Atlas Insider
Atlas Insider: The Long and Winding Road
The question that pops up fourth-most in MDK email and orders alike is “Do you wind yarn?” The answer is, alas, no, but it’s not quite for the reason you might think.
My sister used to run this awesome thing called The Yarn Bus and once she dragged me along to a fiber festival to be her “assistant.”
“There’ll be empanadas!” she promised. “Waffle cones full of ice cream!”
Hmph. You know what there really was? Me, alone at a picnic table, winding hundreds of skeins of yarn and blowing out an arm until I practically needed Tommy John surgery (it’s a sports thing; I looked it up!).
While it’s not exactly coal-mining, winding in large quantities is a task that is almost Dickensian in its tedious back-breaking-ness. It’s also incredibly time consuming; MDK would have to employ at least two full-time winders to do it, especially during a free shipping weekend.
The last trip I took before Covid shut the world down was to Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA in early 2020. I bought a single skein of yarn and marched over to get my skein wound by the nice handmade-swift vendor who was set up to wind Stitches-purchased yarn for a few dollars a skein.
“Awesome!,” she said. “Come back in four hours.”
But nope, neither tediousness nor time is quite why we don’t do it. Most of us here at MDK are good old-fashioned hand-winders and we really (really!) believe that it’s the best way to get to know your yarn.
When you hand-wind, you tend to encounter knots or other issues with each skein and you can kind of go ahead and problem-solve and spit-splice or whatever other magic way you have of working around yarn flaws is—it’s harder to catch those things when your umbrella or squirrel swift is spinning around at a thousand miles an hour—so when it’s time to start slinging the yarn around the needles, you don’t have to worry about any of that stuff.
We’re not completely anti-winder, though; my immediate family members—who all knit—use a Dad-made squirrel swift with some regularity. One reason we don’t use it even more is that whenever we haul it out, five people start asking questions about the mysterious-looking oak torture-looking device we’re suddenly spinning around and honestly, who has time for that?
About half the yarn we sell here at MDK doesn’t require winding at all—for example, Big Wool, Felted Tweed and Léttlopi come in cast-on-and-knit cakes/balls/amoebas—but we encourage you to embrace the winding if you opt for a yarn that needs it. It’s part of the complete process, like blocking and end-weaving-in. And trust me: your cat vastly prefers a hand-wound ball to a neat little flat-bottomed cake.
A Giveaway
Cue the harp again for this prize: Two skeins of heavenly Gleem Lace in Burnished to wind up and make your own Aperture Stole or a pair of Tumbling Block or Rib Lace scarves from Field Guide No. 15: Open (we’ll tuck the Field Guide in there too).
How to enter?
Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Snippets, right here. If you’re already subscribed, you’re set.
Step 2: Question: How do you wind your yarn? Leave us your answer in the comments.
Deadline for entries: Sunday, October 10, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
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I wind my yarn over my own arms when I’m too tired to do anything else but my hands are itching for movement.
Usually using a swifter, but sometimes over a chair back!
I have a swift and crank winder for big skeins and anything is sport weight or thinner. But I do enjoy hand winding the big yarns, and doing toys or small projects is so much more cozy with cute little hand-wound balls 🙂
Slowly, by hand.
I use a wooden swift and a plastic ball winder. I also occasionally wind by hand.
I have my own winder and swift. Love to do my own winding. Gives me a chance to feel and get to know a yarn before you cast on!
I have several swifts and winders, always opt to winding my yarns by hand using the thum method! takes a wee bit longer but the inner pull ball are awlays perfect to use !
Until recently I always wound yarn by hand. 78 years old and shoulder pain has me really enjoying the swift and winder I was gifted last Mother’s Day!
Until my last birthday, I have always wound my yarn by hand placing the skein around the backs of two chairs. I even rewind balls of yarn as I don’t like mid-project yarn barf tangles. My kids bought me an Amish swift and ball winder and I am now having fun with it.
I’m a big fan of the Amish swift. I get much nicer cakes with it than I did with an umbrella swift.
My grandchildren love to wind my yarn into cakes using my yarn winder and umbrella swift! Instant entertainment!
I use a wooden swift but have been known to curse it and finish the process by hand when it doesn’t behave.
Fortunately the cat has never shown any inclination towards the yarn, but I run a swift and ballwinder household.
I get enough of rearranging yarn when putting handspun on my niddynoddy and when I have to rip out. No need to do more.
To wind my yarn I prop it on my knees or sometimes over a chair back. Most of the time it gets quite tangled but that’s okay because I really enjoy untangling yarn! Does anyone else? And I much prefer knitting from a ball than from a skein or cake.
Most of the time I hand wind unless the shop offers and they dont seem busy. I enjoy it.
I’m with you – I enjoy untangling yarn – it’s so relaxing and satisfying.
I also love untangling yarn. It’s meditative. I know I’m crazy but it’s brainless work and you get something accomplished.
Wooden swift and ball winder
I wind my yarn with my husband who kindly holds it for me as I wind. He says it reminds him of when he did this with his mother back in the early 50s when he was a kid.
I use a yarn swift and ball winder. I like doing it as it is the first step in a new project.
I’d forgotten about winding (newbie knitter) but you’ve reminded me of holding a skein, sitting on the floor in front of my Granny, while she wound wool when I was a kid.
Good memories!!
I’ve had a few blowouts on my swift with sock yarn. One I hung on the newel post of the stairs and untangled over a few nights. The other I sent to a friend to untangle (who, like you, loves the challenge). Thank goodness for people like you!
I use a wooden swift and a plastic ball winder for most of my yarn. I learned the hard way to wind lace by hand. I also LOVE untangling yarn!
Will you be publishing stats on how we wind?
I love a challenge to untangle a messy mass of yarn that others would have given up on.
Cynthia: Me too!
Agreed!
@cynthia you are not alone in the joy of untangling a wad of yarn! (Yes, I have too much time on my hands…)
Sometimes I use a cheap metal paper towel holder from JYSK to aim in my yarn winding.
I know someone else who loves to do this!
I wind by hand- from swift or knees. Sometimes I rewind cake thingies because they are too loose.
To wind my yarn I start with a cone of bare yarn and make a skein with a knitty noddy. Then I dye the yarn and let it dry and put the dyed skein on a yarn swift. It goes from the yarn swift to a yarn winder to make a cake and from there I wind it onto a cone with a cone winder….. from cone to cone! I need a cone for my circular sock knitting machine. I have also been know to use the two arms of my children if I am making a ball for hand knitting.
Well, I looked up squirrel swift and found a lot of information on suits to wear for gliding and base jumping . . . Probably not what you use. I use a ballwinder and a table-top swift of a design I’ve heard called an Amish swift. It is possible to use those without going a million miles an hour, and I do find the knots and other pitfalls along the way.
Try using the phrase squirrel cage swift. There are even some clips demonstrating how they. work. They are very neat looking but I have no space.
I started out with the skein around my knees, winding by hand. My husband helped me on occasion when things threatened to get out of hand because of a knot or cross in the skein. He decided to build a swift for me! He looked online for directions, and found some wood which he thought would work well. It not only works well, it is beautiful! He then bought me a wooden ball winder to go with the swift! Priceless!
Put the skein around my knees and start hand winding!
Wooden umbrella swift and a plastic ball winder, it was an extravagant impulse buy. It has been used monthly for years. I had no idea the road ahead would be filled with beautiful yarn & lovely knit items:)
Always, always by hand! Ball winding devices stretch and torture the yarn and turn it into unnatural “cakes!” I like to get to know the yarn as I’m winding it into a nice ball.
I use a Stanwood swift and winder. As a bonus, it can be very entertaining to a young child. My grandchildren beg to “wind some yarn” when they visit!
I hang the yarn over the back of a chair and use a ball winder.
I use a Beka swift and a hand cranked yarn winder. Although that doesn’t seem to count as winding “by hand,” the swift is so very swift that I find I have to maintain continuous hand contact with the yarn as it feeds into the winder to keep the yarn from over taking the winder and creating a tangled mess. It gives me ample opportunity to assess the yarn. I’ve also used a nostepinne, but mostly just for showing off.
Ditto here about catching problems by hand with a swift swift. As for when, it can only be done when the cats are deeply asleep three rooms away.
Depends on the fiber I usually wind linen, cotton and silk by hand, wool with a metal swift and plastic, hand cranked ball winder. I bought the swift and ball winder after a big, multicolored shawl project for which it took me longer to wind the yarn than to knit. Sometimes, especially for small projects I just knit from the skein, opened up and hung over a chair arm. (Must admit there have been a few dog induced tangles with that method)
I hang it over the top of a knobby chair, put on my step counter, and listen an audio book – all bases covered.
I actually enjoy winding yarn on my heavy duty wooden winder.
I use an umbrella swift and plastic ball winder. I’ve made a little station so I can leave them out. Without it, I would “save up” winding to do in batches which took a long time plus a tired arm!
I spin and ply my own yarn from roving I have dyed, or purchased indie dyed. I then wind it from the spinning wheel bobbin onto a niddy noddy. Next, I rinse and dry it as a skein, and secure it over two wooden chair backs set at an angle to accommodate my large skein. (Chairs built by woodworker spouse). I wind it into a ball in my hands as I shift my weight and hands back and forth in a relaxing, rhythmic motion.
I have always wound skeins into balls by hand. In the past there were times I wished I had the money to buy a beautiful swift but then I realized how much I loved the feel of every inch of yarn as it moves at my pace through my hands. I’m a process knitter and handwinding is so much a part of the process. Plus, as noted, this way I know from the outset if a given yarn comes with lots of knots, weak spots, or other challenges. Usually these daysI wind with the skein draped loosely around my knees. In the past I often draped the skein around the back of an antique rocking chair that has since moved to another home. I can wind into flat cakes but really prefer balls which then sit nicely in my hand-turned wooden yarn bowl.
And I too am one of those who love to untangle yarn.
Plastic swift and ball winder. About half the time, I encounter a problem and finish by hand. Maybe I’d have less frustration if I learned to hand wind from the start like you do…
I am about 50/50 hand balled yarn, and caked yarn. I use the Amish style swift, recently got a new wooden winder, after discovering that my last winder had been used so much it had developed a wobble . Hubs says he can fix, but my when response earned me and new winder. I hand wind when my hands start to hurt, but I still need to feel the yarn.
I set my husband up with the good scotch, cushion under his feet on the coffee table, and the remote in hand. I set the yarn between his two big toes, and I hand wind perfect balls.
I love it!!
I drape the skein round my neck then wind by hand.
I did try a nostepinne to make a centre-pull ball but it took ages.
Skein is put onto wooden swift or on weasel since I need to measure yardage. Count and record that. Reverse skein on weasel so the payout is done counter to winding onto the weasel. Wind onto large wooden ball winder with TP tube (split) or index card for the core details written thereon. Of course, on the go, arms, or chair backs with an improvised wooden stick for hand winding has happened.
Ack! First squirrels, now weasels?
I use a wooden squirrel swift that sometimes catches the yarn underneath the center, grr, and a plastic ball winder. It does give a feeling of accomplishment on those days when other things aren’t going well.
Wooden swift and an Artist Supply Co wooden winder. THAT was a splurge because the 2 plastic ones I had were crap. It winds like butta.
I use a cheap swift and plastic ball winder. Pieces have broken off of these devices over the years but with a jiggle and tightening of clamp they seem to keep winding for me. I’m a fan of the flat bottomed cakes.
I hand wind, usually by draping the yarn over my knees. Once in a while my husband will help and that’s okay too. But I really enjoy doing it myself as I find it meditative. As long as our dog doesn’t decide halfway through that he has to go outside, then it becomes tricky.
Oh the dreaded winding….and I’ve been able to convince my hubs to help exactly one time – lol! When winding is necessary, i can be found with my knees bent and up on the sofa, netflix on and my body doing some rhythmic gymnastics movements as i get it all together from the yarn the us hanging/draping around my bent knees …. Oh what a sight!!!
I love the “between-ness” of winding. The beauty of the skein transforms into a tidy ball where the colors may look very different. As a spinner with a walking wheel, I also use a niddy noddy, reel, umbrella and squirrel cage swifts, plastic ball winder, and nostepinne. If I plan to ply the singles I use a weaving bobbin winder and wind onto weaving or spinning bobbins. Like you, I enjoy touching and seeing every inch of the yarn.
I use yarn winding as an opportunity to pull two vintage Mexican ladder back chairs away from the never used dining table ever so slightly away from their accustomed position to accommodate the span of skein.
Then with the public radio hopefully playing a favorite piece, I set about to create my ball of yarn. I have no end of help from the Tabby cat on the table ready to assist or just take over. So I guess my tools are two chipped green cane seat chairs and a resourceful pesky cat named Chico.
I drape my yarn over the back of a kitchen chair and wind my yarn by hand.
I use a wooden umbrella shift and wind balls so all the yarn runs through my hands
I used to wind by hand with my husband holding the yarn (my personal swift). Since he is no longer with me, I use an umbrella swift to hold the skein. Sometimes I also use a ball winder but I really prefer hand-wound balls – and my cat has learned to leave them alone 🙂
Ah, the cat! I only wind when my two goofy boys are slumbering.
I use a wooden swift and a plastic ball winder. I occasionally wind by hand but I like the center pull better than having my ball roll around the floor
Ditto! So much faster than winding by hand too.
I have been using an umbrella swift and a plastic yarn winder. It is fast but I usually end up with a snarl and a snag which causes cursing. I am rethinking now based on this article. Hand winding might be in my future!
I do both. . .hand wind and use umbrella swift w/winder. Depends on mood and available time as well as quantity to wind.
When I was young my mom hand wound yarn with me holding my hands up like goals posts (forever) to keep the skeins from tangling. She liked making afghans so this would be a weekend project just to wind the yarn. My mom then got a colonial era reproduction yarn skein holder that was shaped like a four posted Ferris wheel so I was off the hook as holder. I didn’t learn to knit until I was in my 40s. I was gifted with a plastic swift that lasted a while but broke when I didn’t realize my yarn was caught on the clamp holding it to the table. Really strong yarn! I always found the little cakes hard to pull off the swift and some would unravel. I now use an adjustable yarn skein holder and happily wind the yarn by hand.
Swift and ball winder all the way, or just the ball winder if I’m taking care of the yarn that is already “pre-wound.”
Sometimes i don’t, if it comes in a skein that i can pull the center out, if its a Hank, sometimes by hand, sometimes by the umbrella swift.
If my hubbys arms are not free (he has threatened to charge), i use my knees.
Its funny because my knees were put to use by my mom and auntie, so i feel connected to them in this sweet act.
Mmmmmmm gleem in burnished
Cmon, y’all know you want to bust down that border and pick a Canadian
I use a swift and winder. I don’t like to do it. So tedious. I just want to KNIT. LOL
Always a hand winder, often to the consternation of my shoulder. But audiobooks definitely help, esp when preparing an over-1000 yard ball of worsted weight for a Christmas gift!
Same!
I use an Amish swift and ball winder, except for super bulky yarn which I wind by hand.
I have used an umbrella swift for years, but it has gotten cranky. Based on a few comments I just ordered an Amish swift.
I drape the yarn around my legs, or around a laundry basket if I think I may have to stop before the skein is finished, and wind by hand most of the time. I do have a plastic winder and umbrella swift. The plastic winder is very squeaky and when I use it family members always ask what is going on due to the squeakiness.
My mother taught me to wind center-pull balls starting with a figure right core but I confess to using the lazy method – a home built spinner and commercial winder. It does end with my hands hurting but it is fast.
A plastic swift & a wooden winder. I do wind it rather slowly, so it doesn’t get caught up in the swift
I put the yarn on the back of a chair and then hand wind it.
For many years I used my knees and a nostapinne plus occasional hand wound balls for smaller quantities. I recently found an umbrella swift at a resale store and have been using that with my trusty nostapinne from a long ago MD sheep and wool weekend.
Wooden umbrella and plastic yarn winder also. Not spectacular but satisfying in its anticipatory soon to be project.
I wind my yarn into a ball by hand sometimes with my sweetie’s help, sometimes by myself using whatever brilliant idea I can come up with to hold the skein.
My husband has hand wound every ball since I started knitting 15 years ago, I hold the yarn and he says he finds it meditative but I think he likes that he is part of the process of what I create as well
If the yarn is for knitting I lay the skein across my lap and wind it into a ball by hand. If for weaving, I use an Amish style swift and Strauch ball winder.
I use a wooden swift and a Fiber Artist Supply Co. winder which makes the prettiest cakes! I love the process of winding my yarn, watching it go around and around as I hold the tiniest bit of tension as it feeds into the winder, imaging what my project will look like when its knitted.
Not up for this after rewinding yarn that was supposedly ready to knit.
I use an umbrella swift and ball winder … I think it’s fun.
Like DG,I prefer to wind my yarn by hand, for much of the same reasons. I get to know the yarn before I start working with it. I know how it will feel in my hands. I get a sense of how it will drape, how heavy the resulting project will be. It’s all part of the knitting process. Besides, the swifts and ball winders are pretty expensive!
The swift works for me…I can do it on my own at the kitchen counter and prefer knitting from a cake.
I will wind some yarn by hand but mostly I use my wonderfully cone holders and a drill
Try to avoid it but have a hand winder that clamps to a table. Not fun but needed with a particularly great yarn that comes on a skein.
I have a collection of swift’s and ball winders, a cheap plastic umbrella swift, a sunflower wood swift, a wood umbrella swift that I picked up in a charity shop, 2 different Stanwood ball winders and a heavy duty capable of very large skeins Strauch winder. It depends where I am which ones I use or if I am winding at a yarn festival.
If I’m making a large project, but I usually ask the knit shop to wind it. Otherwise, I wind by hand with the yarn slung over anything convenient—chair, feet, husband. I make sure to put two fingers on the ball between my winding hand and the wound yarn to prevent winding too tightly.
I hand wind from over the knees. It usually makes my back by the time I’m done but I too love the methodical rhythm. I consider it part of my yarn therapy, so I always turn down offers from vendors to wind it for me for free. Love my yarn in all its tactile goodness!
Hurts my back. LOL
I use a wooden umbrella swift and a plastic ball winder. I don’t turn the winder that fast so I can feel knots if they pop up. I love having a flat bottom cake!
I’ve been a hand winder all along but recently bought a swift and winder – haven’t used them yet though!
When the cats are asleep!
If I am in a hurry to get the thing wound so the knitting can begin, I use my swift and ball winder. But, more often I will put the skein in my lap and wind by hand. I just enjoy the feel of the yarn in my hands, and it’s a good way to know if there are knots or blems in the yarn.
I made my own with a 6” lazy Susan for 6.00 from Lowe’s, two small square blocks of wood for a base and and top plate to which I attached two rulers, they are drilled at 3/4” intervals to allow me to move dowels to accommodate different size yarn loops, After I run it perpendicular and have my balls wound, I can place the rulers parallel and together and it finds on a shelf. It mimics a design I had seen at a yarn shop, where it was a much more refined version, but mine only gets out in my sewing room when needed and no questions ever, I don’t let many in there…..
On my lovely swift and ball winder!
on the couch, watching tv, skein around my knees
I’ve had a swift for ages (ugly cheap plastic, but it works), and I’d then wind my ball my hand. I treated myself to a ball winder for my birthday this year, and sometimes use that instead. It works fairly well with fine yarn, but seems kind of a hassle with thicker yarns. I don’t yet trust it with my handspun yarn – that always gets wound by hand!
I cheat and get the store to do it. Or very carefully drape it around something and painfully do it.
Hand winding, around my knees, is part of the joy of handling yarn! I much prefer a hand wound ball to a gadget wound cake, which somehow reminds me of impersonal machinery. Also, when I purchase a gorgeous skein of hand dyed yarn I like to admire it in its skein form until I’m actually ready to knit with it, winding at the store robs me of that pleasure.
Wooden umbrella swift and a plastic ball winder, I’ve had both for over 30 years. Hand wound balls are pretty but too time consuming for me to do regularly.
I have a hand winding “umbrella”. My watch always congratulates me on my awesome movement
Once, when the yarn needed to be held out firmly and there was no swift available, I draped the skein over a lamp shade, loosened the top thingy so it could spin, and had a grand time!
Thanks! I’m going to try that!
Now that is an ingenious idea!
My knees! I just drape the skein around my knees, turn on the TV, and wind up happily.
I use a wonderful handmade swift that sits flat on my winding table and can be disassembled, along with an industrial strength ball winder. My set up is in a guest room where I can close the door so my cat doesn’t take part in the process.
(Deep breath) this is hard to say publicly…I have not even come out to those near and dear to me, but I am Bi-Windual! I sometimes use a swift and sometimes (choke) do it by hand. Please do not think less of me. I just can not dedicate myself to one method. It is hard to just do it one way in this world. Some yarns just call to me for me to touch each inch and I HAVE to wind them by hand.
There..I said it. A weight off my shoulders..
Admitting it is the first step, Judy. Keep coming back!
Alas, after reading your article – I do agree with you that had winding allows you to get to know you yarn. I do use a yarn swift and a hand winder. I remember as a child holding the yarn on my hands as my mother hand wound the yarn. Another wonderful memory was my mother taking apart a used store bought sweater and hand winding the yarn to create a new sweater for one of us. I will, in the future try hand winding and see where it takes me. 🙂
Silk or linen or mohair? Hand winding only!
Most of the rest? Swift and cake winder!
Although, If some irresistibly luscious yarn mysteriously leaps into my arms while yarn shop hopping on a road trip (it has been know to happen!), it might just need to be hand wound in the car while someone else drives.
I mostly use a swift and ball winder. I crank the ball winder slowly and run the yarn through my fingers leading into the winder, so as to check for knots, slubs, etc. Finally, swatching helps my yarn and I get to know each other better.
I wind with the yarn over my knees. Can be rather meditative.
I love to wind yarn. When I get overwhelmed by knitting and need a break. Winding gives me the headspace to dream of what is to come
I spent countless evenings holding out my arms so my mother could wind yarns. When my own children got old enough they would disappear when they saw the yarn come out (so they were gone a long time) so a chair back had do. Now I have a swift and ball winder but find the yarn gets too tight in the ball. I prefer to put the skein on a swift and wind the ball loosely.
I use my generic wooden swift and my trusty Royal winder. I sometimes wind center pull balls by hand.
The word grudgingly comes to mind. I haul the swift and ball winder out and have to coax myself to do them all not just half of the skeins so I can get to knitting faster. Your comment that hand-winding was the best way to get to know your yarn was helpful. I’ll think on that next time.
I use a wooden swift and a plastic ball winder. I do like knitting from a cake that sits in a bowl my daughter-in-law gave me.
I loved seeing the different ways everyone winds yarn! I usually use the arms of a chair in my office/library/craft room.
I alternate between winding by hand and using a swift made of tinker-toy bits together with a ball winder. The cats like the tinker toy assembly the best!
My husband likes to hold and I wind while we have time to talk.
I put aside a lazy weekend to wind. I listen to something great and use that broken umbrella looking thing and a ball winder.
