinde are that you’re never caught without a way to wind a ball of yarn and don’t have to buy one unless you want to. A clean, smooth stick, a piece of doweling, a piece of PVC pipe, or even a ball point pen will work just as well as the fanciest turned piece of the woodworker’s art.

As it is with most spinning tools, using a nostepinde is easy once you know how to do it.
First, let’s consider the tool itself. The ones available from shops and at shows are turned pieces of wood about 9 ½ inches (25cm) long. One end is shaped to be a handle while the other end is tapered a bit. The ball is to be wound on the tapered end. There are usually grooves at both ends of the tapered section and the ball can be started at either end of the taper.

To start, hold the noste in your non-dominant hand and make a half hitch and slipping it over the noste and into the groove at located at either the handle end or the tip end of the tapered section. You can also just hold the yarn end against the handle if you wish. Now, bring the yarn from the point where it is attached to the noste to the middle of the tapered area and wind several wraps of yarn around the shaft so they are parallel to each other, exactly like doing wraps to check wpi. Be sure to cover the bit of yarn running up to this point to hold it in place. Wrap about 1 ½ to 2 inches (3-5cm) of yarn, more if you are winding a large ball, less for a smaller ball.

Next, start wrapping the yarn diagonally across the already wrapped section, guiding the yarn with your dominant hand while slowly rotating the nostepinde with your non-dominate hand.
Take care to lay the diagonal wraps next to each other. Once you’ve completed one layer of diagonal wraps, simply continue building up layers until the yarn is wound. It does not matter whether you turn the noste towards you or away from you, do which ever is most comfortable for you but do keep the direction of the wraps consistent.

To ply from the nostepinde, start the wrapping at the tip of the tapered end so the inside end of the yarn is positioned well to feed off. Then attach both the inside and outside ends to the leader of your wheel and ply. Keep the index finger of your drafting hand over the ball of yarn to control the tension of the feed off from the outer end of the yarn and to keep the ball of yarn positioned on the nostepinde.

Quite a versatile tool, the nostepinde.