Today we’ll be talking about how you can use a yarn winder (also known as a yarn ball winder) to roll balls of yarn more quickly (for the purpose of speeding up your sewing projects). If you’re been to a craft or sewing store recently, it’s likely you’ve seen these plastic devices attached to sewing machine tables (and possibly wondered what they are). Long story short these little devices are used to convert hanks of yarn into balls that are ready to be used, ultimately using a machine to speed up what would take 10-20 times longer by hand.
Depending on the thickness of the thread/yarn you are using, you can wind a 150 foot piece of yarn in approximately 60 seconds. Doing this by hand would take closer to 10-15 minutes. Now imagine knitting/sewing a wool sweater or blanket and you can see how handy these things are.
And while they are called yarn ball winders, they do not create an actual ‘ball’ of yarn. The end product is more like a thick donut, with a hole in the center that gently collapses in on itself as you use more and more of the yarn. Further, if you place your skein at the top of the device prior to winding, you can pull the yarn from the inside out or outside in once you are ready to begin.
Yarn Ball Winder Prices
It should be noted that most sewing and crafts shops will let you use their yard winder when you are making a purchase. This can be handy if you have everything you need on you. But for those of you who work on multiple projects at once or live far from the closest shop, adding this tool could save you a significant amount of time. And with most yarn winders ranging from $25 – $55, it could be a great investment. Just keep in mind that you will probably need a yarn swift to go along with your yarn winder, unless you can create one using stuff from around the house, which we will talk about.
If you’ve purchased a hank of yarn before, you know they come in a big twisted bundle that requires unraveling. Because of this hanks are not practical, and do not lend themselves to use right out of the box (or bag or whatever). Hence the need for a yarn swift. A yarn swift is a device (which you can purchase of construct at home) that holds the big chunk of yarn steady while you roll it into a ball. In past-times ladies would have their friends hold it between their hands while they rolled it. Unfortunately this is 2012, and most people don’t consider holding yarn a good way to spend their time.
Alternatives to the Yarn Ball Winder
With that said, you have a few options. You can try to wind the yarn by hand, but it will get messy and is highly recommended against. If you have two chairs that have short pegs (sticking up out of the back of the top left and right side), you can place them back to back and rest the yarn so that it fits loosely around both pegs, allowing it to easily fall of into the winder (yarn will get stuck on tall pegs, so don’t bother if they’re higher than 1″). Or you can buy a yarn swift.
A yarn swift looks somewhat like an umbrella (although the highly popular Amish yarn swifts look different), and is used to hold the yarn while it’s being fed into the winder. Some of these contraptions look intimidating (see above), but are actually rather easy to use.
Whether or not you need a yarn winder and swift is completely up to you. Some people prefer a hand-rolled ball to a machine rolled one, and some may not use yarn enough to justify investing in such tools. But if you find yourself rolling balls of yarn frequently and would like to speed up the process, odds are you won’t regret investing in one of these.
That’s it for today. In terms of models the Royal Yarn Winder is definitely the brand of choice, however some pretty good alternatives can be found on Amazon. As always, do your research. If you found this article helpful, make sure to ‘Like’ or ‘+1′ us below! You can also read our next post about velcro cable ties, and how they can clean up your living/entertainment room.