I hand wind using my knees, kitchen chair backs, upside-down laundry basket, or husband’s hands; whichever is convenient and handy.
Into balls from a chair back. But I just purchased a nostepinne from Stephen Willette!
I look it around my head and wind wind wind. Have a nice Amish swift but more tangle tragedies have occurred with that. I don’t want to talk about looping it around knees–bad.
I usually use one of my two Swift’s. One i purchased a few years ago that is pretty standard and always set up to use at a moment’s notice in my spare room. The other one is an old one I found in an antique shop that is a tabletop version and looks so pretty (I think), I display it open on a shelf in my living room.
By hand, using back of chair or knees.
My swift and ball winder are in storage, so I am hand winding right now, and I find I really enjoy it! I may pull out the swift once we move in, but I think I will continue to hand wind. I find I can really feel the properties of the yarn, and make this part of the whole zen of my knitting!
By hand – I loop the skein over two chair backs positioned back to back, then away I go!
I use an umbrella swift. My cat does like to try to put her face in the swift so getting her away does slow things down.
I turned the piano bench upside down, draped the hank around the legs and wound by hand. Just did that once, though.
My sweet husband does all of my winding while watching sports.
I use an umbrella swift and ball winder. They’ve taken up permanent residence at the end of our dining room table. If I wind fast enough my watch records it as exercise!
Wooden swift + plastic ball winder!
I have a lawn chair that holds the skeins. I sit in a matching chair on my patio and watch my pond and garden while I wind.
I live alone, so winding my yarn involves a chair. I use my office chair, pull it up to my couch, backwards of coarse and drape the skein over the back. Then I wind, usually accompanied by Netflix.
I have an umbrella swift and ball winder that I use to wind my yarn. Sometimes (often lately!) the yarn slips down the ball while winding and I end up with loops of yarn hanging out of the center. This can cause great problems – knotted messes when knitting. I don’t know if it is the way I am winding (inconsistent tension?), the yarn (superwash, round and slippery?), or my winder (gears slipping?). Would love to hear about other’s experiences and how they’ve achieved success….but please, no hand winding for me.
Well! This has been an educational morning so far! I had no idea that so many knitters are hand winders! Nor did I know there were so many types of swifts! Mine, I’ve learned, is called a “peg swift,” and I like it for ease of set-up and it’s ability to live quietly in its cloth bag between winding sessions. Umbrella swift’s kind of scare me, with their moving parts ready to pinch my fingers. Never heard of a squirrel cage till today, and I imagine my dog would bark at one just as he does with real (and imagined) squirrels in the yard! After this exploration, I’ve decided that my wooden lovely swift (and its accompanying plastic baller thing) are just right for me.
I almost always wind by hand amd use my knees or the back of a chair. Or sometimes I conscript my teenage children to stand and hold it for me – the natural consequence of interrupting mom during a lengthy stitch count or before I finish a row!
I usually use a swift and winder, unless the amount is too small to and i’d end up with a cake that was all ganky. My swift was made by a local (to me) artisan and my ball winder is a stanwood. I end up running the yarn through my hand before it reaches the winder to catch those blips and to help with tensioning.
Wooden swift, plastic winder most often, unless on long car ride, then over knees and hand wind. occasionally will drape yarn round my neck and wind if I am in need of next ball of yarn and swift/winder, knees not a viable options because of non knitting life interruptions into knitting life.
I have a wooden hand winder set up and use a chair back to hold the skein rather than a swift, winding very slowly while I gently separate the strand being worked from the rest. It is slow but it works and it allows me to see every part of the yarn going into the wound ball. It’s meditative!
In time-honoured fashion, I wind my yarn from the outstretched arms of a grandchild. It’s how I first got interested in knitting as a 5 year old, and now both my grandchildren can knit too.
I open up the hank and drape the loop over my knees and wind it with a nostepinne. My oldest son, who is in college, also enjoys woodturning. He saved up money from lifeguarding and bought a lathe and learned from a Master Wood Turner who also sponsored him to join the International Wood Turning Guild. He makes writing pens as well as beautiful handles for pizza cutters, ice cream scoops, and other implements. He even makes pens that look like a cigar —custom made with your favorite cigar label —they look remarkably realistic down to the burning ash tip.
He occasionally makes me nostepinnes in a very handy size from exotic wood and uses the same 18-step finishing process that he uses for his pens. I wish I could include a photo to show!
Confession: I have been known to choose yarn *because* it’s ready to knit. But mostly I bust out the swift, attach it precariously to one side of the TV tray table with the dinky plastic winder on the other side, and grind away.
In place of a Dad-made squirrel swift, I have my husband. When we met, he told me stories of holding yarn for his grandmother as she wound. Now he holds the yarn for me. It makes great boding time. He is a captive audience!
Come on, DG! I really, really want that Gleem Lace. LOVE THE STUFF!!!!!!
I use my ball winder and swift. However there are some that I end up winding by hand as the skein is a mess. In this car I usually use my husbands arms and occasionally I will have to resort to a chair when my husband is not around
I recently purchased a ball winder. I love the ‘cakes’ that result because I often double up my fine yarns to get a worsted weight. I can pull from the center and the outside, which I prefer to using 2 individuals balls or cakes.
I always use the swift and yarn baller. I wind slowly to check the yarn for imperfections. I don’t have the patience for hand winding
I have a wooden swift and both a plastic winder and the big wooden one which are set up all the time, so I make cakes but don’t pull from the inside anymore – too big of a mess towards the end. I sell yarn on Ravelry (the why did you buy this, yarn) and always happier when it hasn’t been wound. Skeins are flat and cheaper to mail. Nothing squishy about a cake of yarn!
I use my wooden swift and plastic ball winder. Had both for decades and they’re still going strong.
I use a ball winder and swift. Enjoyed your article. Thanks.
By hand. Over my knees in front of junk tv, or over the bar stool in the kitchen — it’s the right height. I love winding and unknotting!
Lately I’ve been using a ballwinder but I like to wind by hand with the skein draped over my knees too. That way is a lot more portable, and I agree that it’s a really good way to get to know your yarn. Mostly it depends on the yarn – I tend to wind finer yarns and bigger skeins on a ballwinder because otherwise it just takes too long and I rather be knitting!
I have my own swift and winder, and use them. After years of winding yarn by hand from a pulled-out drawer, I decided to use my time for knitting instead of winding. I’ll never go back!
I used to handwind yarn off the legs of a kitchen chair. Now that I have a swift and ball winder things are much faster!!
I mostly use my swift and ball winder these days but I have wound off a skein 1200 yards of lace weight yarn in the past. Sometimes the yardage is too much for the ball winder I have.
I did use the back of a chair, or occasionally a willing kid to hold. Years ago I invested in an umbrella swift and ball winder. I always have tension on the yarn at the winder so do find the knots, etc.
Old plastic and metal umbrella swift and plastic ball winder. I keep contemplating a new swift, but this one still works, if a bit squeaky! Even though the ball winder has a tension/guide arm thingy, I still guide the yarn with one hand.
I wind yarn by hand or on a swift. I have been told it’s best to wind yarn right before you plan to use it so I usually decline yarn store winding. I figure it doesn’t hurt to follow this practice even if untrue.
I put the skein around the back of a chair and, with an empty toilet paper roll acting as a nostepinne, create a sorta-flat-bottomed object (often it is a bit more akin to a football than a cake, but it works).
I use a Strauch floor model swift and a Knitters Pride wooden ball winder with the colored wheel. I love the manageable cake it produces when winding linen.
After decades of hand-winding, I asked my husband for a swift for Christmas and never looked back. It’s a beautiful instrument, although it sometimes gets ahead of itself.
I set up two cans of red enchilada sauces on my cats mat and use my winder clamped to the desk. Weird but it works!
I have 2 beautiful nostepinnes that I use to wind mini skeins or delicate yarn, like lace. Otherwise I use my swift and ball winder and I let the yarn run through my fingers as I wind so I can check for knots or other imperfections.
No no no no! Never again am I hand winding my yarns. Never ever.
I use my swift and wonder and will never go back. You cant make me.
I wind with the simplest of swifts I received when a LYS upgraded to electric and a Royal ball winder. I also use a chair and wind by hand. My LYS winds yarn willingly.
LYS is first choice. Wooden tabletop peg swift with ball winder, tall brown plastic pill bottle as makeshift nostepinne (yes, trapping yarn in the bottle with its lid for center pull) Me, too.
Winding around my thumb if I have to.
As long as I have a yarn cake I’m a happy camper! I LOVE YARN CAKES!!!
I enjoy winding yarn, sometimes I use my arms or knees, but I ‘ve also found that a certain size brown box from those people who deliver goods can sometimes be a perfect size for a skein, sitting on my lap while I watch the goggle box. I wind the yarn onto an old pill bottle, placing the first end into the container, so it be comes a perfect start from either end cake of yarn, with a little reuse and recycle thrown in.
Clever. We often have old pill bottles so I think I’ll try this.)
I finally bought my own swift because I’m the weirdo who feels guilty asking the yarn shop to wind for me. If the yarn is a quantity smaller than 150 yards or so, though, I prefer to hand wind in a ball.
I hang the hank around the knob on a kitchen . Then just pick up an end and start winding by hand.
My umbrella swift and my husband’s hands.
I use a wooden umbrella swift and a wooden ball winder. If I need to wind yarn when I am not home I use my knees.
I love my swifter to hold the yarn, but hand wind it! My husband is so glad I got a swifter as he used to have that job!
I learned to make a center-pull ball from my grandma when I was a child. I didn’t realize what a rare skill it was. I do wind bits, bobs and deflated cakes by hand. But I can hear the Hallelujah chorus playing when the yarn is whizzing from around my Amish Swift to my ball winder, especially on the 3rd or 4th skein of the day.
With my mother’s umbrella swift and my yarn winder.
drape my yarn over a wedge pillow and wind away.
I must be part of DG’s family: I am a strong believer in the hand wound ball!. i have a gorgeous Struach wooden swift (now over twenty years old) that sits on its own legs in my family room, and i generally wind the balls one skein at a time as I need them. I actually have two winders: one was my mom’s, the other a gift from a well meaning daughter, that are only very rarely used, usually when I will be needing several colors all at once. Mostly they sit in their boxes, gathering dust. Time is not an issue: I can wind a round ball by hand in less time that it takes to situate the skein on the swift, set up the winder, and turn the little crank.
Depending on the size of the skein, I wind by hand or with a swift and yarn winder . The only time I really felt it was when winding a Powerball- I was convinced it wouldn’t fit, but it did. Make me happy that I had invested in one of the wooden winders- the plastic one would have never survived.
Hank, not skein. And I’ve used a nostepinne, only sometimes successfully.
Amish swift… love the cakes all wound so neat!!!
I bought a ball winder first and thought I could just loop the yarn over a chair. What a disaster. So the swift came next. I just want to get to knitting so hand winding takes too long.
I wind yarn carefully on a wooden yarn swift but into a ball, no fancy crank thing. I also do it while watching TV.
My husband holds it for me.
I recline on my couch with feet flat and knees up. I gently lower the skein over my knees, adjusting the tension as if I were on one of those torture machines at the gym Where you sit and push out from your hips hips using your knees against the machine pads. I start winding.. Very relaxing.
I do have to say that the last time I bought a dozen skeins for a big project I went out after the 3rd skein and bought a swift and winder.
I used to use two chair backs and hand wind. Now I use an Amish swift and a ball winder. I still keep a hand on the yarn as it winds though to catch inconsistencies.
I use a ball winder and swift, unless it’s a tangled mess; then I hand wind it.
Large quantities get the umbrella swift and wooden ball winder treatment. I couldn’t make myself buy a plastic one, so waited until I found wood. Single skeins I wind by hand, yarn draped over my knees. Have used a nostepinne but don’t really love the movement. Only had yarn wound in a shop once, don’t remember why.
I would LOVE to see your family’s “Dad made squirrel swift”. I mostly use my swift and ball winder but before I bought that I’d sit back in my recliner, wrap a hank around my bent knees and wind by hand. When I was a kid and my Mom was a knitter she would use the back of the dining room chair. Btw, the shape that Lopi comes in is called a bullet.
He used to occasionally make them for my sister’s shop and one was once posted on Instagram, which caused an unprecedented number of inquiries and attempts to purchase – turns out interest mostly waned when people found out it cost almost a hundred dollars to ship one. So now the rule is: never show anyone a photograph!
Alas, I wind by hand as I have not yet splurged on a ball winder.
Why get any more complicated than me & my knees!
Anyway I can and quickly….I just want to get to the knitting part!
I use an old gifted nordic swift…huge, wooden, and a ball winder for big projects. Hand winding is really meditative and I do that for small projects.
I used to always hand wind, b/c I didn’t have the tools for the other method. I now have an Amish spinner and the hand crank ball winder. It depends on the yarn, and if I am at home so I can use the tools. Sometimes we are on a long road trip and I use the visor to hold the skein while I hand wind.
I sit with my legs up, wrap the skein around my knees, and wind.
By hand into a center pull ball as my Mum taught me or a swift and ball winder for major yardage.
Well in my early days as a beginning knitter, the store would offer to wind. Now with all my purchases on line, I wind myself with a spare pair of hands. And yes winding helps you know your yarn.
Gleem Lace is gorgeous.
If I have more than one skien to wind, I drag out the wooden umbrella swift and ball winder that I purchased back in the 70’s. They still work just fine. If I’ve only one skein, I drape it over my knees and wind using one of several nostipinnnes that have drifted into my knitting bag over lo these many years.
Usually with cursing, something always seems to go wrong whether I use the winder or do it by hand.
I have a swift and use it…..but I don’t always have yarn that the swift likes! The swift will decide it doesn’t want to “pull” the yarn and it turns into a bit of a giant knot. At that point – after much swearing- I finish by hand winding the cake. Sigh….
By hand with the skein over the back of an old office chair that’s just the right size to hold it in place with very few tangles.
I use my swift from The Oregon Woodworker and hand wind my balls off that. I much prefer to work from my balls than cakes off a winder.
I love my swift and ball winder—I think they are magical! And I don’t know about yours, but when my ball winder encounters a knot it comes to an immediate halt, like it’s encountered a yarny stop sign.
By hand-
I loop the yarn over two dining room chairs and set myself up with a good TV show and wind away!
For years I have been under the impression that winding yarn on a winder was preferred, not only for the neatness of the cakes but also for the more even tension of the yarn. So I have both a wonderful and a swift at home.
Just this week I read in one of the MDK articles, someone speaking to the beauty of hand wound balls! Didn’t appreciate that before. Today MDK brings even more useful and important reasons.
I have heard that you should not wind a hank of yarn until you intend to use it because it stretches the fibers. Is that true? Is that concern more relevant for hand wound than winder wound yarn?
Please spend more time on this issue! Good learning here!!
The way I understand it (which is roughly equivalent to a caveman’s understanding of a jet engine), winding too far in advance is less than ideal for “springier” yarns – the tension in the cake or ball is stretches that spring and it won’t quite bounce back after a while – and two balls wound at the same time but used, say, a year apart can actually produce two different gauges. And from a practical angle: I don’t know of a single yarn shop – online OR bricks-and-mortar – that will allow the return of wound yarn. So there’s that!
People RETURN yarn??? I am aghast! I have given away some no longer beloved, but never return!
Perfect timing- last night I hand wound 6 large balls of dk (skein over knees) and I’m still traumatized. I told my husband “this is a great way to get to know your yarn” but then confessed that I was lying – honestly, I have plenty of time to get acquainted with it during the knitting. Must. Get. A. Winder.
I wind using an Amish-style swift that my Dad made except for mini-skeins. I wind those by hand.
Two, marble paper towel holders – they can accomodate any width of unpretzelled yarn skein. The yarn ball happens with entire family’s help. Hubby, Mom and cat included.
I hand wind it at home
Love winding yarn. Reminds me of my mom who was a beautiful knitter. I wind around a chair back and enjoy every minute
I hand wind balls off of an Amish style swift. I had never heard of squirrel swifts and now I want one.
It’s a bonding experience! My husband holds the yarn, and I run it through my hands as i feed it into the winder.
I use a wooden swift and a plastic or jumbo ball winder, depending on the size of the hank. It takes a little longer, but I don’t crank at warp speed because I don’t want to add a lot of tension to the cakes.
After winding yarn at my local yarn shop for years, I moved to a place where the local yarn shop is in a tourist town forty minutes away. And forget trying to find a parking place anywhere in town during summer or leaf-peeper season. So I bought my own swift and ball winder.
I prop my feet up on an ottoman, drape the yarn around my knees and away we go. I’ve never done anything other than wind by hand.
Wooden swifter and plastic winder. Sometimes by hand especially if I’m traveling.
I use a swift to hold a Hank and a nostepinne for hand winding into cakes or amoebae.
I wind handspun by hand, and commercial sock yarn with a swift and ball winder.
I usually use a swift and ball winder. The bigger problem in my house is where to attach them. I will choose my next house (or dining table) based on the number of places I can mount those things properly. Sometimes it’s the kitchen counter, if that’s not being used for something else, occasionally it’s the back of a toddler-sized chair. The best one is when my husband simply held the base of the swift and I wound off of that. I think the moral is that I need my own yarn room with a special space for winding.
My knitting guru/friend lets me use her wooden umbrella swift snd plastic winder, under her guidance/supervision. I go fairly slowly, so I don’t miss – or make – any problems. Then, she and I chat while I wind.
After being so disappointed in my otherwise perfect husband’s absolute inability to grasp the concept of holding my skein on his two hands to provide me a base to hand-wind from, I bought a swift and winder. Best investment I ever made. Our marriage has remained intact for 49 years now.!
I use a swift but I remember working with my grandma to wind by hand.
Depends on how much yarn I have for a project, but I agree that hand winding is the best way to fall in love with my yarn.
Wind by hand with the yarn draped around my knees. Have a ball winder, but prefer to do it by hand.
I sit on the floor, legs straight out and wrap the hank around my feet and wind it up. Not always perfect.
I prefer cakes, with their graphically pleasing diamond patterning, to balls, which inevitably roll where I don’t want them to. I use a wooden umbrella Swift I bought ages ago in Oregon and a plastic ball-winder. I love the process: the way the winder turns and the Swift twirls. I love the squeak of the Swift and the growl of the winder at high speed. I love the way the cakes squish when i take them off the winder. I love how easily they stack for storage.
By hand. On swift, hand wound without ball winder.
I wind my yarn on a ball winder and swift. That is until it goes wonky and I finish by winding it off the swift and into my frustrated little hands!!!!
On a homemade Amish swift and a ball winder.
It depends on the weight of the yarn – the heavier weights I wind by hand (it’s relaxing)! Lighter weights I do by wooden yarn swift and plastic winder (they tend to know when I wind my hand). My dream is a permanent winding station in my craft room!
Sometimes I just hold the skein up with my left hand and pull the yarn off into a pile. Then I wind the yarn ball from there. Both can be done without much starting/stopping and tangles are rare. The yarn pile looks cool!
Sorry, ‘hank’, not ‘skein’. There’s nobody here to talk about yarn with me!
After years of using the back of a chair, my husband (that didn’t last long) and various friends, I bought a swift. My husband, the mechanical engineer, insisted on the winder because he loves a machine, I’ve never looked back
This is a story about beveled edges on tables. After having my store-bought wooden table swift fly off like a rocket a few times – beveled edges! – my husband jury-rigged a solution by building me a fine wooden stand that the swift fits into so I can set it on the floor. I then attach my ball winder to a child’s wooden play ironing board (I’m a teacher so have lots of that kind of stuff) – with no beveled edges – so that I can wind it up. Looks a little weird, but it’s quite perfect.
I put two dining room chairs back to back and set the unbundled skein over them. I have neons about 5 loops by hand and wind them into a ball. And repeat. (Walking around the chairs winding is too awkward for me.)
I enjoy winding yarn on my heavy duty wooden winder.
Although I have a yarn winder, I most often roll with the yarn being handheld as a fond, fond memory of my father who insisted on rolling bags and bags of yarn for my adorable mother. My mother crocheted hundreds of afghans and hats as donations to numerous crisis nurseries. Winding yarn is reminiscent of their cheery banter and charmingly lovely relationship.
Sometimes with a swift and ball-winder, sometimes with a swift but make the ball by hand, and sometimes with my yarn hank over my knees and by hand. Depends on the quantity and if I am motivated enough to get out the tools.
Yarn winding is a medical diagnostic tool for me! Years ago, I realized how ill my father was when he was short of breath holding his hands up to hold the yarn I was winding. We forgot about the yarn and got him to the hospital right away.
By hand. Usually I have the skein hanging over my knees toward the floor. Once I had it around the backs of 2 chairs and stood ON the chairs to wind it. Nothing like a little danger!
Back of a chair and the ball winder usually, but I hand wind minis and small skeins.
I used to wind yarn in my lap on long car rides. Now that I am the primary (and responsible)driver, I no longer have that luxury. My grandson begins Driver’s Ed in a few weeks so who knows what the future holds?
Winding a skein of yarn can be almost therapeutic. And if you like a nice center pull skeins winding by hand can achieve that nicely. And also I find my skeins are not as tight and solid, but more soft and fluid.
I loop the skein around an upside down round laundry basket and wind in an old fashioned round ball. I put on something relatively mindless and wind away.
I used to had wind my yarn from the wrapped around the knees position while watching TV. At some point though I realized that I could use that time for knitting so I bought a wooden umbrella swift and plastic ball winder and now my sock drawer is full!
I use a ball winder and swift, except for those times when for some reason that process gets screwed up. At that point, I’ll spend hours untangling and rewinding by hand. Not very pretty!
My husband when he is zoned out watching football on TV.
An Amish swift that always traps a loose end of yarn in the middle screw mechanism at least 3 tumes per skein and an old, rickety, always too small plastic winder that I hold in hand.
I usually wind my yarn in my recliner with it looped around my knees. It’s very relaxing to me. I do have a Knitty noddy which I use occasionally.
I like to put the yarn around my knees and hand wind. I like the round ball as a result!
I am very fortunate that, having started by using my husbands outstretched arms while he was watching football, I got him interested in the swift and ball winder, and he now, somewhat happily, winds all my yarns into beautiful perfect cakes. He knows which yarns will go easily and which will give him trouble. he sticks the label carefully into the center of the cake when he’s done!
I use my swift and ball winder to wind skeined yarns. However I do wind by hand when I am traveling and my equipment is back at home or when a skein is all tangled up. I also machine knit so winding yarn into a cake is a necessity!
I use a table top swift ( sits flat on the table) on the floor and a plastic hand crank winder from KnitPicks. Both are at least 20 years old. The family room coffee table( bought from. Ann Arbor art fair many years ago) is the only table that works.
I used to always wind yarn over the back of a chair or two. Recently my two best knitting friends and I purchased a swift and ball winder to share. We did a lot of research and much to our delight it was easier to assemble and use than anticipated.
