What did I buy?

It was cool looking, $1.00, and looks useful. But what is it?







The hole in it looks like it belongs on a shaft about the size of my finger. I see no way to use a belt of other motion with it more that just it would turn on the shaft.

Things that have been suggested, with a pic off the net of a typical one and the closest one of them I see:
Lazy Kate:
Typical::


Closest::  


Swift:
Typical::


Closest::


What did I buy?

It reminds me a bit of a knitting nancy

It's a style of swift.  Possibly regional to europe.  I don't know southern European swifts well, but I seem to remember seeing one like this in spanish art.

Burra Maluca wrote:It reminds me a bit of a knitting nancy

I have some of those, they all have holes down the middle for the knitting to go down as you make it.

r ransom wrote:It's a style of swift.  Possibly regional to europe.  I don't know southern European swifts well, but I seem to remember seeing one like this in spanish art.

I'm in Missouri, middle of America. Can't imagine it got to a thrift store here from Europe :D Looks like someone was making them.

If it IS a swift, how would I use it? Would have to hand turn it.... ?

How big across is it from one peg to the opposite? It looks small to be a swift.

The way I know how to use a swift is you put a skein of yarn on it and allow the swift to spin as you draw off of it and into a ball/cake winder. The pulling of the yarn makes it spin. I'm not sure if they're used for more than that.

Christopher Weeks wrote:How big across is it from one peg to the opposite? It looks small to be a swift.

The way I know how to use a swift is you put a skein of yarn on it and allow the swift to spin as you draw off of it and into a ball/cake winder. The pulling of the yarn makes it spin. I'm not sure if they're used for more than that.

6 inches across, 4 inches across on the pegs. I can't see it holding a skein.

I think it's this: https://www.amazon.ca/Wooden-Prevent-Tangling-Organize-Quilting/dp/B0F9HM28K6

Christopher Weeks wrote:I think it's this: https://www.amazon.ca/Wooden-Prevent-Tangling-Organize-Quilting/dp/B0F9HM28K6

Interesting. Definitely a that. But what a weird thing
Thank you :)

I wish that listing showed some action shots of it so we could imagine how someone is using it.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I wish that listing showed some action shots of it so we could imagine how someone is using it.

I think the handle is on the wrong side on that. I guess you could lift it easy, but the fact that handle has been carefully drilled out tells me it wants to sit and spin. I'm thinking cakes of yarn, and a clamp type shaft is most likely how I'll use it.

Christopher Weeks wrote:How big across is it from one peg to the opposite? It looks small to be a swift.

Skeins come in different sizes from 1 foot loops to about 4 yards.  It is hard to tell the scale, but maybe one yard loop would fit.  Most niddy noddies were about 3 feet for a while.

One of the pictures has an inset image showing it storing thread. I suspect that the suggestions above are equally valid though!

Pearl Sutton wrote:

r ransom wrote:It's a style of swift.  Possibly regional to europe.  I don't know southern European swifts well, but I seem to remember seeing one like this in spanish art.

I'm in Missouri, middle of America. Can't imagine it got to a thrift store here from Europe :D Looks like someone was making them.

If it IS a swift, how would I use it? Would have to hand turn it.... ?

We have a lot of yarn stuff from europe in our corrner of canada. People brought the most useful items from the old world and things just sort of ooze west.  There is way more in eastern and central canada than we get.  I always imagined the usa would be the same.

That said, it looks too new.  Ideas and traditions also move with people.  

If the handle belongs on the side shown in the picture, the yarn skein would be placed over the outside of the sticks.  The size can be adjuated by numbers of sticks,  the painting i was thinking of had one woman holding it with one hand while the other woman wound the yarn into a ball.  I have a vague memory of one being put in a crook of an arm or lap.  

The painting was from when i was learning about this spanish painting of the three spinners
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Hilanderas
But it isn't that one as they have a cage swift.  Maybe it was one of the copies I saw as it's a common theme to paint.

There is (usually) no need to turn a swift, the design is so it turns freely when the yarn is pulled.  


Now...if the handle goes on the other side...that's looking more like a spool holder mentioned above.

Maybe designed to be both?

without the handle on the bottom it would be great for holding bobbins or spools of thread or cones for overlock sewing. the dowels seem a bit short for some sort of swift for maybe twining together your own yarn.... looking at the pics in the link above, and the fact that it comes with the extra dowels (in the ad too), I'm assuming someone put it together wrong for whatever reason.

Tereza Okava wrote:without the handle on the bottom it would be great for holding bobbins or spools of thread or cones for overlock sewing. the dowels seem a bit short for some sort of swift for maybe twining together your own yarn.... looking at the pics in the link above, and the fact that it comes with the extra dowels (in the ad too), I'm assuming someone put it together wrong for whatever reason.

There are no more holes for the extra pegs, maybe they are for replacements.
The handle does go either way. I have it apart right now, for storage reasons. I'm still thinking on it. I can see uses for it, that's why I bought it. I do have cones and an overlock machine.

Pearl Sutton wrote:There are no more holes for the extra pegs, maybe they are for replacements.
The handle does go either way. I have it apart right now, for storage reasons. I'm still thinking on it. I can see uses for it, that's why I bought it. I do have cones and an overlock machine.

If you look at the ad link posted above, it shows that it comes with extra pegs, I assume in case of breakage. I think literally the person put it together wrong and then had no idea what to do with it.
Or maybe they put upside down ice cream cones slathered with peanut butter and birdseed on the dowels and stood outside holding it in the air like the statue of liberty feeding the bluejays. Anything is possible. :-)

"Or maybe they put upside down ice cream cones slathered with peanut butter and birdseed on the dowels and stood outside holding it in the air like the statue of liberty feeding the bluejays. Anything is possible. :-)"
Ok, now THAT sounds fun! :D

Honestly, that sound like the best use so far!

The handle has bee attached upside down. It is hollow so a bolt can be inserted ans stick out the bottom, so a nut my then be attached. If you are a seamstress or seamster, or use various threads, it a handy way to store a few bobbins of thread and yet remain portable.