If you’re new to the world of spinning your own yarn you may be confused about what the term “ lazy kate” even means. Who is Kate? Why is she lazy, how will this lazy woman ever help me with my spinning? Perhaps a distant cousin of Lazy Susan? Well I’m not sure why this spinning tool is called a Lazy Kate but I do know that they are one of the most useful tools I can think of for spining. The long and short of it is that you use a Kate to hold your bobbins full of single ply yarn so that they can spin freely while you are plying your yarn. This is useful no matter if you you are doing a basic double ply or something more fancy like a chain ply. In a pinch you could just put your bobbins or balls of yarn into a shoebox to keep them from running off but this is not ideal at all because they will still be bumping around and possibly damaging fine delicate singles. If you are newer to spinning your singles may not have a firm enough twist and could start to come apart on you with all of the bumping around. This is where the Lazy Kate comes into play. The standard Lazy Kate will hold your bobbins up right on rods letting you ply easily while they free spin. Some spinning wheels have an attached lazy Kate like the pollywog, bullfrog, or bees. The Modular spinning wheels, Echo, Firefly, and Monarch are best used with the attachable standard lazy kate. This accessories can be used either attached or free standing on the floor.