We each use it. But I do often prefer to feel the yarn between my fingers and try not to let my cat know what I’m doing!
I use my swift and winder when I’m home, but when I’m away, I’ve been known to put the hank around my knees and wind a ball around the end of my thumb. My boyfriend thinks I’m nuts, but at the same time kinda cool.
Swift and ball winder – just faster way to get to knitting
I use a small wooden umbrella swift (sometimes it is too small) and a hand crank ball winder — they are early gifts from my now spouse and I will not give them up as long as they are functional.
My cats definitely prefer this method as they know the sound of me setting up to wind and come running to help.
p.s. I also use my other hand as a guide/slight drag on the yarn, so I do get the hands-on experience plus feel any knots that may be present.
p.p.s. And cakes, I like making stackable yarn cakes.
I place the yarn around my knees and hand wind.
I love the look of my ‘cakes’ after winding on my Amish swift and Stanwood ball winder!
Swift and ball-winder. But in my poorer, low-tech days I have draped the skeins over the back of a dining room chair, or over my knees (slower and aggravating) and occasionally, I have had a friend or roommate who would hold the yarn on outstretched hands while I wound tidy balls. I drop balls of yarn into a vase to keep them from the cats.
I have done it many ways – over the back of a chair, laying the yarn down on the floor and carefully wind it, used my husband’s arms (while he watched football!), and, horrors, used my machine!
I drape the hank over a chair back or sometimes my knees. If I’m lucky, my daughter’s arms get involved.
I always wind my yarn by hand. I think it is comforting to get the feel of the yarn before I start a project.
I was given a winder but sometimes it doesn’t work so I will hand wind using the back of a chair!
Swift and winder all the way! I’m too impatient to get started on the knitting
I use an Amish swift and Knit picks ball winder. But when those fail me, and they sometimes do, it’s back to hand winding.
draped over a chair back…always by hand!
I wind yarn on a chair back. I love it! It is like a zen massage. I think about where the yarn came from: the sheep, farm, people who processed and colored it. I have a mini digital food scale nearby to weigh equal balls when I am planning mittens and socks.
Swift and ball winder
Around my knees is how I was taught to do it by my grandmother. She would pay a nickel for every ball wound-great pay for a kid in the 60’s.
When I started knitting, I used my kids Tinker Toys and built my own swift. Worked like a charm. Now use a table swift.
I love my Amish swift and ball winder. Less time winding, more time knitting. Still getting to know my yarn, but not for hours…
I use an umbrella swift and a beautiful wooden winder unless it’s a small skein. Then I hand wind off my knees.
I use a wood umbrella style winder and a hand crank ball winder, both gifts from my now husband on our first Christmas 15 years ago. Luke someone said earlier, I let the yarn flow between my fingers so I can feel every issue before it becomes one. There are some “knit ready” center pull yarns that collapse into themselves and make a mess. Those I wind into a ball by hand.
I just bought a big ball winder because sometimes you need BIG balls.
Ha! So true!
I sit on the floor, cross-legged, and drape the yarn over my knees. Sometimes I’ll hit a big snag – often of my own making – and winding a skein will take a very long time. I somehow enjoy the challenge.
Loved reading that so many knitters hand-wind. I was feeling some pressure to join the cool kids with the fancy gadgets. Thought about buying a gadget. Now I’m settling back into the comfort of low tech.
Or two cats are always on standby, ready to help out. They are selfless.
By hand!
I am a handwinder although this usually results in a yard of knotted mess which I promise myself I will get to later. Thanks for asking.
My knees and my nostepone; no battery or electricity needed.
Finally, broke down during this homebound siege, and bought a swift and a winder for a large project. Gone are the days when I could sit on the floor, and use my feet to be the posts for winding the yarn. Great exercise to lean forward, and touch your toes, while winding. The swift/winder does a great job, as it can wind the way you need it to be. If it’s a project for socks, or a few skeins, I hand wind, using a wooden chair to hold the skein.
I wind my yarn by hand with a swift via my husband to control the speed and tension. Works well as long as you have a husband who cooperates! LOL
First knees, as long as that works, and if needed I will add a chair back or foot. Then once I have a beautiful hand-wound ball that incessantly either tempts my dog or rolls around picking up her black and white hair, if the yarn is another color, I use a horrible plastic winder and a lovely sheep-headed yarn bowl to reform it into a cake. If the yarn is one that dog hair blends with, I sometimes keep the ball.
I usually use my swift and hand-crank winder, but I sometimes wind by hand.
Welcome back, DG! OK, if you really want to know, I use a ChiaoGoo wooden swift that my daughter bought for me at Yarnavore in San Antonio, and a metal Stanwood Needlecrafts winder that I clamp to the kitchen table to wind my skeins into cakes (that can be pulled from the inside or outside). I highly recommend both. I would rather knit than wind yarn!
Of course, by hand. I sling the hank around the back of a chair and sway back and forth. Reminds me of when the kids were babies and I swayed them to sleep.
To wind my yarn I have a wooden swift which I will use if I have the time and inclination. However, more often lately I have been hand winding my yarn, using my knees to hold the yarn apart. The advantage to hand=winding is that one can do it anywhere!
Until a few Christmases ago, I placed my yarn around 3 legs of a stool and wound by hand. Now I have a lovely swift and winder, which goes faster but I have to remind myself to switch arms.
By hand with the yarn over a throw pillow. Works perfectly!
Plastic swift and ball winder
I use my knees 🙂 or a chair
I wind on an old, temperamental, blue plastic and metal spin swift. Somedays it’s smooth winding, others, not so much.
I loop the yarn skein on the back of a chair & gently pull it up with my right arm, wind into a the ball held in my left hand. Gave up trying to get a family member to hold their hands apart so I moved to the chair method.
I love my swift, but have no use for a winder. I have not yet had the patience to learn to use my beautiful nostepinne, but I can hand wind a good center-pull ball, and even a respectable cake!
I’ve done both over the years and the flat bottom cake is the clear winner for me.
I started out as an accidental hand winder. I’d never seen yarn that wasn’t pre-wound before, so ended up several thousand yards of yarn to wind by hand. It wasn’t horrible, at first, but if I had a tense day, I’d end up with tight balls of stretched yarn.
After I ended up with a 1000 yards of hand dyed laceweight over the back of a chair that was a nightmare mess in it’s original skein, and nearly 8 hours of fixing that, I was finally convinced me that I needed to save up and buy at least a swift, if not both a swift and ball winder.
To avoid the yarn stretching that people worry about with the ball winder, I wind at a leisurely pace on days where I’ve set aside the time to relax, listen to music, and wind for a project. I have no problems stopping to take care of any issues I see in the yarn as I go.
Plus, the flat cake is less tempting to His Royal Highness, Mojo Sugartoes, the Yarn Bane, who likes to find hidden unwound skeins of yarn and drag them through the house like his hunting trophies.
I use a swift and ball winder, although I would love to learn how to hand wind…
I use an Amish style wood swift and a plastic ball winder. I’m old and got lots of aches and pains when I wind with just my hands and then yarn.
I use a swift and ball winder to wind but I let the yarn run through my fingers as I wind to check for knots or other imperfections.
I wind yarn by hand all by myself.
I hand wind it into a ball, but then I re-wind on a ball winder. No swift here but I agree about the whole getting-the-feel-of-your-yarn thing and this is a way to do it, but also to end up with a flat bottomed cake I won’t be chasing all over the place. (Have no cats. Wish I did. I’d make them their own yarn balls.)
I usually have my lys wind the yarn, but after this article, I may be a convert to wind my own. I have some unwound skeins – so when i get to them – here I go.
I use my knees to hold the unwound skein, then wind it around my thumb (See Andrea Mowrey’s video!). I can do it on a plane, a train, a boat….pretty much anywhere! For me it’s part of the experience….very relaxing….almost mesmerizing. I used to do centre pull balls, but now I much prefer to knit from the outside of the ball. Much tidier! I take almost as much pride in how my wound balls of yarn look as I do in a nice even gauge knit! And I love Gleem Lace!
I love to wind by hand! Sit on the couch, place the yarn around my knees, and off it goes, ’round and ’round. Very meditative, and if your day is becoming stressful, it’s a delightful and productive way to get back on track!
My swift (and most of my stash) has been in storage due to a moving situation (new house not ready so I’ve been banished to a tiny apartment with 3 other people and 2 dogs), so I’ve been hand winding. Can’t wait to be reunited with my yarn, but I will likely continue to wind by hand.
I actually enjoy winding my yarn using my swift and a ball winder…it is hypnotic to watch the colors slide by and I do seem to be able to catch any irregularities as I go. That may be because winding is not a race for me but rather an evenly paced meditation…
A wooden swift and plastic winder. I love not having to spend the time hand winding or relying on a yarn shop if I buy from a yarn show or something.
I wind various ways, depending on the yarn, but mostly I use an umbrella swift and a ball winder. I slowly and methodically unwind the yarn from the skein a bit at a time, then slowly and methodically wind that onto the ball. I don’t want to torture the yarn with too much pulling and stretching going from swift to ball winder…or maybe I just don’t know how to do it right…
If tangles happen I channel my mother, who was aces at untangling anything of any gossamer weight no matter the severity of the offense. But spit-splice? I need to learn that!
Lol….always by hand, always on the coach or on my sunporch,support, with my best friend….its always during a night we devote exclusively to “ripping stuff out ” if a project went awry or to balling.We help give each other courage to fix our mistakes and the reward of newly prepped fiber to feel and smell and envision the b ext project.
All of course with wine or hot tea or cocoa!
I hand wind, looping the skein over a top open drawer in my dresser, listening to Marketplace on NPR. The mechanical winders scare me. Such a relief to read that hand winding is the “preferred” method. Hahaha!
For me, an Amish swift and hand cranked ball winder. I wind, then rewind for less tension, handling the yarn the whole process to keep the yarn from tangling, catching knots, seeing all the colors and texture, trying not to let it all go a thousand miles an hour. Love the harp music, btw!
I have a pretty table top swift. It squeaks as it turns. I could easily fix this with a drop of oil, but I don’t. The squeakiness is part of my joyous celebration every time I wind yarn for a new project.
I spread the skein on a table and wind it by hand. I actually prefer this to yarns that don’t need to be wound as they so often get tangled toward the end of the ball.
I put my yarn over my knees and wind it into a nice round ball by hand. I don’t own a swift and haven’t felt the need to invest in one yet!
I tried hanging the skein around my neck but nearly choked myself! Switched to a wooden skein holder and plastic ball winder. Much better.
Over the years I have wound my yarn in a few different ways. I have put it over the back of the chair and wound it alone. I have asked my darling husband to hold it around his arms while I wind the yarn. Finally, I bought a swift and now use a swift exclusively. I do try not to wind too fast so the cake doesn’t get too tight.
Over the knees, because every time I think of buying a swift and winder I think “I could spend that money on yarn.”
I generally use a ball winder and swift for full skeins, but I also have two handmade nøstepinne that I like to use for smaller samples.
A wooden swift and ball winder or for meditative purposes, a nostepinne.
Crank the music! I use 2 chairs and lots of space…..love feeling the yarn.
I have a swift my husband made me which I use with a ball winder. I keep one hand on the yarn close to the swift so I can feel for knots and stop if I need to.
Most of the time, I am too lazy to take out the swift, so I put the opened skein around my neck and wind. If it gets tight around my neck, I wake up from my zen winding moment and take out the knot! The cats don’t seem to care as much about the moving yarn around my neck as they do if it is moving on the swift.
Hand winder here! Use dining room chairs and find process relaxing.
I use an umbrella swift and ball winder. I worked in a small yarn shop for a while and would wind 40-50 balls during a shift after a big sale. It is a tough job!
I drape my yarn on one of the ends of a foldable laundry drying rack and wind by hand. As long as you don’t go fast, you avoid the tangled mess.
I wind my yarn using an antique swift
Sometimes it’s a swift and baller, sometimes it’s a knobby chair back, sometimes it’s using my hubby’s willing hands – just depends on the yarn.
I have the best yarn winder EVER. His name is Michael he’s an engineer and in his “spare” time he winds almost all my yarn! And oh yeah he’s a great husband too!
I use a swift and a ball winder. I’ve had them for years.
I use a swift and ball winder, but I run the wool over my left hand between the two. I enjoy the process.
My trusty Royal ball winder finally died after 20 years of service. Fortunately, I had another one in reserve that I’d purchased on clearance a few years ago. The new ball winder + my equally trust swift = ball winding nirvana for me.
I have both swift – an old metal one I got for free at one of my weaving meetings, a large Stanwood winder which is wonderful. sometimes I just hand wind if I have several small balls of the same yarn that I wind into a bigger one. also sometimes when working on a larger skein it becomes deflated so I rewind it again. I rather work from a neat smaller ball than one larger that is becoming loose and sloppy. Piece of cake 🙂
With a yarn swift and ball winder gifted to me by my dear knitting friend Sally. Sometimes by hand, standing in my kitchen with the skein draped around a wooden kitchen chair.
I flip a chair over…wrap the skein around the four legs and wind.
A squerrel swift, for sure. So much easier to use!! Mary in Cincinnati
Swift and ball-winder, all the way. If I have to take the fledgling ball off and wind by hand due to some awful unsurmountable problem with the swift I re-wind the round ball on the ball winder to make it into a cake. Pulling from both ends – the way to go sometimes.
I use an umbrella swift and hand crank ball winder. I love seeing the skeins turn into perfect cakes! I bought my 8 year old granddaughter the Skill Set book, app, and accessories and set out to teach her to knit last month. She lives out of town, so when it came to turning the skeins into balls, we did the first by hand. She held it and I wound. That one was wound a bit tightly. The next two I wound using a chair back. Much better with practice, but I think I’ll return to winding with my swift and cone, thank you!
I use a plastic ball winder, sometimes with an umbrella swift and sometimes with the skein dangling from my hand. When I dangle it from my hand and crank slowly, I get to see if there are any knots/flaws that need to be looked after before I start knitting.
It was many years of using an upside down laundry basket to hand wind my yarn. I know feel quite decadent using my second hand swift and vintage ball winder.
Always use a swift, for swiftness!
Hand wind, but I do get cakes the way I wind it. I do have an Amish swift that I use sometimes for fingering or lace yarn, but I still hand wind my yarn. It’s a way to talk to the yarn before we get cosy knitting. And sorts out any irregularities- knots, weirdly dyed sections.
After hand winding one too many skeins of sock yarn I purchases a swift and ball winder!
Wooden umbrella swift I found at Church yard sale for twenty five CENTS….for real! And plastic winder – prefer the cakes if it suits the yarn and hand wind the yarns that don’t like being caked.
I have a wooden umbrella swift I’ve had for decades, through college days, multiple moves, a long career and now into retirement. I’ve had to retie just about every join, usually with cotton twine. I also use a Royal ball winder but those last maybe 5 years or so.
I use (and love) an Amish swift to cake my yarn.
I typically use a swift and ball winder which is upstairs in my studio. However, I do most of my knitting downstairs in a comfy chair in the hub of the house. So if I’m feeling lazy, I wind my yarn by hand.
I finally sprang for a wood swift and plastic ball winder, hand turned. I love the neat cakes it turns out, don’t know why I resisted and waited so long to buy them.
When our LYS was an eighth of a mile up the street (oh, those halcyon days gone by!), my dutiful husband walked up with my young daughter and told them he wanted to buy me a “Swiffer” for my birthday. Of course, they knew exactly what he meant, and helpfully sold him the ball winder to boot. He earned his cred as best husband of the year that day!
I put the skein around my largest teddy bear ( we’re a family that loves bears) and wind by hand.
Swift and cake winder…..love the movement of both.
I sit on the couch, feet on the edge of the coffee table (my house, my rules). Loop the hank around my knees, lean back, and crank away.
My kind and generous daughter gave me a winder and swift as a gift. The assumption was that I would now be the family winder….
I almost always hand-wind into slightly pointy football shaped balls. (This simply happens, it is not intentional.) I either drape the skein over my knees, or if something goes horribly, terribly wrong, or my husband is interested in the yarn’s color, he will hold the skein for me.
I wind my yarn carefully around my knees, making a soft ball. It allows me to bond with the yarn before my project.
Oh my, how I wind yarn really depends on my mood or the yarn itself. I’m (almost) ashamed to say that sometimes I feel too lazy to get out my Tinker-Toy-like table top swift & cake winder so I hunker down in my comfy chair with the hank around my knees or feet & hand wind. I’ve actually encountered some yarns that refuse to hold a caked shape, so they have to be hand wound – usually with rubber bands strategically placed throughout the layers to give the slippery strands something to hold onto in hopes I don’t end up with a tangled spaghetti mess. More often than not I use the swift & cake winder but I always keep a finger on the yarn as it’s being wound to catch any imperfections/knots so I can fix them before the actual knitting or crocheting commences.
Sometimes on a chair but often by hand while my husband holds the skein!
I have a cheap-ish plastic-y swift and a handcranked winder and both demanded many learning experiences. Can’t count how many balls flew across the kitchen, having slipped off the pillar. Or how many times the swift changed direction and it’s too grotesque to describe what that’s like. The winder may be reaching the end of it’s life because it makes this loud and ominous snapping noise after winding more than two balls of yarn. Still works, though. And both devices fit right into their scraped and dented areas of the kitchen island edges. I get why MDK doesn’t want to wind my yarn!
I sit on my couch put the skein around my knees and happily wind around my left hand, as my Mother taught me 70 yrs. ago. I love the rhythm and the feel and the growing ball in my hands.
I wind my skeins with a ball winder and an awesome handmade swift my partner made me for Christmas several years ago. I love it!
Before I got my ball winder and swift, I used the top of a dining room chair. This worked well for worsted weight yarn…fingering not so much. Sadly my patience level is rather low for hand winding yarn; and balls of yarn tend to roll. Swift and ball winder now.
DG, I love your stories and your wit! You are an excellent writer and I always look forward to your posts! Excellent!
Swift and wonder all the way for me. I’ve encountered one too many spider webs to try it any other way now. I’ve had a few minor webs on my winder but they are easier to tackle and I think I’ve figured out my mistake when winding. So hopefully my spider web days are in the past. Just thinking about hand winding sends shivers down my spine.
Depends. At home, i use my umbrella swift and handmade winder from Fiber Artist Supply. When on the go, I improvise!
I put the skein over a chair back and start winding. If I want a real challenge I go for a center pull ball but my cat prefers a regular wind.
I use a winder and swift. But those times when it gets all garbled up, I cuss and say “in hindsight” I wish I hand wound the skein, 🙂
I used to wind by hand until the day I got in a fight with some lace weight. After spending hours untangling the mess, I decided to invest in a Stanwood ball winder. Then came a lot of research into the different styles of swifts. Storage space and cost narrowed it down to an Amish-style table top swift. My lovely woodworking husband decided to make one for me, so I now have a custom wooden swift dyed purple. Both have saved time, wear and tear on my joints, and my sanity!
If I’m with my knitting group, I use a friend to hold the yarn and sway from side to side to keep it going while I wind.
I used to use my husband to hold the yarn, but he’s not so good at the swaying to keep the yarn going and not tangling up.
If I’m alone, I use a chair back and tell the chair how to sway!
Sometimes I’ve used one of the wooden swifts that DG’s father built. It, along with the winder thing, is the fastest. And I get mesmerized, watching it do it’s thing…..like watching my sewing machine wind a bobbin of thread.
My excellent husband bought me a ball winder and swift for solstice several years ago. Yes, he is a keeper. Before that, I would walk around and around a pair a chairs that I used in place of a swift. It was dizzying. Even with hand winding, a swift is a solid investment in knitting joy.
I’ve used my swift to unravel a 2 strand mohair ufo, and it actually worked. I have two separate balls of mohair now!
Hi DG (& MDK awesome people),
i wind my yarn on a swift, mindlessly musing about how great this sweater/scarf/stole will look with x- article from my wardrobe(or next on the sewing list…), until I make a mistake & it’s wound wrong and I have to start over by hand.
However, I’ve started winding by hand as I love the feeling of the yarn on my hands. Also a great indicator of how it will feel when knitting/ worn. Great way to determine if it’s the right yarn for the project.
I wind by hand – drape the yarn over a chair back. It’s part of the process for me, and honestly it’s easier on my arm. I used a yarn swift at a store once and said “never again.”
I ALWAYS hand wind my yarn. I drape a skein over the back of a tall mission chair and, using a paper towel tube, wind a lovely center pull ball. There is great satisfaction in using these.
I keep telling my husband that the best gift he ever gave was my umbrella swift and ball winder.
I use a winder but run the yarn through my fingers as I wind to find irregularities.
I use my swift and ball winder. I used to use my children as my skein holders until they staged a coup. Seems they don’t like holding their hands up for hours while I hand wind balls of yarn any more than I did when I was a tiny tot doing it for my mother.
Skein looped around chair back, winding around an enormous wooden spoon handle.
I use an umbrella swift and wooden ball winder.
By hand, even though I have a swift.
My husband made me a swift out of a small kids’s wagon wheel, the end of a broomstick, and some dowels. It works great. I don’t use a ball winder, I enjoy the process of winding it by hand.
Over my knees quite slowly to prevent tangles.
Hand-winding wool is a nice way to slow down, breathe, and enjoy the process.
i use a swift and ball winder. Too impatient to wind by hand!
I wind my yarn with a Stanwood winder and umbrella swift attached to my kitchen table.
I use whatever method works for the yarn. Some yarn is too slippery or doesn’t hold to its fellow yarn strands to wind with a winder and swift. Skeins with lots of yardage are easier to me to wind with the swift and winder, We all have our ways–best to do what works for the yarn and person winding.
My two armed husband serves as an indispensable yarn tree while I roll up the yarn. This works best during baseball pennant races or world series play.
Same!
Place the skein over the back of a high-backed, padded chair and hand wind. It is the perfect height for me to unwind walking backward and wind moving forward. It feels better moving my entire body than just arms and back.
I still wind my yarn by hand….it takes me back to when I was a kid and held the skein looped over my hands while my mom wound it into a ball….. I had to pay attention and dip and swirl the skein so it wouldn’t slip off my hands. Nowadays I’m winding solo using the back of the dining room chair…it’s not nearly as fun, but I still enjoy the memories.
I use a swift and winder. I still run my yarn though my fingers also while winding.
I use a nifty little yarn winder I bought years ago. Unless it’s very small amount of yarn — say, for socks. Then I hand-wind.
Start with plastic ball winder, remove tangled mess from ball winder, finish by hand
I have an antique yarn winder that holds my untwisted hank and I will use my ball winder (if it’s out) or wind a center pull ball by hand. I agree, winding a ball myself gives me a chance to experience my yarn a first/extra time-I always turn down ball winding offers at yarn shops!
Ah yes the winding…
Well as luck would have it I actually do have a Swift, winder and a husband who teaches physics and finds it absolutely fascinating to wind yarn. (He has even filmed it for class. Ha!) So I’m going to call that a win in a couple different columns.
