It really is the name for these wool cakes.  This one I bought at De Afstap, yarn shop in Amsterdam.  Two ends of yarn have been dyed and wound together.  In the middle is a plastic tube, through which you put a knitting needle and with a piece of string you can hang it up, so that you can unwind both ends without making too much of a mess.  On the sides are cardboard circles.  One of them I took off, because I wanted to read the text on the inside, but that wasn't a good idea: on that side the threads kept falling aff.  But in the end I had two neat balls. 

I was surprised to see the spirals in my cuff appearing.  You don't see much of the pattern because the yarn is a bit more colourful than I expected.  Yet I'll knit on, because I rather like the result as it is. 

SPF is getting on nicely.  Here, half way knitting the third clue, there are over 300 stitches on the needle already, so knitting a row and back takes a while.  The many nupps and beads (not yet so many) don't help to speed up things.  It resembles bobbin lace.  Click on the picture to see more detail, like beads.  Yes: you can really see them then! 

One of my spinfriends rang me.  Her granddaughter had to study bobbin lace for her school, but I was the only person she could think of, who would know anything about that.  Granddaught would have to produce a little piece of lace herself, too.  Could I show her and teach her?  She had a whole afternoon to do that. 

So one Mondayafternoon granddaughter and her friend/classmate came over.  They had a look at my laces and made a tiny piece in linen stitch.