Day 4: Why this device is called a "lazy Kate" is beyond the scope of my etymological knowledge. "Lazy susan" I can understand. Perhaps Susan (the iconic housewife) was too lazy to walk around the table serving her guests. "Lazy daisies" in embroidery are made simply and quickly in contrast to those worked in a proper satin stitch. Was Kate the hypothetical daughter whose household chore it was to hold her mother's spindles, turning them as the strands of single yarn was plied? I could imagine her becoming bored quite quickly. Whatever the origin of the term, it now applies to a variety of implements which serve the same purpose. Some are tensioned, others not. Some hold multiple bobbins, others only two. Daughter Kate is released from her onerous task and freed to do other things like milking the goats, churning butter, gathering eggs. Her lazy namesake has nothing better to do than to hold bobbins so that the threads flow freely as Mother sits at the wheel. Many spinning wheels now come equipped with built-in Kates, a boon for those of us who have no daughters, lazy or otherwise.
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