Swift and hand crank winder. Then I put the cakes in “yarn bras” so they don’t unwind from the outside as I pull from the inside to knit.
I started by hand-winding around a short length of PVC pipe with the skein around my knees, but it only took one project using 1200 yards of fingering weight to realize I’d be happier with a swift and a winder! They happened to go on sale at KitPicks exactly when I needed them, and I’ve been happily swifting since. The shoulder-breaking work then lasts mere minutes rather than the hours it takes to hand-wind!
I don’t wind my yarn, my husband does. And he tucks in the tag in the middle so I know which one it is when I start knitting it too. Which is funny because he bought me the swift one Christmas years ago, but I rarely use it. Once I get some yarn that needs winding, it magically winds itself. (Yarn Hop in two weeks ya’ll. It’s gonna wind up neatly!)
I use a swift and ball winder. Whenever I try to hand-wind (out of laziness – not wanting to get out and set up the equipment) I seem to end up with a yarn barf. I do knit a lot of fingering-weight, which tends to be tanglier for me, so I’ll hand-wind more often and with more success when I use bigger yarns.
I use a yarn winder and swift to wind my yarn
I have a home made yarn skeiner for winding (and measuring) off a cone, and a yarn ball winder. A recent project had me winding balls by hand, using a skein with a knot in the center (weighed on a scale) for diagonal washcloths.
I wind my yarn by hand, usually at work(in between patients-I’m an X-ray tech) because I can loop it around a cart that has handles. That way my cat at home can’t get into trouble with me!
About 15 years ago, I bought an umbrella swift at our local thrift store for $.25, yep, just a quarter! I got a crank ball winder on our local free cycle group for free. After a couple of years one of the arms broke on the swift. My hubby fixed it with a popsicle stick. No other issues since then, both have served me well, saving me time and making perfect cakes.
I use a wooden swift and ball winder.
I use a yarn swift and ball winder whenever possible because I’m usually itching to get started on my project.
I consider winding the yarn to be the first step in any new project and enjoy it. I drape a skein over two chair backs and go slowly, watching for knots. This way, I won’t find knots in the middle of a row. If my arms get tired, I leave it for a while. This is easier now that there are no children in the house! I used to use a ball winder that attached to a table but it always came loose and was more trouble than pleasure, so it is gone. Happy winding!
I use an umbrella swift and a ball winder for my yarn…I’ve had several orthopedic surgeries on my hands and arms and I want to save all the action for knitting, not winding 😉
Antique clock winder and counting revolutions since the wooden counter is missing a cog- or the blue/white ball winder- or the niddynoddy- or the chair back- or the hubby or daughter w their hands extended…. or even the end if the kitchen island if all else fails!!
I place the skein over the back of my late grandmother’s rocking chair. I like thinking of her and find the practice quite meditative.
Queen of the umbrella swift here.
I use an Amish-style maple swift and my Starwood winder. The winder lives on my desk so is always in view even when I’m doing my work-from-home work. Sometimes I hand-wind but I like the speed of using the swift.
I use a swift now but some lovely memories with my mother are holding a skein of yarn with wide arms and doing the dipping and bending yarn- winding dance while she wound it in a ball. I’m the third of seven so time alone with her was precious
Both! I have a heavy duty Stanwood winder a friend gave me, and a swift with a broken leg jerry-rigged with duct tape. If I have multiple balls to wind, I’ll use it. But it always needs a hand guiding the yarn, and it can be exhausting. Preferred method? either the back of a chair or my own feet. There’s something very satisfying about getting to know every inch of a skein before you knit it!
I usually wind with a swift and ball winder, but have wound many balls by hand also. I’m careful to get “squishy” cakes, so that the yarn isn’t stretched. My feline assistant is eager to help, regardless of which method I choose!
I hand wind my yarn. Contraptions need are too much of a temptation for my kiddo to use to build contraptions of his own.
I like to wind by hand!
I wind mine either on my thumb following Andrea Mowry’s method (what?!) for smaller skeins or I use my Nostepinne for bigger skeins.
Always wind by hand. It is a time to slow down and think or listen.
I always wind my own yarn on my own swift. I like to feel and get to know the yarn before starting a project. I began spinning several years ago, and have never looked at yarn the same way since!!! A VERY good thing.
I hand-wind my yarn. I have a swift and a ball winder however I don’t want to clamp them to my beautiful ebony espresso dining table. And there’s no one around in town that winds anymore 🙁
I use a swift and ball winder. My 2 yr old grand daughter has helped and with lots of supervision and going very slowly, she did a good job.
Sometimes I take it to work and hang it over the door lever and wind it- keeps it away from the cats.
Mostly by hand. My husband graciously volunteers to hold the skein. Been known to wind yarn on an airplane and on often on car road trips with the skein across my knees.
I have a fabulous locally made amish swift and enjoy the process
If I’m winding a sweater quantity, then I fight with my swift and winder. For smaller quantities I wind by hand over whatever surface that’s most convenient (dining room chairs, pillows, knees.)
When I was a kid, my grandmother had me wind skeins with her. When I asked why we had to do this, she said that it avoids problems later. I have found this advice to be true throughout life. Always do your best to avoid problems, if you can!
I wind by hand, using my knees to hold the skein. It’s not the fastest technique, especially when dealing with lace weight, but it’s meditative. And it works anywhere for those times when I’ve found a yarn store and CANNOT WAIT to get my hands on the luscious yarn I’ve just bought. (Though skeins are much easier to cram into the nooks and crannies of a suitcase!)
Lucky me. I have a yarn room with a permanent set up of swift and ball winder. I totally agree that winding your yarn yourself is the best way of starting to become well acquainted with it. The first step in the journey just watching blocking and making a beautiful piece of knitting.
I prefer to use my swift but I will wind by hand if necessary.
I use a ball winder and beautiful maple swift, but I don’t go the speed of mind-numbingly fast for just those reasons. Yes you find knots (Noro is notorius for knots) but they delay the whole process when you are going super-fast, it pops out of your hand and yarn goes a’flying.
I wind yarn over my knees or the back of a chair with a beautiful walnut nostepinne. I love to feel the yarn through my fingers and can sort out knots and/or weak spots.
I pay a grandchild to stand and hold the skein. Win-win in my book!
I wind my yarn by hand placing it on the back of a kitchen chair. I do it slowly and enjoy it because it means I’m about to cast on a new project!
By hand with yarn around my knees. I have a wooden umbrella swift and a winder, but actually enjoy hand winding. As you said, getting to know the yarn. Would love that skein of Gleem! A Hap for Harriet has been on my list for some time.
annie (whose first name is Harriet)
I like both methods…a wooden tabketop swift and a plastic cake winder when I have a lot to wind, or the back of a chair to make one or two center pull balls by hand. My “yarn amoebas” (love that description!) tend to be the tangled messes I have to straighten out with some hand winding.
I prefer to wind my own yarn for the reasons stated – I learn a lot about the yarn that way. I have a Japanese plastic and metal umbrella swift (which the company calls a winder) and a 13-14 year old inexpensive winder that still works great as long as I’m careful to orient the tension arm just so. Biggest problem – finding a place to clamp them down where I can watch TV as I wind.
I love my swift and ball winder. They are permanently set up on a $25 IKEA saw horse. Starting on the swift give me such a sense of hope…my yarn is about to be transformed
By hand. I’m too cheap to spend the money on a swift and I really like to wrap it gently and loosely. And feel all the squishy goodness as I go!
I use a swifter and ball winder. My husband has repaired my swifter many times. I sometimes use my knees and wind while sitting on the couch! Balls are easier to use then the cakes anyway!
I have a swift and ball-winder, and they’re loads of fun – but I really do prefer hand-winding. I sit on the couch in front of some televised entertainment, open up the skein and hang it around my knees, and wind away. It gives me some quality time with my yarn even before I start knitting with it, and I like that.
Wooden swift and plastic ball winder. When they’re around, I’ll pay a kid or grandkid to do the winding. Helps them, helps me. I don’t mind giving my LYS the chance to do the winding as well, just for a few more minutes to chat.
Swift and winder, loosely, all the way!
By hand and also with a swift! Usually end up doing both since I usually spin to fast and through the cake off before it’s complete!
I either use the weasel I have which is finicky. Or wind it by hand depending on size of the skein.
It all depends on where I am. If I’m home and working in the kitchen, I set up my swift and ball winder and wind many many skeins at once. That way I’m set for a while. Otherwise, if I’m outside or camping, I open the skein and drape it on my feet or on whatever I have available and hand wind it. I agree it is a great way to build a relationship with your yarn. In any case I always put the wound skeins in zip lock bags with the ball bands for identification. I like the ease of the swift and ball winder, but my skeins always seem very tight when I use that method. As if the yarns are being stretched. Any advice for being able to wind from a swift and have them not be stretched so tight?
thank you! now i have “the long and winding road” playing in my head. i have a nice swift and a hand-cranked winder thing, but unless i’m in a big hurry i always wind my yarn by hand. i sit on the couch, hold the skein with my knees, and wind away. it’s meditative, and i get to enjoy the subtle color variations that probably caused me to bring the yarn home with me in the first place.
I use a ball winder and a table top swift that makes it easy to control the speed. Used to have an umbrella swift but it had a mind of it’s own and caused me one too many disasters with tangled yarn!
I load the yarn onto my umbrella swift on the dining room table, roll my butcher block cart as close as I can get, attach ball winder to the cart, and sort of throw my body across table/cart to keep the yarn flowing freely. It could be an Olympic Event!
I wind my yarn in cakes with the plastic winder I bought years ago for $1 in a thrift store. It was missing its spool so I taped on an empty toilet paper roll. It’s wonky like me so it suits fine
After years of hand-winding — and I’ve been knitting and crocheting since I was 6 — I finally invested in a swift and winder about 10 years ago. I’ve never been happier. Saved my elbows, at least, if not my shoulders as well.
My husband made a Niddi-noddi for me which is a short tapered smooth wood rod with a handle and a little notch at the top to put the start of the yarn and then you start winding.
I’m a swift and ball-winder person, although I do appreciate the reasons for hand winding. Mostly I’m just anxious to get knitting. But maybe I’ll try it for my next project.
I have a swift and a winder, but chose to throw the skeins around my knees, sitting on a chair or on the bed, or yes I have done this on the commuter train on my way into NY.
I live in a 27 ft motorhome, with 2 small furbabies. I get the little table from under the couch, clear the area in the front room and set the table up. I then go outside to get the swift from the basement of the coach and set it up. I put my 2 furbabies outside, put the the yarn on the swift, turn the handle and sit back to enjoy a very pleasant time seeing the yarn magically get ready to knit in beautifully shaped cones.
Are you kidding me?! Of course I use a swift and winder. And grateful I do not have nor will ever have a cat!
Hand winding for sure! I love the sensation of the yarn shifting shapes and get more excited about the finished project1
When I wind, I have an Amish swift and I wind onto either a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll.
I use an umbrella swift and a ball winder, tensioning gently with my hand between them.
Sometimes the swift way and sometimes by hand. Depends on where I am and how I feel. Hauling out the swift and calming the cranky winder is often beyond my patience.
I ask my lys to do it lol
I wind by hand. Skien around the knees and wind into a traditional ball. However, sometimes I like to hand wind a cake too! To do that I wrap the yarn in a lovely diagonal around a 6mm straight needle. Spinning the needles as well as I go! I’d like a swift to replace my knees/lap, but I don’t think I’ll ever go to a ball winder!
Wooden swift and Boye electric winder. It suctions down to the coffee table, has variable speed, and leaves a center core where the yarn label can be put. It’s almost hypnotic to watch it winding, and reminds me of ironing–another task that takes the chaotic or messy and makes it smooth and useful–kind of therapy for these days.
Depends. If the hank of yarn is nice and untangled, I use an Amish swift. If it is something I hand-dyed and has some tangles or is slightly felted, I wind into a ball by hand. Unknotting yarn can be addicting though. Can’t put it down until finished.
I have spent way too many hours untangling a mess I created from hand winding to ever do it again. I have a swift and a ball winder and I know how to use them.
For years I used a pill bottle as a makeshift nostepinne and draped the skein over a chair. Looking back, what was I thinking? I knit WAY too much for this method. For real.
I bought a swift awhile ago and a friend gave me a Lacis ballwinder. I haven’t looked back…we’ll, until now. HA!
I use a swift and hand crank ball winder which has always worked just fine for me.
I love using my ball winder and wooden swift. Whatever makes you happy is the way to go.
Wind on my winder at the kitchen table!
Typically with my cheap metal swift and my trusty Royal ball winder. I’ve owned 2 beautiful wooden swifts, only to have them fail, so on recommendation of a LYS owner, I purchased the most rickety looking metal swift which has yet to disappoint me. I’ve also been known to occasionally hand wind a ball, holding the yarn with my feet (it’s just me and the cat at home and she’s not inclined to assist).
Husband holds the skein, I wind 🙂
I wind the ball with the yarn around my knees, a chair back, or a handy relative.
Always fun to read DG, and have another chance at a giveaway!
When my boys were young and were fussing with each other, I would make one hold the skein and the other wind the ball. They had to sit close and not fight. If they made a mess, they were in big trouble.
I wind yarn by draping it over my knees or the back of a chair. It’s cathartic and I do get to see the yarn…nut I’m not opposed to have a skein wound professionally once in a while.
I wind my yarn using a ball winder and swift I got years ago. If my kids are bored, they liked to do the winding while I watch for knots and make sure the yarn doesn’t get hung up in the swift.
I use an umbrella swift and a ball winder, when I have to (when the nice people at my LYS are too busy to do any for me, and I don’t expect them to do a whole sweater’s worth, eeh gads!), but the winder was labeled “commercial,” which means one must duct tape part of it to the table and shout cuss words at it to get it to wind properly.
I use a ball winder and a wooden swift. I love the process and do it slowly enough that I do see any knots or irregularities that need fixed. To each whatever makes them joyful.
It depends on my mood, it seems. Sometimes I hand-wind, sometimes I go for the swift and ball-winder. The latter has often turned into a deeply frustrating experience, though!
It depends on the size of the skein and how tangled it all is…
My DH bought me a swift and ball winder for Christmas because my beloved LYS (Wasatch and Wool Yarns) closed her doors last winter. I only wind the yarn just in time to use it. Prior to having my own swift, my LYS wound the yarn for me or I would hand-wind at home over a chair.
Well I USED to use a winder and swift… until we had to move out of our house that is being remodeled. I KNOW I used it the week before we moved into the house we are renting… BUT my husband and I can’t find it anywhere! Seriously how can you loose something that big?? So now I’m forced to find things like chairs or stools to hold my yarn while I hand wind, Yuck! Yes i do know the skein more intimately but I just want to start of my project faster. And it still bugs me where they could have disappeared to…
I always wind my wind my own. Once over the steering wheel of my car on a long wait for one of the kids. It got hopelessly tangled inside the column and I couldn’t get it out and had to go to the dealer for help. A few odd looks were seen! Now I always stick to my knees.
I hang the skein over a door for a bit to relax the givers and then I use a ball winder and swift
Sometimes by hand, sometimes with a swift and winder. With hand-winding, my husband likes to hold the yarn but if he is busy and I’m in a hurry, I lay the skein out on the couch and wind from there, it works better for me than the knee method!
Sadly, for the last 3 years, yarn-winding has been a solo sport for me…I throw it on the swift and get it over with as fast as possible, trying hard to not get teary.
Sounds dramatic, I know, but for the prior 17 years, my son was my winding partner. Once, in middle school, he noticed I’d wound some skeins by myself (I assumed he had outgrown the team sport aspect), and he was genuinely upset.
So, until he left for college, if I had yarn to wind, I’d put it on the coffee table and when he saw it, he’d matter-of-factly let me know when he’d be “available” to help wind it.
Did I seek out yarn that only came in skeins? Maybe. Am I planning to buy an insane amount of yarn that needs to be wound right before his Winter break? You bet!
After 391 comments, do I have anything worthwhile to add? Sometime in the early issues of Vogue Knitting,, the restart in the 80’s, I learned that you could handball your own yarn with a center pull. About the same time I discovered better yarn in skeins. No hubby and dining chairs never worked very well. Discovered Swift and plastic ball winder, and finally purchased. But never completely happy, discussed my issues with my yarn group, never mind the problem, see 391 comments. I’ve just found something I’m happy with: put it on the plastic swift, using piece of corrugated cardboard that I can roll to the size of center pull I want for the type of yarn, and wind around the bottom of tube, I do like a flat bottom, I don’t want the tension pulled out of the yarn as I ball it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my home-made method is called nostapinne, check spelling. I will investigate expensive wooden sticks when my piece of corrugated cardboard wears out. Phyllis
I wind my yarn using my swift, although sometimes I also do it by hand (especially if the cake gets too loose for some reason)
I use the umbrella swift and my ball winder that I purchased over fifty years ago. Still working great. Other times, I will wind my hand spun by hand.
Hand wind, off an Amish swift while watching tv.
omg-you are right on about getting to know your yarn by hand winding. I have a perfectly fine swift and an ancient ball winder (picked up at a garage sale with the faded register receipt (1972) from Lee Wards.) Yet I most often sit on the couch winding nice woolly ovals from skeins spread out across my knees, on my hand made nøstepinde.
I use my swift but hold 2 fingers to make a ball and its not too tight and the yarn feels soothing !!! I tossed my ball winder to tne curb long ago!!
Although I have both a swift and a nice ball winder I am lazy and don’t typically pull them out of the closet. So yes, I am a hand winder.
I use an antique Swift that my late sister in law gave to me. Besides winding my yarn, it unlocks wonderful memories of a great lady
I have wound on a swift and by hand. I like to wind by hand if I have the time.
Would be interested to hear how other who hand wind hold the skein.
It depends on the yarn. I generally use a swift and ball winder, but I do hand wind yarn too.
I used to use a dining room chair. Never could convince my husband to hold the yarn. I now use a swift and winder. Have to admit, it is a lot faster and neater. So I changed my ways at my advanced age!
Sometimes I wind by hand and sometimes using my swift and ball winder (which I absolutely adore). But I have found some yarn, when it’s very fine or has a high mohair content, is best wound by hand and I’m good with that!
Usually I use a ball winder. But more and more over the last year and a half I find myself winding by hand. Skein stretched across two knees. It is a very soothing activity, as long as I am not in a hurry.
Usually a swift is my go to for winding however two dining room chairs is my secondary method for especially slippery fiber. Dan doh cotton comes to mind!
Sometimes I wind by hand but mostly I use a ball winder.
Worsted and DK on a swift with ball winder. Lighter weights by hand.
I have a Stanwood winder. Absolutely love it.
Hand wind
Hello! Thanks for asking, usually by hand but if faced with sweater quantity will consider hauling out the swift and winder (you’ll like this, auto correct had that last bit as “delft and wonder”. Imagine…
My latest and favorite method is spreading two 5-lb dumbbells on a table to required distance.
Ball winder and swift all the way. I did once buy a 4 lb. giant blob of Lamb’s Pride that I put around a laundry basket and stood on a chair to wind from above. That was total and pure joy.
I drape the skein around my knees and wind away – perhaps helps tone upper arm muscles?
Hand wind. Have never tried the swiftly thingie. Good time to listen to an audiobook.
Hand-cranked ball winder all the way!
I lay the skein over my knees and wind a yarn ball. My dad taught me how to wind yarn, and I always think of him when I’m winding. It’s peaceful and satisfying.
I like a swift and ball winder when available, but alas, I usually wind around my thumb (and I can usually get a cake doing this) from my knees, my lap, a chair back, hubby’s hands, whatever I can find to hold the yarn. I keep trying to get a good cake or ball from a nostepine (some day I will get the technique). Inwards.
Hand wind! Over a chair back. I enjoy it!
I agree with you about winding your own yarn. I sling my skein around the back of my rocking chair and wind a center pull yarn per the great Elizabeth Zimmerman’s instructions.
Sometimes I wind my yarn the “old Fashioned” way, by hand. Other times I use the swifter.
My LNS (fibre space in Alexandria VA) has two electric ball winders. If I buy yarn elsewhere, I have a swift and little ball winder that I install on my dining room table. Sometimes I’ll use a nostepinne. If I’m visiting my daughter and grandchildren, I’ll enlist my grandson to hold the yarn and I’ll wind around a toilet paper roll.
Love my winder and umbrella swift! Love the sounds they make! Both gifted to me by relatives! And I keep a hand on my yarn as it goes through the winder guides so I catch any big issues.
Ridiculously – sitting in my favorite chair with my knees up with the yarn draped over by knees as I’m watching TV and invariably I’ll tangle it at some point..
Finally a contest I can enter! I wind my yarn by placing the skein around my knees when sitting, or around my neck while walking around. Hand winding for sure, not always neat but it works for me!
I’ve used several methods for winding. I do have my trusty vintage metal swift that attaches to my worktable and winds vertically. I love it, but sometimes too lazy to set it up. I’ve also used dining room chairs that have nice finial type tops. Or, if I’m watching something interesting on TV, I’ll prop my feet on the ottoman and wind away. I do love the feel of fiber in my hands.
I love knitting from three center of a yarn cake, but I’m also too lazy to go dig out the winder. Occasionally I’ll use a nostepinne
I always hand wind my yarn. You find knots, splits, all kinds of things that way and also, if you aren’t going to use the yarn right away for a project, your yarn could get stretched if it sits for a while.
For years I draped the skein over the back of my grandmother’s Sheridan chair and wound round balls with a centrebpull. But as more of my recent purchases are finer yarn and larger skins, I undulged in a lovely maple wood Amish swift and beautifully made winder, where my hand doesn’t gave to crank at 90 miles an hour to get quick results. And I run the yarn through my fingers too, to catch knots or slubs.. I agree that winding is part of the process.
I have a Royal ball winder, and wooden, Swedish-made swift I found in a corner in an antique store. I try to wind several projects at once because I don’t have to room to leave them set up. Winding chores are a little easier because I’m ambidextrous, and can switch off arms when I get tired.
By hand, with a very antsy husband.
I like to have it wound at the shop. If that’s not a choice, such as mail order, I’ll either fight with the swift and ball winder, or use a desk chair as a swift – works well when you’re traveling and get some new yarn!
I now wind my yarn with an umbrella swift and ball winder, but before I had these I used to hang the hank over the end of my ironing board and hand wind!
I wind some by hand and some with my winder and swift. It really depends on the yarn.
I have a swift and wind starting with my fingers and switch to a large willow stick.
I make center pull balls by draping the skein around my neck and winding the yarn around my right thumb while holding onto the end with the other fingers of my right hand. I really enjoy hand winding my yarn–so relaxing! (and I also enjoy detangling yarn barf!)
I usually use my trusty ball (cake) winder and a simple wooden swift. Although I’d prefer a hand-made/fancier swift, it’s dear to my heart as it was a gift from my late sister (who was also a knitter). I love the rhythmic cycle of winding this way, plus I get to think of her as I begin to make friends with the new yarn.
