Saturday, September 09, 2006

Makeshift ball winder

I own a ball winder and a swift, but I hate the fact that I pretty much have to let balls of yarn hang free when trying to wind a center pull yarn because the ball doesn't fit on the swift.
This morning I experimented with something - an empty bottle + a fat dowel. You stick the fat dowel through the center of the ball, then stick the down in the empty bottle. Set the yarn up in the winder and go. It works on the same idea as the ball winder except with a much smaller center rod thingy. I'll put up a picture soon. Now I'm off to the train station.

2 comments:

Amber said...

I hear there are two main sizes of ball winders. One is smaller and hold ~100 yards of worsted weight yarn, and a larger style (more like what most yarn stores have) that holds upwards of 200+ yards. I have the smaller size one, and my mom's always on my case because I have her help me wind large hanks (I could cut them, but who needs more ends to weave in?)

knitfriendly said...

I look forward to seeing your pictures because I am not quite following what you did (maybe because it is late and I should go to sleep!) Have a great time in NY!