Ever heard of a nostepinne?

I hadn't either, until I was schooled by my wife. It's basically a stick used to wind yarn into balls. You can see examples if you search for pictures. What a prime candidate for a hand-turned item! It's a nice old-school tool for a knitter to have, and having an ornate one just makes it that much cooler.

So off I went, and came up with this one in ironwood as a first try. Pretty straight-forward and the wife likes it. I'm planning on doing a few "two-tone" with different wood for the handle than for the shaft. Perhaps black & white striped ebony for the handle and rosewood for the shaft.