I use to put the skein around a large pillow and then hand wind it. But last year I finally brought a winder and swift. Well worth the money.
I definitely use a swift and ball winder; so much faster than doing it by hand, which is important if you have kittens!
I use my knees, and it is a happy day when I end up with 2 evenly sized balls with no tangle of wasted stuff at the very end!
I clip my hand winder on the coffee table and hang the tarn on a chair back. I still need an assistant
Definitely a swift and ball winder for new yarn but I hand wind when massive amounts of frogging happen.
Winding yarn into center pull balls is a pre-knitting step of that I LOVE! Not only does it locate potential problems (knots, kinks, etc), but also it gives me the pleasure of touching every inch of yarn before knitting. This step leads to a more informed decisions about the knitting project to follow.
By hand since I sold my swift during down-sizing
Whoa! I had no idea that there were so many hand winders out there! I read All the MDK emails I get and love the responses but today I am amazed at the number of people that commented! The gift yarn must be something spectacular! In answer to the inquiry, I only hand wind yarn that has become tangelled. So I am in the swift and ball winder camp; not that I am taking sides but I like the cakes and as someone else mentioned I always feed the yarn carefully into the winder. Love you guys! Wish I had the luxury of unlimited travel so that I could see you in person!
Cue https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fR4HjTH_fTM.
I used to roll a ball from hanks held by chairs. (When I was single)…that ended when I started knitting with lace wt.
I have a wooden swift and have been through 3 plastic winders in in 20 years.
I love this! So glad you took on this topic.
Yes, winding your own yarn by hand can get a little tedious, but I do find it’s worth it.
Sometimes it’s a fun duo project for me and my husband. He graciously holds up his hands for me to wind away. And that does make it faster and easier.When I do it by myself, I have started using my knees which works pretty well. I have used a chair back and that doesn’t work so good. I can’t wait to hear how others do it.
Ball winder, umbrella swift. My husband was the yarn holder for many years until he decided he really didn’t need another full time job!
I generally wind my yarn by placing the skein over the back of a chair then begin winding. It doesn’t always go smoothly and there are a few tangles now and then, but it is either that or ask hubby to hold his hands upright with arms out and be bored for half an hour.
I have two wonderfully willing grandboys whom I’ve trained to wind for me. Other than the massive 600-yard skeins, they get enjoyment and I do very little spotting or trouble-shooting. Swift and winder, of course, no purists here.
I wind tarn by hand and using swifter and winder. Many times depends on yarn. Also depends a lot of times on how it looks when I untwist it. Swift/winder can be a BIG problem if the yarn is twisted. I agree that hand winding gives you a great look at your yarn…but that 400 yd fingering!!
Mostly I use my swift and ball winder. My knitting shares its room with my granddaughter’s toys. My 5 year old granddaughter likes to use the ball winder. The 2 year old twins prefer to play with hand wound balls.
I like winding my purchased yarns. I love seeing the colors and feeling the fibers.
I generally use a swift made by the same nice handmade swift vendor that you mentioned. I bought mine many years ago at Stitches West—they also make repairs if your swift gets a little wobbly as mine did. I will then wind by hand or use a ball winder, depending on the yarn and/or my mood.
I like to hand wind, for reasons you stated and because I like my yarn to live “loose.” Most often I put the skein over a suitably sized chair back and then, if the yarn agrees, the chair back becomes my swift. I ramble around my great room, alternating between making staggered piles of really loose yarn and balling same, over nearly my entire hand, you know, so it’s loose. When the skein yard does not agree with this process, I stand on the chair and unwind from above. In either case, I assure there are no witnesses with cell phones or cameras.
Both. Hand winding for minis and one skein projects, or when I’m too lazy to set up the swift and falls under. Mechanical means for multiple skein projects. Sometimes I’ll put the yarn on the swift and wind by hand.
It depends on the yarn. If it’s a well-behaved skein, the yarn winder does a fine job, and I do like the resulting flat-bottomed cakes that don’t travel with a mind of their own into hard-to-reach places. Hand winding is the only way to go with some skeins (you know who you are, you skinny twisted little things) that refuse to collaborate. It’s good to know both options, and to have a dining table chair with arms to drape my yarn over regardless of which option I use.
Between my husband’s arms
I am a swift and winder. I only do hand wound if I must. I fin that I wind very tight and stretch the yarn. I only wind my yarn when I am ready to use it. If my cake collapses then “to hand wind” it is! (Secretly love my swift)
I own two ballwinders and swifts but am an evangelical convert to hand-winding.
I use an umbrella swift and a ball winder most of the time. I’m too impatient to wind by hand and the resulting cake doesn’t roll around when I’m knitting.
Sometimes nostepinne, sometimes wooden swift and ball winder, sometimes by hand. Thanks for the chance at another amazing giveaway!
I use a beautiful swift to hold the yarn -my second—my husband took my first swift to use for his fishing line-and then hand wind if I have time or if I don’t use a ball winder. My last preCovid event was Stitches West too. I can picture the handmade swift people that wound your yarn. Someday…
My husband winds my yarn! He’s really good at it!
I use a ball winder and an umbrella swift….it’s very satisfying to wind cakes by hand on this thing.
By hand. I loop yarn over the back of a chair and then with a back and forth methodical rhythmic movement, shifting my weight in a motion that is almost a dance step.
By hand. I loop the yarn over the back of a chair and shift my weight back and forth. I love the feel of the yarn thru my fingers.
After sliding a skein of yarn onto the end of a table, I patiently, slowly wind by hand, starting with a figure 8 before winding into a ball.
I used to use an old plastic-y swift and a run of the mill ball winder I bought in the ‘70’s. Then my husband said he didn’t like the look of the swift and bought me a beautiful wood swift. Now my ball winder winds the yarn way too tight and I don’t like my setup. Sometimes I stand and hand wind off from my fancy, pretty, flawed swift.
But lately I’ve been trying to revive my spinning skills and last night I was knitting handspun right off the bobbin. Skipped the whole scenario!
I hand wind but I’m having an internal debate about buying a swift and winder for times when I’m just impatient to start a project but for now I’m still hand winding.
I use a swift. It provides my cats endless hours of entertainment and hopefulness for dropped balls of yarn to be batted around while I knit.
How do I wind a skein into a ball of yarn? I set up two straight backed kitchen chairs back to back and move them apart just far enough that the unleashed skein will fit taunt over them. Then I put on music to match my mood–never flight of the bumble bee unless there is a fair coming up and I need more Seahawks cowls! Then, in my left-handed way, I proceed to wind a ball, stopping to deal with knots or other mysteries as they reveal themselves! When the ball is wound, I sit for a cup of tea and a little something, then it is on to the next skein.
I have an umbrella swift and plastic cake winder – the best gift my children ever gave me (before grandchildren of course). Hubby likes to wind the cakes for me because then he feels he can legitimately say to people that he helped me in any particular knitting project. Yesterday I bought a skein of mohair so I can knit an Airplane scarf on an upcoming trip. My LYS offered to cake it for me as they have devised a motorized winder. I told them that my hubby would gladly wind for me – they were dubious as the skein is 1,000 metres or 1 kilometre long!
I wind my yarn using a large-ish, orange, plastic “Knitking.” I ordered it many years ago, used from Ebay. It is one of the best yarn-related purchases I have ever made. If I am working with an especially tangled situation, my husband is a fantastic help (he has incredible patience). I almost always pre-wind my yarn. I like to know if there are any issues in advance of beginning my project and then plan accordingly.
I use a wooden swift and plastic ball winder. It works for me and I love the yarn cakes it produces!
Two possibilities:
1. If my husband “owes me” (usually for some vague and unnamed wrong) or if he is in a very patient mood and longing for a good long chat, he will “hold” the yarn between outstretched hands while I wind and talk, or
2. I will slowly “unwind” the original skein, draping it across pieces of living room furniture, then winding it in a ball, going at it bit by bit. Preferably to some classic tunes.
I untwist the skein and place it over the back of my kitchen chair. I really should get a yarn winder.
I sometimes use a swift, but I also sit in my chair and drop the skein over my knees and make a ball.
I wind my yarn with a swift and ball winder
I use a swift and ball winder, slowly, to feel the yarn through my fingers and hear the creaking song of the swift. If I wind by hand, the yarn is pulled too tight and, the cat likes balls better than cakes. Plus, I can stack cakes.
I hand-wind these days, only because I put my swift away so carefully. I like to handle the yarn but invariably I am eager to knit my swatch so I can to start my next Great Idea.
I’m a caker or a coner. I sometimes use an electric winder if my shoulders are hurting but it’s not my favorite. I sometimes knit straight from the mini skein draped over my light. I guess I’m just all over the place!
I hand wind
Umbrella swift and hand-cranked winder
I use a ball winder and swift, but you’ve inspired me to wind up a ball by hand.
I do rather like winding yarn – I usually drape the skein across my lap, and wind onto a nostepinne. Sometimes I make a flat cake, sometimes it’s a nice round ball. I just go with it…
I use a beautiful table swift from the Oregon Worker (mine is the mamabear basic) and a Royal yarn ball winder (classic, Japanese, basic). I got the winder years ago at a long gone local yarn shop, along with a metal swift that needed to be clamped to the table. I probably still have it somewhere. I asked for the wooden table swift some years ago, on my Christmas list. It was a gift from my mom, and I love it! However, if it’s just one skein, I will wind the ball by hand.
Umbrella swift, would like an Amish table top. Had to look up Squirrel! I usually wind a bus load at once! Talk about a long and winding road! One skein I am using is 1/4th mile long, and pattern uses 6 skeins.
I have my husband wind it!!
Good question and a much bigger variety of answers than I expected. I use a wooden swift and a plastic ball winder clamped to the dining room/multi-purpose table. Hate when it gets tangled, backed up or proves to be too big a cake for the ball winder. But I try to go slowly enough and I let it run through my fingers before it goes on to the winder. I love taking it off the tube to see it relax into a cake that’s not too tightly wound. Before I knew better I hand wound a couple balls of wool too tightly and know I over stretched them.
This reminded me that my dad told me he was the one to hold skeins over his hands for his mother to wind yarn.
I also love this Gleem Lace yarn and the Burnished color!
I like winding my yarn by hand; I find it to be relaxing and I agree that I get to know the yarn. Sometimes I back up a couple of chairs to each other and stand by the chairs winding it into a ball while at least one of my two cats tries to play with it. Other times I, sit down, put it around my knees, and wind away!
I hand wind sometimes, but I also use an electric winder, which is great. It’s made by Ashford, here in New Zealand, and I’m not sure where it’s sold overseas.
It was pricey, but I shared the expense with a friend who lives close by.
Hand wind, using the back of a chair, my thumb or my knees!
My swift and I are very good friends.. the ensuing cakes make me so happy
I use a wooden nostepinne, which my husband turns on a lathe. It sure beats using my thumb for a center pull ball.
By hand or by Nifty Swift, depending on my mood
For years, I wound by hand and I still occasionally do, but a ball winder and a swift are more often used now. I like the way the cakes look…..Just saying.
I wind with a swift and Royal ballwinder, which I hope will outlive me.
My mother taught me to wind yarn from a chair back, as she had been taught by her mother. A swift looks to me like trouble waiting to happen!
I use a swift and winder to cake the ball and use the yarn from the outside (not center pull). And then at some point, mid project, I take the cake and from the center pull, rewind it into a ball! I ‘think’ it gives me a sense of how much yarn is left, though I’m no pro in estimating yardage in a cake vs a ball.
About half my yarn doesn’t need winding. The skeins that do need to be wound I will do on my swift only when I start the project I’ll use them for.
I own a yarn swift and ball winder purely for my cat’s entertainment. He always watches the yarn coming off the swift to see if it will fly off and play with him. I got tired of trying to keep my loop of yarn from tangling and winding the yarn around my hand so I splurged on an inexpensive swift and winder.
I have this crazy ratty old plastic ball winder and swift. I know there are lovely wooden ones out there, but my thrifty side would rather spend the money on yarn than a new winder. I tell myself when this one breaks, I will get my dream set hand made in lovely wood. 😉
I used to have a kitchen chair with arms and they were the perfect size to drape a skein of yarn over. Then I’d wind. About 6 weeks ago I gave the table and chairs to my daughter and got a new set…no arms on the chairs. No idea what I will do in the future. Probably lots of untangling…
It seems I fit in well with all the hand winders! I also put the skein around my knees and wind. Another benefit, my fit bit actually counts steps if I move my arm enough!
By hand for mini skeins or if I’m feeling too lazy to get out my setup of a homemade Amish style swift and a knit picks ball winder for bigger quantities
I drape it around the back of a chair
I get my husband to hold the skein and I wind it by hand. Was interested in your comments about swifts, as I had wondered if I should get one. Now I’m not so sure…
Oooo, yarn winding! Of late, I’ve been a chair troll with yarn about my knees. Just seemed to be a good idea. Usually, the ball winder comes out. The swift and I have an agreement – very infrequent meetings. That said, when yarn is in a great loop, said loop is draped over the back of a handing dining chair and aforementioned ball winder comes into play.
Hand spun? That gets interesting as bobbins and the miffy swift AND the ball winder are then my friends.
After years of enviously watching people wind yarn with a swift and ballwinder, I lucked upon the wooden swift that someone had backed into and snapped off at the bottom at the tent sale at my LYS for $10.00. My husband had it glued up and ready to go the next day. I then found a ballwinder for $3.00 at an estate sale a couple weeks later. It’s hard to spend tons of money on equipment when you then don’t have enough money to buy the yarn.
I alternate how I wind yarn. I sometimes use a swift and ball winder and make cakes. But other times, like you said in the article, I just have to interact with my yarn ahead of knitting it and then I just hand wind it. Such a lovely experience.
Almost exclusively hand wound. A pet peeve is seeing cakes wound too tightly. Plus, if you count your steps on a fitness device, you may get extra step credit for hand winding.
Hand-winding all the way! I think it’s really fun and relaxing and especially satisfying to see a big pile of skeins become tidy cakes!
My hubby gave me a beautiful swift a few years back, and I happened upon a nice hand winder at my LYS. Those skeins of lace weight though, they’re killers!
I normally use a ball-winder and swift, but keep my hand on the yarn as well to help with knots and stopping/starting nicely. My husband made me a beautiful wooden case to carry those items together, and occasionally I’ll volunteer my equipment to my knitting guild.
If I’m too lazy to dig that out and set it up, I’ll wind by hand, but I really prefer the cakes made by the ballwinder.
Umbrella swift – ball winder gifted by friend…has worked for years and years…
I learned how to wind center pull out balls by hand and I actually get a lot of pleasure from doing it. I do use a swift for the twisted hand dyed skeins especially if there is any silk in the yarn. Silk snags onto itself like crazy and can lead to a tangled heap that takes a long time and lots of patience to untangle.
I totally agree with you on winding your own yarn! . I prefer to have my yarn live in skeins until they’re ready to be knit. I live Japanese style so, I don’t have chairs that are suited for ball winding (we sit on the floor). I’ve tried using my legs, knees and hubby’s arms but it just didn’t seem to be a feasible (nor realistic!) way for me to wind yarn. At the end of all things, I decided to invest in a Chicago wooden table swift (that sits on the floor) and if it’s 1 or 2 skeins, I hand wind it on my custom made nostipine from Turtle Made. If I have a large project (aka 5 skeins+), I finally broke down and splurged on a FIber Artist Supply Co. hand ball winder which is the most mechanical way I wind my skiens (and after winding 9 skeins straight, worth every penny I spent on it!). When I’m done with my project and if I have any leftover yarn, the yarn goes into a custom made knitty knoddy that my hubs made for me so it can go back to living as a skein again (you’d be amazed how much yarn can be packed into something when they’re in skein form! ). This was fun! Thanks for the opportunity!
I use an umbrella swift and plastic ball winder that are left permanently set up on a little table.
Amish Swift and ballwinder in this household, unless yarn is too delicate.
Hand wind. Much prefer a ball than cake (unless its chocolate cake of course!!)
For one or two skeins, I wind by hand with the hank draped over my knees, usually at home in front of the TV ( but when I commuted by train years ago I would get compliments from strangers whenever I wound balls of yarn as if it was magic to them). For lots of winding I use a wooden umbrella swift and ball winder.
I loop my yarn around the bottom of the legs of our kitchen bar stool. I tape the yarn to a wooden kaleidoscopic that is about as big around as a toilet paper roll and about a foot long. Then roll away!
In winding yarn my goal is always to wind it loosely. When wound tightly, the yarn looses that wonderful springiness that is so important to produce a nice knitted fabric.
Hence, My preference is to wind my yarn from the skein into a hand wound ball. In doing so, I hold the ball so that I wind the yarn over my fingers.
If I use a ball winder, I wind it a second time. In that way, I still end up with a loosely wound ball.
My husband holds his arms out!
I generally put the yarn around the back of a chair (or two) and wind by hand. I find it therapeutic! Also, DG, it was awesome meeting you in person this weekend!
I began by hand winding, and was fortunate enough to be gifted a swift, then bought my own winder.
Since I am a born and to the bone dog lover, alas, I don’t have a cat to pleasure with hand wound balls of yarn. And I’m usually in too much of a rush to begin a new WIP to add to my endless pile of WIPs. I’m a process knitter! What can I say?!!! ;-D AND I have two young grandsons who love to help wind balls of yarn with the winder. I am very blessed, all around!!!! 😀
I wind my fingering weight skeins with a swift and ball winder, how magic it is. I can’t believe I waited years before investing in this awesome tool! For 200 yds or less, I usually hand wind ….
I’m a swift + yarn winder person, but then I’ll often recake the yarn from the original cake so it’s not too tightly wound
I use my wooden swift and my husband is fascinated by the contraption.
I recently found a yarn winder at a used art supply store in my area! I am thrilled with it an will wind any errant skein I can find!
After years of self winding my yarn into balls, I received a swift & yarn winder for Christmas. So now I wind all my yarn into cakes!!
If it’s worsted weight, I don’t wind it. I open it up on my lap while knitting, then retwist the hank when I take a break. For finer weights, I hand wind while it’s on a swift.
I used to use my swift and ball winder most of the time to wind the yarn into cakes (or more usually, get it set up and my engineer husband or one of my kids would offer to wind it). Then the novelty wore off and it became a bother to haul out the swift and winder so I’d just wind a ball by hand (with the open skein draped over my knees or sometimes the swift) unless I had a bunch of skeins to wind. Now my winder has met its doom so I am faced with the “to replace or not to replace” decision. In the meantime I’ll just be over here, skein draped over my knees, happily winding a ball by hand.
I usually use a swift abs ball winder if I am at home. Sometimes I drape the skein over my knees and wind a ball.
I sit on the sofa, or couch depending on where you are and how much money you have, and put the skein around my knees. Why? Because I’m too lazy to get my swift out and this way I can stay sitting down.
Mini skeins, lace weight and bulky yarns are always wound by hand with the hank hanging on my knee. Fingering thru worsted weight might get wound with a plastic ball winder and wooden swift or by hand depending on how pressed for time I am at that moment.
Swift and winder for most things, although I will hand wind delicate stuff like mohair. I don’t have enough time for the actual knitting or crocheting I want yo do, so the thought of using that time to hand wind is not a tradeoff I’m willing to make
I use a swift and ball winder, you do make a good point about discovering flaws if you hand wind…hmmm!
I’m another hand winder and enjoyer of untangling yarn. Oh and I do have a life, I really do.
I generally love to wind my yarn by hand. . . I love the feel of it and I like being able to wind it also!! I have a small tabletop swift which holds the yarn and spins for me while I wind it into a center pull ball on my thumb. I have a nostepinne but I find it easier to use my thumb.
I NEVER wind!!! My yarn is draped a chair, a special wooden towel bar, a straw hat, sometimes my shoulders. I never wind, seriously.
Wind by hand into balls with yarn draped around wood drawer pulls on an antique dresser.
I wind my yarn by hand and consider it a meditative process, unless it’s one of those sheins that gets so tangled up it takes hours or maybe days to wind properly into a ball. If that is the case, then the meditative process is accompanied by the creme de la creme in curse words. ‘Nuf said.
It just depends on whether or not I feel like getting out the swift.
By hand!
I like to lay the yarn between my knees and use my favorite nostepinne
Always by hand, around a recycled cardboard tube from a roll of waxed paper, for a center pull ball. Learned it from YouTube years ago!
First I have to wait till my little 4 year old buddy comes over. He LOVES to turn the winder. He spins and spins as fast as his little hands will go. Lately he’s been demanding I teach him how to knit.
I prefer to have my yarn wound into cakes at my LYS . Sometimes , in semi-emergency mode. I do wind yarn, but have been known to tale the all to LYS to be made into cakes.
There used to be a group on Ravelry made up of knitters who loved untangling yarn messes. You could send your yarn to one of them and it would be returned to you wound…likely in a ball…
Knit picks ball winder and an Amish swift
Over a chair back, sometimes, or over my knees if I don’t want to move or if I’m in a moving car. I love to disentangle a good tangle, too!
I use a swift, often early in the morning after getting an idea or burst of startitis energy.
I have a swift and ball winder, but I run the yarn through my fingers on the way to the winder and find I catch 95% of the knots that way.
I carefully lay my lovely yarn on my footstool. I wind on my thumb like I found on you tube. Perfect center pull yarn muffin!
Always by hand. Two chairs back to back and my two hands unless it’s already a ball or skein. When winding multiple hanks I sometimes fantasize about equipment, but I do appreciate the meditative nature of the winding, and it does allow for an intimate knowing of the yarn – all of it! – even before swatching.
I have been using a swift and ball winder, and really liked using them! However, I’m now living away from home and had to leave them behind. So I’m planning to wind by hand from the back of a chair. Thanks for the encouragement!
I have a floor swift made from several different woods. A woman was selling it at a fiber festival for her exhusband that she didn’t like very much so the price was low! And I have a Stanwood ball winder. My family got tired of holding yarn.
Had never heard of a squirrel swift before; thought maybe it was the device I inherited from my mother, which was made for her by a neighbor back in the 1950s. But no, it is something else entirely (hers has crossbeams & pins that you stick in them (various holes to choose from, depending upon size of skein). But anyway I hardly ever use it – it is just easier to use the thumb method I learned from an Andrea Mowry video!
My fiance holds out his arms and I wind my yarn. It gives us a nice chance to chat and I explain to him why I need more yarn LOL!
I drop around the back of a kitchen chair and use a ball winder clamped to my kitchen table. I take the yarn off the back of the chair with my left hand by waving my arm around like a windmill with the yarn passing through my finger as in crank the ball winder with my right hand. Sometimes it works great and sometimes I get knots and have to figure it out!
I use the swift and ball winder because otherwise it just wouldn’t happen! I used to do by hand though, and I’d stretch out the hank around my feet. Ah, youth.
I use a beautiful wooden ball winder, most of the time. Super bulky yarn is wound by hand.
I use a swift and ball winder about 80% of the time, hand winding 20%. Cat Supervisors are always on hand for either method. They are real micro-managers, always getting their paws in the project no matter how many times I reassure them I am doing a good job on my own.
