Spaghetti Solution

Betty was a huge hit.  The only problem I ran into was getting the "spaghetti" pulled through at a rate sufficient for effective timing.  I ended up having to have my assistant (a Primary Presidency member) pull it quickly and leave it in a pile on the table in back of Betty.  This worked fine, except for when it was time to wind it all back up, which was a slow tedious process since it was pretty much a tangled mess.  The good news was that there was enough yarn for BOTH Jr. and Sr. Primaries without having to untangle in between.

After Primary, as I was trying to untangle spaghetti, one of the teachers gave me a great suggestion:  Just spread out the hooks on the back of Betty.  This would allow the yarn to be pulled at a quicker rate, and the tangled mess would be avoided.  I figured I could at least give it a try.

I moved the hooks from this position

to this position.

The following week was Stake Conference, so I couldn't test the new design until last Sunday.  It worked perfectly.  (I had already wound the yarn back into a ball - which I have discovered is the best way to have the spaghetti in the bowl in front of Betty - before taking a picture, but you get the idea.  IF I were to do it again, I would have placed the hooks slightly to one side of the hole where the yarn comes through, just to avoid winding confusion, but it still works amazingly well.)

Everybody loves Betty.

Betty Spaghetti

The newest family member has arrived... baby sister Betty.

Initially she started out like this,

but because I'm a visual person, and this is the only color of multi-colored yarn I had,

she ended up looking like this.  To coordinate with the yarn.  I know. {OCD}

I put her on a display board (the kind you use for science fair projects), which works great because it can stand on it's own either on the floor or on a table.

I used a large eyelet for her mouth, hoping that it would create a smooth yarn-flowing action.
In my tests so far, it works amazingly well.

I thought using Command hooks on the back would be ingenious -- something for whoever was working the spaghetti yarn to wrap the excess around -- but after "testing" it, I found that it was too slow for how I plan to use it (and it makes your arm really, really tired).  It does make a good storage area for the yarn, however :-)

There are several ways I plan to use Betty.

Today I am using multi-colored yarn, and putting a plate or bowl (haven't decided quite yet) full of "spaghetti" in front of Betty.  I am going to make a key for the first few times we use her:

when she is slurping in
green or blue spaghetti, the boys sing;
pink or purple, the girls sing;
and gold, the teachers sing.

The yarn I have works well, because the colors don't alternate too quickly.  It also has shorter and fewer gold areas, which works perfectly because really, although the kids love it when their teachers have to sing on their own, the teachers don't need as much practice as the children do.


(Note:  when I tested the Command hooks, it took longer to pull in the spaghetti, making the transition from one group singing to another v-e-r-y s-p-r-e-a-d o-u-t.  Spread out enough for one group to possibly finish the whole song, which is why it will work better for me just to have someone pull it through at a slightly faster pace, and leave the yarn in a pile on the table in back.  The yarn you use would probably determine if you could use the hooks or not.)

I am going to do another test run or two this morning, just to make sure the spaghetti doesn't get tangled if I put it loosely on a plate.  IF it does, I will probably wrap it into a loose ball to alleviate such a problem during Singing Time.

Another way to utilize Betty would be to wrap yarn on a dowel, have a child/teacher hold on to the ends of the dowel behind Betty, then have someone pull the yarn from her mouth as the children sing.  The child pulling the yarn would be instructed to keep pulling the yarn out the door of the Primary room and down the hall as far as they could while still hearing the Primary sing.  The chorister before me had done this idea with just the yarn, and said the kids loved it.  I would probably preface it by telling the children that singing with gusto (loudly), doesn't mean sing-yelling.  I have a VERY LARGE Primary, so I have to remind them often how to behave appropriately (we do "silent cheers and applause" for competition-style - boys v. girls - games).

I am excited to try her out, and will let you know how it goes!