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I still think Susan is the laziest. JUST PASS THE SALT, SUSAN
You must be lazy, Kate
This is just a spool rack. Something like this is used in every electronics lab to hold wire and soldering wire.
Yep, basically. Just thought it was interesting to see that they named it lazy Kate in textiles applications
Are you suggesting that electronics came before textiles…?
Pretty sure this one predates yours by a couple centuries.
??? Spools of yarn are still spools. I've seen similar racks for threads.
Edit: And the way you aggressively use downvotes is just plain rude.
And? The textile industry predates electronics by a LONG time. It’s not just a “spool rack” if that came after…
A lazy kate is used for spinning multiple yarns into one, but spool racks are used for anything that is on a spool. Spool racks in the textile industry almost certainly existed long before lazy kates did. The electronics was just an example that people were likely very familiar with.
And downvoting comments like you're doing is just rude. It doesn't make your comments any more correct.
Though, this rack looks like the ends of the spools are used as pulleys to keep their rotation synchronized.
I think those are for tensioning, to keep the strings tight while they're being twisted. So you don't end up with spaghetti or a rats nest
Hey! I recognize that! Mine's under kitchen table.
Why does someone need one of these, you ask?
They are specifically for making yarns by on a wheel or with a hand spindle. If you look at yarn from the store you'll see it's made up from 2-6 strands twisted together. This is called ply (like ply wood) and the act of twisting them together is called plying. To make it happen, we twist the individual stands (called singles) in one direction a little bit tighter than the finished yarn will be onto the spools you see there. Then we load 2 or 3 of them into the lazy kate and spin the strands back onto the wheel or spindle, twisting the opposite direction. This sounds easy but it a pain to manage 2 o 3 strands of yarn to twist evenly without a stand like this.
Fancy versions have ways to keep the spools from spinning freely so they don't unroll too much at a time, they are called tensioned lazy kates
This makes a lot of sense and adds valuable context!
Also, if Kate has to maintain control under tension while being called lazy, I think she and I could be best friends.
Any idea how many strands of fingering-sport (1.5~2) I'd need to ply to get up to (3~3.5) dk-worsted?
The size of the finished yarn will be around 1.3-1.5 the diameters of the singles depending on how tightly the originals are spun. Woolen (fluffy, looser) yarns will compress more than worsted (smooth, tighter) yarns.
What an unfortunate name. Kate is the dumbest twat I’ve ever met.
oh I want this
this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2025
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