After reading this, I decided to hand wind a skein I’d just gotten from a yarn club. When it came I thought it was a bit meh but thought of friend I thought would love a hat from it. While winding it, I realized that it wouldn’t suit my friend at all but that it’s really a lovely yarn. (But I’m still not going to hand wind 450 yards of fingering weight)
Skein goes over the back of a barstool, yarn gets hand-wound into a ball.
And I pray the cats stay asleep the whole time.
As a spinner I used a ball winder to empty bobbins so I can ply the singles. It is so useful but rather unsightly when I am demonstrating spinning in the public. It is not fitting into the image that this is how spinning was done in the olden time. I tell people that my plastic ball winder would have been enthusiastically loved by spinners in the past if only they had chance to use one. But my winder was getting so cranky from years of use that I have replaced it this year with a lovely wooden one that is not compact but very quiet and winds a much bigger ball/cake. I do like using a swift to hold a skein but I do wind many ball of yarn for knitting by hand with the skein over my knees. It is a time to discover what the yarn is like. A swift is wonderful if the skein is in a bit of a mess or was poorly tied. It eases the effort to untangle a skein gone bad. Lastly there is the wonderful knitty noddy that is so useful for making a skein!
I am a total convert to the ball winder. I let it run through my fingers as it makes the cake so I can feel for knots.
I open up the skein, drape it around my neck, pick an end, unloop maybe 4 or 5 rounds, wind those around a piece of scrap paper rolled into a tube. The end is dangling from the tube. Unloop some more, one round at a time, wind those, and continue…forever. But I get a nice, loose, pull-from-the-center ball of yarn and as you say I have definitely learned something about the yarn in the process.
I have a winder and swift which I use most often, but occasionally I wind balls by hand if the winder and swift won’t work for the yarn I’m winding.
I use a nostepinne to wind by hand. I drape the yarn across the back of two chairs. While looking up nostepinne, I found a video of how to use it. I will have to try the “correct” way next time. Nostepinne purchased from Kiparoo Farm. Annie’s son made it.
I have a lampshade that is smaller at the top and wider at the bottom. A hank of yarn fits on it perfectly. I loosen the screw holding the lampshade, and it turns as I wind the yarn by hand. I read about this trick from another knitter—it’s not my invention! I’ll use a chair if I’m not at home, and my husband is happy to help with his arms if he’s around, but the lampshade is my favourite method. I love hand winding yarn.
I wind my yarn by hand.
Swift + plastic winder.
I was always a “by hand off the back of a chair” person. Then I suddenly, somehow, started ending up with massive tangles. So I had to invest in a swift. This has made everything easier. And I have not had any real surprises in my yarn when knitting.
Someone mentioned enjoying the untangling process. I once worked as a volunteer in a museum gift shop. One of the other volunteers seriously enjoyed untangling necklaces. We saved them for her…and if anything tangles more than yarn, it’s necklace chains. Sometimes, when I am deep into untangling, I think I might just be on the edge of understanding string theory…
Back of dining room chair has replaced husband’s arms
After my swift finally died after many (MANY) years of service (it was bought from a yarn store that was closing) I treated my self to a beautiful cherry wood swift on a stand – it’s absolutely lovely!! Of course, the ball winder is still the white and blue plastic that has a permanent place of honor on my desk (or am I just too lazy to take and it down and put it back up??) but who knows maybe one day I’ll get a matching ball winder. I think it’s Straub.
Wooden swift and yarn winder. Not sure if I have the patience to wind by hand!
I worked in a yarn factory during my high school and college days and I worked in the yarn finishing department. Knitters dream right! Well my love for all things squishy and colourful didn’t happen until my twenties. Some things you just never forget and the knot that you are taught on the first day is one of them, however when it comes to knitting I follow the golden rule there is no knots in knitting. I have a swift and ball winder to use now, which works wonderfully for sock yarn up to a DK weight but I agree you miss the mess when you spin around and around. I have also tried two chairs and a hand drill as my fiancé is a mechanic so this was his idea. I don’t mind hand winding the only problem is my 2 year old fur baby loves all things yarn too but he makes a terrible mess of my favourite things! So it’s a ball winder and swift and treats to distract the fur child for this lady! Happy knitting!
I ask my LYS first and if that’s not an option I wind on my chaise or at work at the Y.
A wooden swift and a nostepinne are my favorite tools for winding yarn. I never could bear the thought of one of those plastic cake winders. Recently, faced with a few projects with lots of winding, I bought a wooden hand crank ball winder – affordable as I hadn’t been anywhere in months and months and had some extra $$. It’s nifty, but I still use the nostepinne sometimes for the dull rhythm of it, or when a skein is really tangly and messy.
By hand.
I mainly use a swift and ball winder, unless the skein is tangled, then I hand wind. My mom always hand wound her yarn, usually she had my dad hold the yarn in his spread out arms or her knees to wind yarn.
I use my swift and hand operated ball winder most of the time. Sometimes I wind by hand. I have also been known to use a nostepenne!
One of my earliest fiber memories is of holding my mother’s yarn on my arms while she would it by hand into a ball. I love hand wound balls and I admire the discipline of doing it, but I like to save the extra time for knitting. So I use an Amish swift and a Stanwood ball winder.
For most of my knitting life I’ve hand wound. My husband could see far too much yarn-holding in his future so he drilled holes in a long board, found two pieces of dowling and that has held yarn ever since. A wrapping paper roll (similar to a toilet roll but with heavier cardboard and quite a bit longer) functioned as a nostepinne for many years. Then I was recently gifted several beautiful skeins of lace weight yarn. Time for a ball winder! I tried to repurpose my skein winder by making a base out of Tinker Toy to turn it into a sort of swift, but alas, it failed. I see a swift in my near future to go with the ball winder but until then I may have to hand wind a few cakes on my cardboard nostepinne.
I wind my yarn into a ball. I have RA and this exercise keeps my upper body working so I can enjoy my favorite exercise knitting.
I like winding yarn… i mostly use a swift . If i have smaller skeins i just do it by hand …
I buy yarn that is already wound (like felted tweed and opal sock) but i don’t seek it out because it saves me from the task of winding. It makes it easier to start a project.
I wind yarn with a spinner. Also back of a chair the way my grandma showed me.
I use a wooden umbrella swift, but sometimes just my hands, and my husband loves using the ball winder! he is always excited when I get new yarn that needs to be wound!
En masse, always with a ball winder and swift
I confess to feeling a bit guilty admitting that I love yarn wound on a swift! It’s so tidy and perfect looking, far prettier than my hand-wound efforts which involve only my two hands — no knees or chairs (I will have to do an Internet search on how to do that). Alas, my hand-winding has (at best) resulted in slightly misshapen, somewhat tightly-wound balls that don’t look very appealing to knit with, or (at worst) the occasional tangled mess. After reading this article though I see the reason for hand-winding; it’s more about the journey (discoveries about the yarn along the way and all that) than the destination — something I hadn’t considered before in my haste to start projects. Thank you DG at MDK — you have persuaded me to give hand winding another try!
I hand wind (sometimes using a nostepine) into a cake or ball depending on my mood.
I use a swift and ball winder. I run the yarn through my hand to gauge the tension and it works well. I enjoy the process. Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I wind yarn. It’s relaxing, even a little hypnotic. And the anticipation of beautiful yarn being prepped for knitting is enticing!
The only way I wind yarn is by hand!
Sometimes I use my swift and ball winder, and others I use backs of my dining room chairs to hand-wind. All good!!!
Yarn swift and hand crank gizmo
I hand wind with swift or hubby’s hands!
I wind my yarn on a swift …. But sometimes watching TV I do it by hand with the yarn over the back of a chair.
I use a ball winder and swift most of the time. I will however spend as long as necessary untangling yarn and winding it by hand.
It depends…isn’t that the right (or wrong) answer…by hand sometimes…with an umbrella swift and winder (that is temperamental…) other times…
By hand! Chairbacks, arms of patient children, heck, I’ve even been known to just drape the open skein over one arm and wind away! (Not as tangley as you’d imagine!)
I wind my yarn with a swift my Dad made for me–it spins sooooo smoothly, it’s a joy to use.
In the 1960’s at a parochial school far, far, away the nun’s had us wind yarn for them—by hand, of course. (Girls only.) Not sure what part of the curriculum that fit in to, but, I remember enjoying it immensely. The beginning of my life-long love affair with yarn? Perhaps.
Very carefully
on my Knit Picks yarn swift, not always with great success, but patience pays off.
I have a winding station set up with a heavy duty ball winder and swift. (I saw the idea on a blog years ago.) Right now it lives in my living room. it’s amusing to watch people wonder what it is, and most are too polite to ask.
I hand wind more than not. Not only do I find it therapeutic in a zen way, I also, agree that I don’t worry once I start a project.
I hand wind from a hank draped over the closest piece of furniture.
Sometimes I wind it on a swift and ball winder, sometimes I just do it myself! It just depends on how fast I need that yarn! 😉
I have a kind and generous spouse who after fixing all my mistakes when I tried to wind yarn, finally said, just let me do it.
I have a swift (purchased long ago), a ball winder (also purchased long ago), and primarily use that but in a pinch will also use the back of a chair if the hank is too long/short for the swift.
For newer knitters, I would prioritize the ball winder over the swift as once you make that first deliciously neat winded hank of yarn you’ll never want to go back to round balls of yarn ever again.
I’m an umbrella swift and ball winder knitter. Although if I have a small amount of yarn, say the end of a skein, I will wind that by hand. Just yesterday, I taught a friend how to use the ball winder!
I wind yarn into a ball, with the yarn draped over my knees, unless it is very fine and will be used in my weaving. Then I use one of my swifts to keep control. I once had to place a heavy, large skein on the floor with buffers in the center to keep it in place because it was way too big for my wooden swift. (How did they make it so big, and why???)
But, really I hand wind to prevent stress on the yarn. So many yarn shops wind center pull balls way too tight!
I used to work at my LYS, so I’m comfortable winding with a swift and ball winder. I have to ask: How do you hand winders do it successfully? My few attemps at hand winding look like what you get when you ask a kindergartener to wind yarn into a ball.
I once wound several skeins in an airport waiting for flights. Lots of strange looks but it started some really great conversations. Great way to pass the time.
I wind by hand – but partly because I mostly knit with “mass market” skein yarn (almost all my knitting is charity knitting) which I just stick in my knitting bag and pull from. That said – I LOVE the meditative nature of winding, and I also love to work through a tangle (yep – I’m THAT sort of special nerd).
I wind on the back of a very precious dining room chair that belonged to my godmother, who was my mother’s sister. Thus, there are fond family memories each time I wind my yarn.
I grew up as a human swift and pride myself on my expertise in this. Knowing how and when to tilt my hands to facilitate the winder. Now as an adult I do not have my own human swift, so I use a mechanical one. Sometimes I use a ball winder but I prefer to hand wind. Relaxing, meditative. I make a lovely flat bottomed center pull ball. Apple shaped if you prefer.
I use a swift and crank winder when at home, and when on the road I look for a hotel lampshade to hold and spin the yard while I hand wind.
I hand wind, mostly from a chair back, but occasionally from my own knees. Like you all, I like getting to know the yarn this way.
I use Wooden umbrella swift and a plastic ball winder. I just got the wooden umbrella swift a year ago and really love it. I use to use the back of my dinning room chair and sometimes it would get all tangled up. And I have 2 dogs that shed and would get dog hair in my yarn. Boy I really hated that. So no I do not do hand winding.
I either hand wind or borrow a swift and ball winder from a friend.
I wind by hand, leaving a tail out because I like to pull from the center. If I could find the tail in a skein of yarn, I probably would not wind my skein. Before I start my project, I put my yarn ball in a large plastic “jar” with a hole drilled in the lid. This keeps my yarn from rolling around.
My yarn is sometimes wound by hand and sometimes using a swift and ball winder. Depends on the mood and access to tools at the time. Sometimes I just don’t feel like walking down the stairs (so lazy).
I enjoy winding my yarn with a jumbo cake maker and a handmade swift. I keep my fingers on the yarn as it winds and always wind it twice, as the first cake is usually tight. During this process I can find any knots and become familiar with the yarn. I enjoy the monotony of cranking the cake maker.
I wind my yarn with a yarn swift and hand winder. Winding yarn is therapeutic and calming to me. The rhythm of winding soothes my thoughts. Two of my grandsons, Conley and Callen, always ask me if I have any yarn they can wind for me and they take turns making sure that neither one gets cheated out of winding their fare share! I don’t wind the yarn until I have a specific project for it (I love to touch it, smell it, and look at it in different light while it’s still in its original skein). And I usually wind for my next project when I’m about 1/2 way through my current project. Then I can sit back, finish up my current project and listen to my next project quietly calling my name!
I usually wind my yarn with a swift and ball winder, unless the yarn isn’t suitable for a ball wide (too fragile). I’ve used a nostepinne but its too slow.
My yarn winding depends on how much I have to do, the type of yarn and the mood I am in. Lade and sock weight would be on an umbrella swift with a ball winder. Heavier weight yarn might be on the back of a chair or me sitting on the floor with my legs stretched in front of me with skein looped around my feet.
I have a beautiful ebony swift but I’ve been known to wind yarn in a cake using just my thumb as the armature.
i wind most of my yarn by hand….my hands are always with me, my swift is not!!!
I have a metal adjustable swift and a “New Ball Winder” that I bought 25 or 30 years ago!
I wind yarn by swift. Back in the days when I had a smallish child, I would get him to wind it. He just loved turning that handle and totally understood about keeping a gentle tension.. Now he is a bearded, coffee drinking man so I wind my own yarn.
I have an umbrella swift and winder but rarely use it.
I always hand wind over a chair back – I like to get to know my yarn, spend time with it and I enjoy it. I also remember happy times with my Mom, holding yarn for her though now it makes me wonder if I need Tommy John too.
I pull apart my kitchen table and hook up my wooden swift and wooden winder in the space where the leaf would go! (That way I avoid running into the border under the tabletop.) I enjoy the rhythmic motion of winding the yarn as well as the tidy, stackable cakes!!!
When I first started knitting I was told not to wind my yarn until I was ready to begin the project. Wound in a tight ball yarn can stretch.
I don’t mind winding. I stretch the yarn between two dining room chairs and dream of what it will become. Also I live in a very small house with absolutely no room to store my own swift!
I mostly wind with a swift and yarn winder, but when I’m not in my craft room, I use the winding a cake around my thumb for small bits and when I’m not near my craft room.
My mother would sit me or one of my sisters in front of her with our arms extended, place a skein of yarn around them, and wind up a big ball. Then came the gyrating contraption. Now I just sit on my bed, with a good tv show on, and a skein around my knees. Sooooo very soothing.
A giant wad of tangled cashmere blend I brought held my mother-in-law together while we sat with him in hospice.
When I moved into an ancient farmhouse and got moths, I also got a winder and a swift. They are fun. It makes the moth damage check and… everything feel more professional and fun? So that I don’t just burn the whole house down?
Thing is, there are too many wool rugs and too many, uh…it’s graphic, the stuff I’ve found in the books and crannies of this place. I don’t think there’s actually a way to entirely eradicate them from the property.
So yeah, hand-cranked winder. Vroom vroom vroom. Love it.
I own a yarn winder and swift and seldom use them. When I do, it’s mostly for inexpensive acrylic yarn that has gotten too loose from being pulled from the center of the skein. I use acrylic yarn for charity projects that won’t accept wool or wool blends.
With that said, I love to hand wind my yarn because 1) it lets me become acquainted with this yarn, inch by inch, so to speak and 2) I think yarn winders and swifts stretch the yarn too much. Of course, this doesn’t apply to cotton, but most of the cotton I purchase is not in hank form.
I like to lay the yarn across my knees and when it gets towards the end I drape it around my arm for the last few yards because it sometimes wants to tangle at that point.
I often wind in a ball, or sometimes use the cardboard tube zigzag technique to create a center pull “bundle”
I use a swift and ball winder and slowly wind the yarn into a loosely-gooey cake. My husband used to do it for me by hand but, alas,he is no longer around to do that.
When I started knitting again, I wound my yarn by hand. Then, after many years, I was gifted a swift and ball winder – what fun to make yarn cakes! Now, after reading about twist in the yarn (here, on MDK!), and how winding and subsequent knitting affects twist, I am draping the yarn on my knees and hand winding again.
Aaah….I use a swift (or chairback) and wind yarn into balls. I’ve never liked those compact little cakes a winder makes. I like my yarn to roll freely in the bag/my lap/yarn bowl.
I swing both ways – hand wound balls and tool wound cakes. I do use my fingers as a tension device when winding from swift to ball winder – slices a nice little groove in my flesh and I still get to know my yarn intimately!
I use an Amish swift to hold the yarn while I lovingly wind it around my thumb so it pulls from the center; a trick my aunt taught me a lot of years ago. I like the “getting to know” the yarn as you call it. Sometimes, I even change my mind about what the yarn will become. I let it talk to me!
I typically use my swift made by the vendor that winds your yarn at Stitches, but I have been known to use my two hands and the back of a chair on more than one occasion.
I do not allow anyone else to wind my yarn. Have several skein winding devices. It is how I first get to know a new yarn. Enjoy .
I always use a swift to wind my skeins…without it I’m tempted to knit direct from the skein, and that has been a poor decision a few times. I do adore the Rowan felted tweed balls…I’m currently 3/4 of the way thru the striped shawl (blanket to me) which I LOVE and continue to enjoy knitting, and I’m grateful I did not have to wind all that yarn!
For me, it depends on the yarn itself as well as the quantity of yarn to be wound. Fourteen skeins of fingering weight yarn for a blanket? That’s worth getting out my swift and winder. Worsted weight yarn to be knit into mittens two at a time, I’ll happy do that by hand.
I spent the better part of my childhood holding up my arms with my mothers yarn draped over while she wound the yarn. Now I have a gorgeous Amish swift and a first class yarn winder and I so wish my mother were here to appreciate them as much as I do.
I use a swift and a fabulous ball winder from Fiber Artist Supply Co.
I use an ancient wooden swift that I bought in the ’60’s from the Yarn Barn in Pasadena. I just had to rebuild it so I guess I’m attached to it. Wore out a few plastic ball winders along the way. Newer one is pretty durable and winds a huge ball. If I’m without these tools away from my studio I’ll do a ball by hand. But I love pulling from the center on a lovely wound cake!
I use a wooden swift and ball winder and crank slowly to catch flaws and keep it from being too tight.
I do use my swift, which is permanently set up on my cutting table in the sewing room. (Yes, I am a quilter, also. So much fabric, so much yarn!) I just bought a new ball winder that I love, a Stanwood.
I splurged and got an electric winder from Fiber Artist Supply. It is life changing!
Swift, ball winder, and I run the yarn through the fingers of my left hand while I crank with the right hand. The better to control tension and find errant knots!
gotta say I like the swift/winder combo for speed (and those cakes don’t have nearly the same propensity for rolling down to the front of the theater… under each row of seats…) but I do like the meditativeness of hand rolling and will happily hand roll when on travel!
I often use my swift and ball winder. However, when it comes to mohair or alpaca lace it’s definitely hand wind only!
On a swift or my best friend’s arms.
I use a swift and winder–I really love knitting from cakes because they stay pretty still while I pull the yarn.
I love my wooden Stanmore swift.
You had me at Dickensian. Perhaps it is closest to, “Barkis is willing” kind of situation — is one of my sons within calling range (largest wingspan),. Second tier: husband, who often when the call is heard manages to vanish into the ether. finally – the plastic/plastic wood combination contraptions to wind the yarn in a throwback move. Your entry made me laugh out loud! thanks
I use my own swifter that I got at Stitches West many years ago – a beautiful handmade piece that I love and will use the rest of my life…… but only if the Yarn shop is too busy to wind it!!
I open the skein over my knees and wind by hand. Slow down if it starts to tangle and untangle it right away. From hard earned experience:)
A Schoolhouse Press swift and (recently acquired) a ball winder. The swift has been a big help with sore and aching wrists. The ball winder has also proved its worth.
After reading the article I am embarrassed to say that I usually get my local yarn shop to wind my yarn for me. You have inspired me to try winding it myself.
I’m a hand winder – my feet, my knees or, if I’m really lucky my partner’s hands – but I’m not that lucky very often…..
hand wound w/skein usually draped around my feet!
I ask my husband to hold it and I wind it… I do also enjoy my local yarn store winding it when I make a purchase. I’ve tried the back of a chair or around my neck… mostly unsuccessfully
Winding balls is the happy first step in starting! How here? Creaky wooden umbrella swift (from a dear friend– it had been her weaving mother’s), plus ball winder (gift from hubby– who we lovingly referred to as the “Not So Swift” when we slowly hand wound balls before the arrival of the winder). Using these gifts is a joy and makes me feel connected.
I use a swift and ball winder, but I let the yarn coming off the swift run over my finger, so that I can feel for knots and control tension and speed. If it starts to hurt my finger, I’m going too fast. I usually end up with a loosely wound ball from my swift and if I don’t I thrown the skein in a jar and wind again. I just got a lazy Kate, so I’ll try that next time this happens instead of the jar.
Clumsily…
I have a table top swift and a hand-crank ball winder. I knit from the center of the ball and as it gets lighter it begins to collapse on itself. Then I rewind what’s left by hand, using my thumb as the center “cone”.
I do both, winding by hand and using a ball winder, depending on my mood and my husband’s attitude. He controls the ball winder’s speed so we don’t end up with a mess which has happened more than once.
I have a winder, but not a swift, so I partially hand wind my skeins.
I love my Fiber Artist Supply winder and swift of unknown origin. I’ve learned that speed winding keeps me from experiencing the yarn as you describe about hand winding, so I use a Just Fast Enough to Prevent Mayhem speed.
I use my knees and I don’t know why I continue to torture myself with my method, but I do.
By hand!,
Use my nostepinne or if I have a lot of yarn to wind use a swift and ball winder that I finally got after 50+ years of knitting
I use a yarn swift. Prior to that, I used an upside down stool and wound it around an empty toilet paper roll. Either way, my cats are facinated and try to “help”.
I wind my yarn by hand.
I use a Ball Winder and Swift unless my skein is a tangled mess. I do what ever I need to. I just want to get to the fun part. Knitting!
I used to use my knees & toes to hand wind, then i got a ball-winder & used a chair back. Then i got a swift to use with the ball-winder & all is right with the world!
I have ballwinders and swifts in both my primary and vacation homes that I use regularly, never worrying about the tension on the yarn. I accept most offers to wind the yarn in yarn shops unless I’m not sure I’ll use the yarn.
I wind both by hand and by winder! Depends on my mood 🙂
Depends on the yarn. Sometimes it’s just begging to be wound on my thumb. But even using a swift & ball winder, I never go very quickly so I don’t end up with the yarn too tightly wound. I hate that.
I used to wind by hand until….(insert dramatic sci-fi “the end is coming” theme of choice)….I tried to wind a skein of lace weight (practically cobweb) bamboo yarn. I blithely placed my skein around a handy pillow and began winding. Alas, I had messed up something terribly and it quickly became a tangled mess and went down hill like a freight train with no brakes. NEVER AGAIN….I promised myself. It took much ignoring, some creative cussing and MONTHS of evenings for me to painstakingly untangle and wind up that yarn. The fact that it was beautiful yarn was it’s saving grace. (It now lives on as a gossamer lace shawl.) I kept my promise to myself and bought a good quality winder and trusty wood swift. I have NEVER looked back.
I wind my yarn by asking my hubby! He just wound 4 skeins for me this morning. He researched and bought a no name swift and has located just the right table to put them on for a good gripe! It doesn’t take him long and I have to stay out of the way because don;’t you know I “always mess it up”! If i have two wind yarn and he is not around, i use a chair back for my support. Takes so much longer.
I wind my yarn by putting the loops around my knees and winding it around my thumb until the ball is big enough to hold in my hands.
I enjoy doing it myself, as I find it soothing.
I use a swift and ball winder but have to wind stealthily so that the cats don’t come to help. I have had partly wound balls fly off the winder though it’s usually because I’m going too fast or the skein is too big. Impatience gets me every time.
I usually use my umbrella swift and winder. But sometimes I make a ball (often after a cat-related disaster or a major disagreement with my project ).
I generally wind by placing my yarn around my knees, and winding while sitting on my bed. I have gotten rather good at this; and there’s very little tangling that occurs.
Whatever is at hand sometimes by hand sometimes by swift and ball winder. Winding by hand is contemplative (what’s the rush anyway?) To avoid stretching the yarn, I was taught to cup the tips of my fingers over the ball while winding.
My husband for many years was my yarn holder so I could hand wind my yarn. I recently bought a Swift and ball winder and it’s magical! My husband loves to watch the Swift do it’s magic and I am exploring more colors in a project since I know how efficiently my yarn will be ready for me.
I use my husband’s hands, my kids, my knees, the back of my dining room chairs, a wooden swift I made from 1×2 strapping and a deck post, aaaannnndddd a metal swift and ball winder…it really just depends on where I am and what kind of yarn I’m winding up. I went on vacation once and did some winding in the bus as we drove between towns. I hung the skein around the fold-down plastic tray and had a great time making a ball of beautiful Irish Donegal wool.
I have a swift and ball winder. It does the job? More importantly, my younger sister finally got her own swift and ball winder so she can wind her own yarn instead of having it shipped to my house and persuading me to do it.
I bought a hand-turned nostepin several years ago. I love the torpedo-shaped ball it/I creates!
I always wind my yarn with the help of a dining room chair
I loop my skein over the back of a chair, wind carefully, and still end up with tangles!
Ah, when I have a skein of new yarn and it’s decided what it wants to be the fun begins. I just can’t wait to wind and feel the yarn, I put it around my knees and start a zen like process just me and my wool, wind a few times, rotate the ball and repeat the process…..
A little teaser until I can get my needles out for some more fun!
I look forward to your weekly column, thanks!
I have the classic plastic and metal umbrella swift and two different ball winders, all of which are in regular use!
I wind mine by hand, too—I thought I was a freak for doing it, but it’s the first chance to really get to know the yarn.
I have my umbrella swift and yarnwinder always set up….I love the way they look and I really love the delight in onlookers’ eyes when they see the “ball” the winder forms. And those balls fit PERFECTLY in my yarn bowl when I’m knitting!
I use an umbrella swift and ball winder. I used to use an Amish swift, but a lot of skeins were too big for it.
By hand usually over my knees or a chair back. It’s a nice break from knitting.
I drape it over my knees and wind by hand.
I use a ball winder and swift. In desperate times I will hand wind, but I prefer to get right to knitting!
I hang it over the back of a chair and wind by hand. I haven’t invested in a swift and I’m not really tempted to. Partly because I actually quite like the old fashioned feel of it (I wonder if I either saw my grandmother do it or maybe helped her by holding my arms up?) and partly for the very reason you talk about – I get to encounter problem bits of yarn with the chance to do something about it rather than have a surprise sprung on me when I’m doing the knitting. I really don’t like that kind of a surprise!
I use a wooden umbrella swift and a plastic winder. It was a Black Friday purchase several years ago. The cheap plastic winder has lasted a lot longer than I expected it to.
When there is a good show on TV, I put the skein around the back of my dining room captain’s chair – the perfect diameter – and enjoy both the show and winding the yarn.
I ask someone else to do it ☺️
I used to use the back of a chair, a door handle, or the arms of a small child, but now I usually use my own knees! I raise my knees to make a sort of peak, and put the skein around that : )
I use a swift and ball winder.
I have a swift and a ball winder. Which sounds easy. But throw a super nosey cat and two very helpful littles into the mix…it’s a test of patience.
I use my swift
I hand wind using two chairs to hold the hank.
How do I wind my yarn? A better question is how don’t I! I have three ball winders (including my newest, a lovely wooden one), two different types of swift, and a nostepinde. However, the last time I needed to wind balls, I did them by hand while a friend held each skein of hand dyed laceweight mohair (we were in Covid Zero then).
In Australia, commercial yarn is usually already in a ball; it’s the handdyed and imported yarn that may come in a skein. Oh, and yarn produced on one of my seven spinning wheels…
I REALLY enjoy using my swift and winder, and love the tidy little cakes of beautiful yarn they make!
I put my yarn hank on a skein winder and wind it on a nostepinne.
I use a rickety umbrella swift and a Royal bag winder. In my fantasies I have one of those big solid wooden winders, though!
Depends on my mood, number of skeins and availability of my husband. I have an umbrella swift and a crank winder from my mother. It is pink plastic and was made in Japan back when that was not a high selling point. My husband attached both of them to a flat board so I don’t have to attach them to a table and I use that when I have lots to wind. When I need to relax, I use my propped up knees to hold the skein and I hand wind. If the husband is available he holds the skein and expertly drops one thumb and then the other as I hand wind and we talk.
I use a swift and ball winder. I try to do it slowly, sometimes doing it twice, to make sure I don’t create a ‘tight’ cake with tension on the yarn.
I woke by hand, in front of the TV. Totally agree that it’s a way to get to know the yarn before knitting with it. I’ve always been too cheap to buy a swift, and honestly I don’t think I’m coordinated enough to use to.
Wind! I wind by hand in front of the TV. It most be too early for me to catch autocorrect problems!
By hand
If I’m knitting a large piece I use my wooden umbrella swift and ball winder. I do go as slowly as possible so it doesn’t get tangled underneath the winder. If I just need 1 or 2 balls of yarn I hang it over the back of a chair & wind by hand.
I love the feel of yarn running through my fingers and turning into a ball that promises to become a well-loved knitted item.
My process starts with a cherished wooden umbrella swift that was unearthed by my adventurous cousin from a roadside second-hand shop in Sweden. I was lucky to take it off her hands for a mere ten bucks. (She had two. Evidently they’re a dime a dozen in Sweden.)
The yarn is then hand-wound onto a shiny copper tube that’s a pleasure to hold and so easy to swoop off a completed center-pull ball of any size.
I bought a crappy metal swift that I’ve finally figured out how to make it work on my ironing board…..
I wind from a swift and a ball winder if I’m doing a lot of yarn. If I’m doing a single skein, I’ll loop it around my arms and do a ball.
I long ago abandoned the idea of purchasing a swift because winding yarn with my husband holding the skein is truly an ongoing bonding experience. He held it for his mother as I did as a child for mine. Much more satisfying to have another human hold the yarn to wind with love.
I wind my yarn stretched over my knees. I just got an Amish swift to see if that spares my creaky older knees.
My husband turned me a wooden nostepinne, which I use on particularly delicate yarns. Otherwise, I’m all about the swift and ball winder, because if I don’t get it wound fast enough, the cats will come to help me!
With a nostepinne! My son carved me one when he was 15-
I’ve used the same swift and ball winder for decades. My grandchildren love it as much as my kids did.
I use my swift and ball winder I put them on two snack tables and wid away
I hand wind my yarn just using my knees….I can do this almost anywhere, even on a road trip ( as long as I’m not the driver)!
By hand always! That’s how we did it back in the 70’s. Most of my friends are newer to knitting and are used to the yarn shop winding the yarn for them. I agree it is part of the process of knitting a project. I used to do it with someone else holding the yarn, but now I have a chair that is perfect for holding the skein while I wind it.
I put on a good movie and use my knees, usually making lots of snarls along the way.
Hi there! I was given a swift for my birthday a year and a half ago and I love it. I grew up winding yarn around my knees into a ball which meant I had to stay there the entire time until the ball was completed. During the child rearing years, that meant waiting until everyone else was in bed or before anybody woke up. Now, I use the swift instead of my knees but I still wind it into a ball, not a cake. If I have to stop for a minute I can put the ball down and the swift keeps my yarn ready to go.
I have an electric ball winder I purchased from a friend who was moving. As I have had two shoulder replacements, it is a God send and makes winding so easy
Set the trap: bake something. Invite Daughter over for dinner. When she arrives, show her my pretty new yarn . Offer her alcohol. When she reaches for glass, begin winding yarn around her outstretched arms.
I am borrowing this one.
My husband made me a wood oak swifter with adjustable arms and I use a Boyle electric winder I received as a gift years ago. Both are great and I usually turn down winding services in yarn shops! Thanks
A few years into knitting, I bought a winder and swift from knitpicks. I have never heard of a squirrel swift!
So new to knitting that I’ve only had to rewind knitting that I’ve pulled apart. Successfully wound it over the tube from a roll of paper towels. It worked.
For years it has layer over my knees and get to feel it as I ball it. Recently started caking it with Amish swift.
My husband made me a swift out of oak, it’s a work of art and I use it often whether I hand wind (usually) or use the horrible hand cramping plastic winder. No prejudice in that comment right? Lol
I wind yarn with a ball winder and a swift,keeping an eye on the yarn for possible problems.
I am completely gadgetless. Must use just my two hands. I need to buy some new knitting tools.
I drape it over my knees and either wind into a ball or use a Nostepenne.
With a ball winder and umbrella swift that my husband knows how to use.
Stanwood Amish style swift. I love it.
I often wind my yarn using my husband’s arms and something sporty on TV to keep him happy.
I use a swift and ball winder, but feeding the yarn through my left hand as it leaves the swift lets me feel any knots in the skein. And winding slowly helps the yarn stay nice and relaxed in the cake.
I use a KnitPicks ball winder and woooden swift.
I use an Amish style table top swift and a winder. Sometimes I rewind as the cake can be tight.
I hand wind most of the time and sometimes thumb wind for a center pull ball.
It depends on the quantity of yarn I am winding. Small amounts I use a nostepine (I actually began by using the handle of a wooden spoon). Larger hanks I use a peg swift and ball winder.
I wind my yarn using an umbrella swift and a wooden winder. Me previous method involved the backs of chairs, but a couple of skeins provoked tears and too much foul language.
I use a wooden umbrella swift and a plastic ball winder, works great.
Swift set
Wooden umbrella swift and plastic ball winder that I’ve had for years. I like the winder because the cone is removeable in case the yarn is tangled in the swift. I untangle the yarn, reinsert the cone back into the winder, and continue merrily along.
When I can’t have the yarn shop do it, I sit on my Lounge chair with my feet on the ottoman and wrap the skein around my feet. Then I start winding it into a ball, watching TV of course, since I can’t knit and wind at the same time
I also wind by hand with the yarn held around my forearms. With sock yarn or lace I sometimes spread it over several sessions, but I find it soothing.
A swift and a ball winder + 3 mesmerized cats: Monster, Boo, and Olivia.
I thank Andrea Mowry for showing me, via a video, how to wind yarn cakes around my thumb. Winding the yarn myself,without any extra tools, gives me a chance to get to know the yarn i will be using for a project. I find it a pleasurable extension of the knitting process.
Trust me, the cat loves assisting my swift and ball-winder. Squirrel swift, though? I’m picturing a team of squirrels holding the yarn in their little furry paws and running briskly in circles to keep up with the ball-winder. The cat would love THAT even more.
I use a table top swiff to wind my yarn.
I use a tabletop swift that stays put, instead of one where the clamp loosens while winding, resulting in swift, yarn and cats in a tangle on the dining room floor. And I use an ancient ball winder, 35 years old and still doing a great job.
I’ve been using a trusty Swedish umbrella swift for decades. The other day, during a marathon winding session, one of her pieces snapped. Noooooooo!
I wind my yarn by hand drapping it over my knees or the back of my heirloom rocking chair.
Depending on the fiber that I’m knitting with I mostly use a wooden swift and heavy duty plastic ball winder. If I’m knitting with dk weight or heavier I usually hand wind. I’ve had some crazy untangling parties with trying to hand wind lace weight for a very large shawl. And my cats really think they are being so helpful.
When I hand wind the yarn is around my knees while sitting pretzel-like. The prayer goes up that I’m able to finish winding before my legs fall asleep or my cats realize I’m doing something.
I used to wind by hand and bought a wooden swift and ball winder recently when I un-knit an entire huge sweater and wanted to recondition the yarn…I needed the swift to put it into skeins so I could soak it, and got the ball winder as part of the bargain. So far, I love using them.
I use an umbrella swift and ball winder. Speed is important so I can get on the leisure knitting part.
I drape the yarn over my own arms, and roll into a ball, making sure yarn feeds itself on the right, I give it a little help on the left by swinging my arms – I am a lefty.
I may have to try Catherine’s husband bribing method, loved the idea 🙂
I use a swift and winder, but work very slowly, pulling the yarn off the swift with my left hand and feeding it into the wider. I look for flaws in the yarn and make sure the cake is not tight.
I hand wind certain yarns, but love my ball winders for others. A swift is essential to hold the skein as I wind it and has the added benefit of providing entertainment. My cats love to approach a spinning swift, only to run away when the last yarn leaves the swift and it gives a loudish “clap,”
Before I purchased a swifter and winder, I would use the back of 2 chairs and ball by hand. I still use the chair backs for a yank rather than setting up the swifter and winder. I’ve knitted with some slippy fibers which collapse and get tangled even after winding. To minimize the mess, I place the ball in a small ziplock type bag which keeps the ball contained.
I don’t have a swift or ball winder.
Mostly use a chair or my feet to hold the yarn and wind the ball by hand.
Sometimes wind over a cardboard tube to make center pull balls.
Over the back of a chair, all the time.
I always use a plastic/metal swift and my wood ball/cake winder to get ready to knit. I have had too many fights with tangled yarn-and I tend to get pretty angry when it happens! So I ended up getting a swift that folds up so I only have it out when I need it and it stores nicely on my shelf and I have a jumbo wooden winder that actually folds a little but, enough to fit on my shelf as well! It works for me (:
I will wind using my two hands and two knees until I’m no longer able!
I actually use an umbrella swift with a Stanwood winder
I hang the skein around my neck and wind by hand into a ball.
I have the wooden swift and blue and white plastic winder, but recently I was *away* and had to hand-wind a skein or two. It was not too bad, and the ball is easier to deal with, I find. Whatev.
Love my basic yarn winder. I don’t have a swift so I use a chair back and guide it with my hands. Works well.
I used to be a dedicated hand-winder. Then I bought a handmade wooden tabletop swift to use as I hand-wound. And then I inherited a ball-winder. Haven’t wound a ball by hand since.
Hi made swift and ball winder. Or hand wound aka Kate Larson on my thumb.
I wind it into a cake. I have cats and if they yarn is too rolly they think it’s a toy.
I used to by hand with the hank either around the back of a chair or held by a willing participant (then boyfriend or other family member). But I got a swift and ball winder for Christmas one year and it changed my life!!! Never going back!
I use a wooden umbrella swift and a wooden ball winder made by Fiber Artists Supply in Ohio. Winds like a dream!
I love my Amish-style swift and ball winder. So much better than handwinding.
I don’t wind my yarn. (O.k. I wind my lace and sock weight yarns.) Other yarns I knit direct from the skein slung over my shoulder.
I use a wooden swift and wooden ball winder but I also hold the yarn as I slowly wind it so I can adjust the tension and deal with any knots if they come up. I’ve always found hand winding too tight and have on too many occasions ended up with a pile of tangled yarn because whatever was holding the skein failed in some way (often involving my cats)
I hand wind my skeins of yarn arranged over two chair backs (set back-to-back), watching knitting podcasts as I wind away. I wind up a ball or two as I need them. This is how my mother did it — except she would watch soap operas as she wound.
I usually use a swift and ball wonder. Or the back of a chair in a pinch.
Like others, I use a a swift and winder for new yarn. I, too, have animals that like to help at times. My beagle puppies literally wait for me to get up and leave my knitting bag unattended (I’m a slow learner, apparently). When they get to the bag I employ the most useful unwinding tool, my husband. He doesn’t get frustrated and manages to get all the tangles out!
I wanted to knit a sweater when I was 14. My mother was no help(she sewed, it was quicker) so I took the bus downtown to the department store. A sweet white haired lady taught me to wind my yarn around the wrapper. She said it helped to keep it squishy and not wrap the yarn too tight. Yes, I finished the sweater and met some delightful fellow knitters along the journey.
When I demonstrate spinning I use all the gadgets including hand cards, drop spindle, spinning wheel, niddy-noddy, swift and ball winder. Non-fiber people are fascinated and perhaps learn something. Now days they want to know WHY, why when you can buy? Eventually a few see the beauty and touch the wool. Maybe reaching a future spinner or knitter.
I actually own a yarn shop, so I could do it there and use our electric winder. And I do. But I also do it at home while sitting on the couch at home with the swift on my round ottoman (I have one of those crossbar thingies). I start by wrapping some yarn around my fingers and then move my thumb into the center and continue to wrap and occasionally rotate the ball around the thumb until I look like I stuck my thumb in a plum pie just like Little Jack Horner.
I love my tabletop swift and Royal ball winder. I find it relaxing – and curiously satisfying!
By hand, usually draped over my knees.
I like to hand wind my yarn using a wooden yarn swift to reduce the frustration of the risk of knitting and tangling on my knees ( or as the yarn slips to the ground!) I love to feel the yarn move through my fingers as I wind around and around. The tricky part is remembering to not wind too tightly but to allow room for the strands to breathe…just like I need so often. I find myself breathing in the peace as I sit and wind. No chance of multi-tasking while winding my yarn. Just winding and breathing and anticipating the joy of knitting up the next project.
Depending on the project and the type of yarn/thread, I generally wind larger amounts using an umbrella swift and a hand-held ball/cake winder. However, I also hand-wind center-pull balls using a nostepinne. When my existing yarn source starts tangling because it’s near the end of the ball/cake, I generally wind it up using my thumb as the central ‘core.’
I totally caved and bought a winder after hand winding a ball of sock yarn for what felt like hours. So, I make cakes but I’ve never succeeded in not having a big messy yarn-barf situation with center-pull. I pull from the outside.
I use an Amish swift and a small plastic hand winder. The combination works very well for lightweight yarn. However the winder is too small for bulky yarn so I wind it by hand into a large ball.
For Christmas one year my husband, and excellent wood worker, made a yarn swift. I also got a yarn winder. I use them both almost weekly.
I usually use a swift and winder. If it’s an 80-yard mini skein I sometimes knit it right off the swift rather than winding it into a cake.
I always hand wind my yarn. I really enjoy doing it and do feel like I’m “getting to know” my yarn. Its part of the whole lovely process of knitting for me.
I wind sitting on the couch with the skein hanging on my knees with help from my boxer, Roxie, who provides quality control by regularly inspecting the yarn and giving it a good sniff .
I wind my yarn with a plastic winder and a lovely wooden swift. Got it when I learned to knit during Covid and the LYS’ winder was broken and sadly couldn’t be repaired for a long time. Now I’m so grateful to have it! But I hand wound for years as a crocheter.
I was an early adapter to swifts and ball winders in the early 80s and have blown through about 6 winders and 4 swifts. My grandmother’s passion for crochet forced my grandfather to “invent” the first swift back in the 40s when he used a lampshade with a loosened finial as a swift to save his arms. My backup system is my DH who loves winding collapsed cakes of yarn into lovely balls.
Many years ago, my umbrella swift collapsed, leaving a holy mess. Today I use an Amish swift and a Nancy’s Knit Knacks winder. This set-up can handle large skeins.
I wind with my swift and ball winder, usually with my 3-year-old “helping.”
I lay out the open skein on my knees while I sit and simply wind up into a ball.
If I’m two-at-a-timing or knitting from both ends for some reason, I use a tabletop swift and manual cake winder (attached to a piece of board because I have zero tables/counters/etc with square edges). Otherwise, it is manual ball winding with my two hands and generally a knee to hold the skein. I do like feeling the yarn, but I don’t like the joint pain with the bigger skeins…
I put the skein around my knees and wind the yarn over my hand so I don’t stretch it out. Makes a somewhat lumpy but very usable ball of yarn.
I place the skein on my knees and then wind it, very loosely. I’ve been winding my yarn this way for over 50 years.
Cynthia
I wind my yarn in a cake and knit from the outside. That way it sits in my basket or on the floor without moving and feeds very evenly.
I sit in a reclining chair with my knees bent and the yarn around the triangle that creates and wind …..there is some exercise involved too that way.
I usually take a picture of my new beautiful skein of yarn. Then I happily drape my yarn over my knees and wind away. I enjoy the process.
I use an umbrella swift and a plastic ball winder. Since reading all the comments though I want to look into some other devices.
I love to wind my yarn with my 4 year old assistant, my grandson. He watches me set up the skein on the swift as he patiently awaits the go ahead. He loves turning the ball winder; he is very observant. He knows he has to go in one direction and he needs to keep an even speed. Every time he is here, he asks if I need anymore yarn winded yet. ❤️
I’m a swift and ball winder, although for very fine wool I prefer to wind from the swift by hand.
I wind my yarn by hand
I drape the skein over the back of a chair and wind by hand.
How do I wind my yarn? Depends on the yarn and how lazy I am. Mostly I pop a skein over my knees and wind over my fingers to keep the resulting ball soft. Every so often I pull out the massive swift and winder; both wood and heavy and do a marathon wind. Lots of skeins for lots of projects.
Umbrella swift and ball winder is the only way to go!
I have an Amish swift and the big Stanwood winder. I wind once from the skein on the swift to a tight cake, then wind the other direction from the tight cake to a squooshy cake. Always with the TV on.
I hand wind, but off of an Amish swift that I set up on my ottoman.
I slip my skein over the back of a chair that is the perfect fit and hand wind. I actually find it relaxing and my yarn bowl enjoys the finished product.
Either by swift and winder or by hand.
Sorry DG -but I love the simple Amish yarn swift my late husband made me. It’s almost like extra arms, simple and easy.
I have a Swift and just upgraded from my plastic ball wonder to a nice Stanhope. Game changer!
I generally use an umbrella swift and ball winder – both gifts from my sister-in-law who owns a yarn shop! But just the other day I hand wound a lovely little ball of yarn and was reminded how enjoyable that can be!
By hand, but at least I now have a yarn swift….a gorgeous hand made one from Maine
I use a swift and a nostepinne. Very soothing at the end of a hectic day!
It all depends on the yarn and where I am. I do have a very squeaky ball winder and swift that I use, but some yarns are more fragile and need hand winding. In that case — and also when I’m away from home or just in a certain mood — I use the bathroom, get a drink, pop something to watch on the computer, and put the yarn over my knees and set to winding, which, depending on the weight of the yarn, can take an age.
When I had children at home, they were enlisted to hold the skeins as I wound. They never complained! We had lovely conversations, mostly about trivial things. What I most remember is being able to involve them in the homey art of knitting. Today, I loop the skeins around my knees or the back of a chair. There’s not much conversation, but lots of nice memories of wools and projects long gone by. I tried using a friend’s swift and winder and ended up with a cake of flawed yarn, I only discovered the fraying as I knit and it was very frustrating. I’ll stick with the old fashioned methods.
I like to wind my yarn. It is how I get acquainted with the yarn, with how it feels, if it tangles easily, or falls into place naturally. It is also soothing to do the repetitive winding, knowing there is an end in sight.
I use a manual ball winder and lay the opened hank flat on the table. I carefully watch the yarn feeding out to the ball winder so that no tangles ensue.
It is a pleasure to wind yarn!
For me, yarn winding is either done (1) with a swift and winder or (2) by hand. When I have time to wind by hand, I find it enjoyable and yes, it is a great way to ‘investigate’ or get to know your yarn.
I place the skein over a chair of appropriate width to keep the skein wide open. Then I begin to wind by hand. I love getting to know the yarn but may take my husband up on his offer of a ball winder and swift.
I shake out the yarn, then put it around my knees… and wind by hand. Love the process of getting to know the yarn.
I use my children. Isn’t that what they’re for?
I normally use a winder and my arms as the swift (my husband turns the crank on the winder). However, I am so interested to learn to hand wind! Getting to know the yarn sounds like a beautiful step in the knitting process.
I got my own winder and swift for Christmas years ago and have never looked back!
I wind my yarn on a swift and an electric winder (because I’m old!)
I settle back in my recliner and loop the yarn around my knees to wind. My friend has a swift, but doesn’t know how to use it and tried to wind a lovely lace yarn and wound up
(ha!) with terrible Yarn Barf which I am trying to clean up for her.
I always put the skein on my umbrella swift. I wind bulky yarns into a ball by hand and use my ball winder to make cakes for all other yarns. I don’t splice, etc as I go but whether by hand or with the winder I work at a steady pace that’s slow enough that I can see knots, flaws, etc – I know what to be prepared for as I knit.
Slow and steady. I hand wind while hanging out on the couch watching sports. Instant meditation!
I use a wooden swift and plastic cake winder. Unraveling a squirrel’s nest of yarn is great winter entertainment. I have a few more to do, curtesy of my dog when she was a curious puppy.
I wind both by hand from a swift and with a ball winder. If using the winder, I rewind from the already wound ball in the opposite direction at least once to ease the tension on the yarn from using the swift.
Let the hijinks commence.
It’s quite an event here, when I haul out the wooden swift and Stanley winder. The grandchildren gather ’round excitedly, vying to be first. Their only goal is to wind so fast that the yarn tangles up – on the swift, on the winder shaft, on the floor. You name it. At ages 8, 6 and 3, you would think they don’t have any other form of entertainment – you would be wrong.
As a fiber lover, my goal is to make sure everyone falls in love with fiber, so I do not hamper their fun.
But you better believe that when I have that special skein of yarn, clandestine (late night/early morning) winding is the only way to go.
I wind my yarn probably the most typical way, with a swift and ball winder.
Hi. I love winding yarn. Usually it’s a break from knitting when a pull skein comes down to its end and starts to tangle. Depending on my mood, I wind a center pull ball around my fingers, or seek out my nostepinde. The nostepinde balls stay tidy longer, but I can always rewind the finger wound ball if it gets untidy as the center disappears. I knit or crochet dragons, and hand-winding a variegated yarn gives me the chance to manage the color changes so a dragon’s feet or ears match.
I use a wooden swift and hand winder, but still carefully feed the yarn onto the winder, so that it doesn’t tangle. I wind slowly to get a good feel for the yarn.
Stanwood swift and winder for most yarns, winding slowly with yarn running through an open loop of my fingers so that I can get a feel for the quality and find flaws before they get caked. I hand wind center pull balls for slippery yarns and mohair.
I usually put the hank on the floor and start the ball. I like touching every inch of the yarn. It helps me identify any issues especially on hand dyed or multicolored yarns where color consistency can sometimes be a problem.
I have two swifts, one wooden, one plastic and metal. I love looking at the wooden one but I find myself always reading for the plastic and metal one. I wind off the Swift onto a plastic and metal ball winder that I hand turn.
How I wind my yarn depends on my mood, the type of yarn, and the amount to be wound. Large amounts of skeins usually go on the swift. When yarn meditation is calling me or a more delicate yarn needs winding, I use a nostepinne for hand winding. It cures all kinds of ills.
While sometimes I wind by hand, most often I use a umbrella swift and ball winder. It’s so gratifying to watch that yarn spin into cakes!
I wind my yarn with an umbrella swift and a ball winder. I have an Amish swift that i use for larger hanks!
I use a swift and Stanwood winder. It’s a meditative activity on a rainy day, dreaming about my finished project.
I wind my yarn with a swift and a yarn winder that I set up on my kitchen table. I don’t leave it up long because we need the table for eating and such. Quick, easy, and somewhat motivational (in other words, get on with it!).
I have a jumbo wooden yarn winder. It is delightful to use for the first ball of 1000 yards of laceweight mohair, and then it is a torture device for the next. If the yarn to be wound/rewound is just a small remnant, I like to hand wind using a big needle as a nostepinne. I’d use an actual nostepinne if I had one, but it seems to be the one knitting tool that’s missing from my extensive assortment.
Carefully, double-checking that it’s wound properly on the swifter first!
I have a swift. I usually use it but occasionally wind by hand. It depends on the yarn. Some yarns, no brands mentioned, do not “hank up” well. Hand winding is easier.
I wind my yarn the old way:
take two chairs back to back and stretch the untwisted hank/skein over them. Adjust the back to back distance. Find one end, and wind it in a figure of 8 over the thumb and middle finger. When my 8 is big enough I take it off, fold it and start winding the rest over my little bundle while always keeping a few fingers between it and the next strands. Et voilà, the ball is ready…
I usually use my ball winder and swift, but often I opt to hand wind my yarn using my nostepinne. When hand winding, it’s about 50/50 whether I use my swift or just hold the yarn over my knees.
I have arthritis that (thank goodness) doesn’t prevent me from knitting but I do use a swift and cake winder to lessen the wear and tear on my hands and wrists. I also love untangling (up to a point). I have used my winder to completely frog a sweater. It all came undone beautifully, good yarn and no split stitches.
I use a swift and ballwinder for large quantities, and my husbands arms for just one skein. It helps to have a good movie on!
First I sit down in a comfy chair. Then I put both hands through the yarn and move it up above my elbows. Then I start winding in a ball. Works great and easy to do.
My yarn winding happens in the front seat of the car when traveling with my partner (when they are driving). I bring my knees as close to the seat as possible, throw the yarn over them and wind away. It works well till the pup insists on sitting upon my (much coveted) lap!
Swift and ball winder!
My yarn winding has changed over the decades that I have been knitting. I started with handwinding balls that I pulled from the centre. About 15 years ago, I started using a nostepinne and loved the yarn cakes I could wind. Both approaches are satisfying but pretty long ordeals when you knit large projects, as I do, with lace or fingering yarn. About 5 years ago, my husband built me a tabletop yarn swift that accommodates skeins of every size and spins silently and smoothly on ball bearings. Swoon!!! Paired with a manual yarn winder, I am in heaven. I still handle the yarn and catch any knots before they are hidden in the cake. I like my new system so much that I decline the offer of free winding from my LYS. Winding is a wonderful part of the whole knitting experience.
I hand wind my yarn, usually around a chair back, sometimes around my legs. I love the process of getting to “know” my yarn, and I don’t even mind the time it takes to untangle it when that happens.
There is something meditative about hand-winding a skein as needed. I generally use my knees as a holder for the skein.
I wind mostly by winder but gladly rewind the leftover bits by hand.
I hand wind my yarn around a chair back or around my legs. I love getting to “know” my yarn in the process. I don’t even mind untangling it when that happens.
I start with the yarn around a hard back chair, winding by hand, until I hit a snag or tangle. Then, I generally move it to my knees or (foolishly) lie the circle of yarn on a bed, so sure that this time, it won’t snarl. You’d think after all these years and times, I’d know better! But, it always works out and I do indeed get to my yarn before diving in to a project…
I love to wind a ball /cake around my thumb. It turns out so beautifully.
Always by hand! Drape skein around a tall stool at the kitchen island or draped over my knees. Watching the news or talking to my husband while he makes dinner. Recently, wound some while watching the Blue Jays baseball. Sad that they’re out.
When I’m at home I use my cheap plastic swift and ball winder. It usually works pretty well, until the cake pops off and the tangling begins. When I’m in public I hand wind with yarn over my knees.
I usually use an umbrella swift and ball winder, especially when the yarn is from a vendor who is familiar to me. For very fine yarns though I tend to wind by hand, sometimes on a nostepinne but usually just in hand. I also do this for yarns that I’ve not used before to get a sense of what the product is. And for the record, I prefer center wound balls although not for fine lace weight yarns. Like everything in life, it all depends!
I use an umbrella swift and a ball winder though I have used my DH’s arms in a pinch.
I also wind by hand, draping the skein usually over my knees. I enjoy spending the time to get to know the yarn, and it’s nice to not have one more tool or device to worry about.
I wind the worsted weight around my knees. For lighter weights I use a swift and ball winder.
I just drape the yarn over my knees- tension it gently- and wind it around my thumb- leaving a long tail out for the center pull, rotating the ball from time to time to keep the top and bottom flat for sitting in one place while knitting.
I have a swift and ball winder, but some yarns I prefer to wind by hand, particularly very bulky yarn.
If I have a lot of skeins I drag out my umbrella stand and ball winder. Usually at least one skein gets gives me trouble and gets hopelessly tangled. If I only have a couple of skeins I wind by hand putting the skein on my knees or the back of a chair.
The way my father showed me: Into an elongated ball, winding around my thumb.
I wind with a small ruin-your-day hand winder for some yarns, but mostly by hand as a meditation device. A gift of some mill spindles lets me hand wind some pretty nice cakes.
How I wind my yarn depends… the kind of yarn, first; where I buy it (one won’t wind fir customers at all; one will do it free & others are all over the place); I have a cheap swift and ball winder … I do like to wind by hand, but it isn’t always the way I go.
I finally brought a inexpensive winder and swift last year. My stash seemed to be growing during 2020!!
Swift and ball winder. I don’t go too fast, running the yarn through my non-winding hand as I go; that way I do find (and fix) any knots or issues. I generally always knit from the outside of a yarn cake, as I don’t like when the centre-pull balls collapse. I put my cake into a bowl and happily knit away.
I use a Swedish wooden swift and ball winder for high yardage skeins, and a Scandi nostepinne for smaller balls. When using the swift and ball winder, I tension the yarn slightly so I can feel any knots, etc. If I feel a knot, I stop, slowly, unwind, and tie a larger knot so I can see when it’s coming as I knit. Occasionally it messes up LOL!
My local yarn shop will wind for me. When I’m winding at home I have a swift in a ball winder. Also have a nosetepine But it’s not my strongest skill!
I have wound yarn in many ways. I own a swift and a ball winder that use every so often. I’ve hung a skein on the dinning room chairs, hubby’s arms, and grandchildren’s arms. My absolute favorite is to hang it on the on the boat console when we are underway, it is the most pleasant activity and the view is always lovely.
I wind using a swift if I have the time to haul it out and a winder. But most of the time I use my pin or my hands.
I use a Knitting Notions table top swift and a small Royal winder and for large skeins a larger Stanwood winder. I have no problem winding slowly enough to watch for knots and other imperfections in the yarn with this swift. I am well past middle age so winding with a swift and ball winder is the only option for me if I want to keep knitting.
I wind either with a swift or hand wind using an empty Tony Chachere’s Creole Gumbo File bottle. It’s just the right circumference and length while including warm memories of family, chicken gumbo, and the anticipation of knitting with comforting yarn.
I have a beautiful hand turned Nostepinne that I like to use. I usually place the skein around my knees
Mostly with a ball winder and umbrella swift. Last resort is hand-winding.
I’m a swift and ball winder gal. I love those neat little cakes. Center pull for animal fibers and outer unwind for all others.
How I wind my yarn entirely depends on it’s weight. Lace and some fingering weights are always hand wound. The rest is done by swift and ball winder. Since I don’t work with bulky yarns my guess is that I would set up the swift and wind it by hand. Also, I only wind the current Projects skeins…it keeps me from getting itchy two project fingers.
Sometimes on my swift, which is fiddly because one arm is broken, sometimes by hand when I don’t feel like dealing with the broken swift!
I have a ball winder and a wooden swift. I leave them attached to a desk so that I can wind without having to set them up first.
I hand-wind a very neat cake-like center-pull ball, with the skein draped over my right arm. No swift or yarn winder needed. My Mama taught me how, probably 70 years ago.
I have a swift and cake winder but often find the skein has an issue that makes it less than easy and quick to wind. Lately I’ve been hand winding which is very soothing. Sometimes it just about yarn running through your fingers.
Very Sunday, I gather with a few friends for “coffee” at our local coffee shop. It is our weekly therapy session. When I need to wind yarn I take it with me and someone is always willing to hold it while I wind.
When i took up knitting 7 years ago I started by hand winding the yarn into a ball. Then I graduated to a winder that your had to stand and crank. Now I have an electric version and thought it is a “game changer” I choose to hold the yarn not only to increase the tension but to get a feel for it before I knit. My superstitious self says that if it winds up easily and perfectly the knitted item will also. But if it doesn’t then I better watch out.
Sorry…I use my umbrella swift and ball winder. But I do run the yarn through my left hand fingers as I do, so I catch any irregularities that may be there.
Swift and winder. Because I want to get to the knitting as quickly as possible.
Hand winder- always, even if offered at the LYS!
It depends on the yarn! Any yarn over ~300 yards gets the swift and plastic ball winder. But slippery yarn, 300 yards or less, and cakes that start to fall apart get the nostepinne, with or without swift as appropriate. I truly prefer the nostepinne “wind”, and you can easily make a center pull ball with it.
Now, in a car, it’s knees and making a ball by hand all the way!
Once I no longer had a yarn holder that I could bribe with cookies, I broke down and bought a cool wooden swift that breaks down to a set of sticks. But I wind my yarn from the swift into big, squishy balls over my fingers, just like my mamma did.
I have a wooden swift and manual ball winder – place the hank on the swift and use my hand for the tension/feel of the yarn as I medium quickly wind. I’m not a fan of tightly bound balls of yarn and I like to check for knots when I’m winding.
I use a swift, then rewind the cake so it’s not so tight and I can find the knots on the second wind!
I’ve always said hand-winding yarn is like foreplay – a little warming up and getting-to-know you time before you get down to business. I hand wind all my yarn into center-pull balls. I have a 20-year-old wooden squirrel cage swift that does the skein-holding honors.
I wind by hand with the yarn wrapped around my knees. I can’t knit in the car on long trips, but I sure can knock out a couple of balls of yarn!
It’s my kids favorite activity so I let them do it!
Winding yarn is such a preamble to knitting with it. I can’t wait so a swift and ball winder for me!
I’m 50-50 on winding yarn; sometimes I’ll use a swift and ball winder, other times I’ll drape the yarn over my knees and hand-wind. The decision of which method to use generally depends on how many skeins I have to wind and how lazy I am at the time. I learned my lesson not too long ago, though, (after spending 2.5 hours (!) to wind 4 very slippery and messy skeins on a swift) to be mindful of the content of the yarn before deciding how to wind the yarn.
I use an Amish Swift and lately a fancy wooden ball winder. But I don’t really like the cakes, and I find them too tight. So often I will wind a pull from the center ball, nice and loose as so not stretch out my yarn (just like my aunt taught me).
Grandma style. Skein around the knees, wind a round ball with two hands. I own an Amish swift, but the cats think it’s for them.
I own a ball winder but I don’t have a swift. I haven’t used it for a while, but when I did I would use the back of a chair to hold the yarn while I tried to navigate tangles. These days I’ve been winding by hand because: a. it’s more portable, and b. it doesn’t attract the cats’ attention as much. If for some reason I don’t feel like knitting, I can wind a skein or two instead. And if you’re winding speckled yarn, you can enjoy all those pretty speckles!
I consider myself blessed to have inherited two absolutely beautiful antique English wool winders from my darling dad. We’re American but lived in England where my dad collected antiques while working for the CIA in the 1960s (yes, mini skirts, Carnaby Street, Top of the Pops and The Beatles – who we saw twice in the early sixties at the tiny Hammersmith Odeon theatre just outside London). One of my wood winders is large, Victorian, mixed woods and still has its silk ribbon ties on it. The other is made of glossy rich pear wood, is earlier and more petite. They function using different engineering but both still work perfectly and I always think about those who owned and used them in the hundred years or so before I came to own them. Who were they, where did they live, what did they knit and for whom? These winders existed through two world wars so it’s a safe bet they were used to wind wool to knit balaclavas, socks, hats and such sent across the channel to their soldiers. Whatever knitting journey I’m on at the time starts with one or the other of these two beauties which are a pleasure to use and allow me as I wind to remember my dad and our lovely life in the Thames Valley back in the mists of time.
I wind a ball by hand so I touch the yarn one more time
I wind it by hand from an umbrella swift because I can never find someone who is willing to hold the skeins in their outstretched hands.
My husband holds the skein on his hands and I wind. We were in a yarn shop years ago and a newbie knitter saw the swift that was clamped to their work table and asked what it was. My husband said, “It’s called a husband.” (This is why I love this man!!)
I wind on a hand-me-down swift and ball winder.
I wind it onto my thumb from a ChiaoGoo dowel swift. Yes, this does allow an additional interaction and knowledge of the yarn you’re about to use.
I use a cheap Knit Picks ball winder and lovely wooden Swift my husband gifted me many years back. Love’em!
I wind my yarn by hand but truly hate doing it. There’s nothing worse than being excited to start a new pattern and realizing you have a million (or even two) balls of yarn to wind first. I’ll be combing the comments for an inexpensive, efficient solution!
I admit: I use an umbrella swift and ball winder for almost everything (delicate singles or silks get wound by hand). The swift/winder combo does have an advantage – my kids LOVE cranking away at the ball winder. Outsourced labor for the win!
I have one of those cross-arm swifts that I keep in a pretty cloth bag when not in use. And an inexpensive Stanwood ball winder that I clamp onto my desk. Not going to hand wind skeins of yarn. I’ll deal with knots, etc. when I encounter them.
Over my knees unless it is finer than sport or DK weight. The finer skeins are more likely to get tangled because they take longer and I don’t still long enough. Then I use a swift, no ball winder. I like to feel the yarn. And the whole point of knitting is the human texture and pace of things.
I use the back of an old chair I got from my grandmother and a Nostepinne that a friend gave me that has now moved. I love the feel and the rhythm of the yarn as I wind it old school and the good memories that wash over me as I think about the fiber influence these incredible women have had in my life
I wind yarn around my knees while sitting in bed watching TV. There, I said it.
I hand wind my yarn either over my knees or using my grandmother’s desk chair. She taught me how to wind yarn using this chair . I love hand winding my own yarn and rarely have it wound by shop or vendor.
Hang the yarn over a chair and binge watch a great show!
Usually i hand wind using my husband’s feet or the back of the kitchen chair to hold yarn. But to wind my 1900 yards of yarn this week for Stephen West’s SHawlography MKAL, I borrowed a friend’s swift and winder.That is a LOT of winding!
I used to have my LYS wind my yarn. That was always problematic because I have a stash (and know I shouldn’t keep too much yarn wound long before I get to it). With the pandemic, I started having to wind it at home. My roommate is unhelpful (and soooooo dramatic about it), so I use an umbrella swift and a winder that clamps onto my desk. We don’t have cats (allergic), and my snake isn’t interested in yarn—cakes are fine.
I use a swift and ball winder most times but I do enjoy hand winding too.
I mostly just wind by hand while sort of watching something my husband is watching on TV. Gives me something to concentrate on when I really don’t care about what’s on TV. BUT, he did buy me a lovely swift of my own for Christmas one year so occasionally I’ll break that out and feel very knitterly.
I recently purchased an American made wooden swift and I love it! I use it to wind my yarn!
I use a winder and I wind the yarn twice to get the twist out of the yarn.
I often wind by hand but I’m not very good at it. My balls often look more like large eggs. And…I like the challenge of a good tangle.
I finally, after 30+ years of winding on the feet, back of chairs, etc., purchased a swift and a winder and I have to say I do love them. I like how the swift looks, hooked on my sewing table in a down position when not in use. I like the questions people ask, “what the heck is that used for?” I like the process of being able to wind multiple skeins for a new sweater without dreading how long it will take. Sometimes I forget to wind when we travel and so it’s back to feet on the dash, yarn between the feet while my husband looks on and laughs. He always gets a kick out of seeing me wind like that.
I use a beautiful old cherry swift, where it’s easy to adjust the tension so it doesn’t wind too tightly with my winder, which is a hand cranked metal geared work horse! I love yarn cakes because they don’t roll away.
I use a wooden swift and wind the yarn into balls by hand.
If I’m home, I use an umbrella swift and one of my Nancy’s KnitKnacks ball winders- a luxurious yarn tool par excellence. If that’s not handy or if I’m lazy I put the skein on my knees and use a nostpinne to wind the ball. Or just my hands to wind a center pull ball.
I have a swift, but still use the back of a chair now and then. I was a hand winder for years until my ever-so-patient husband began to grumble a bit when asked to hold yarn. He’ll still help the not-so-patient me, untangle an uncooperative skein, though.
I usually use a ball winder and swift, but occasionally will hand wind a ball, especially if it is tangled in the skein and it takes some finesse to get it wound.
I wind center pull balls by hand with the yarn held on the neatest little collapsible swift given to me years ago by a coworker who found it cleaning out a great aunt’s house.
Since I only wind a skein or two at a time, I find it to be very relaxing. Pop on a TV show, put the yarn on the swift and wind away.
I use a winder and swift
I wind my yarn by draping the loop over a chair back or my knees. Then, leaving a long tail, I wind a bunch around my fingers.(This tail and inner bunch is where you will be pulling from to start.) When I have a bit of bulk, I take it off my fingers and start winding across the loops. I build up from there till it starts getting more of a ball shape and then I start winding anglewise, continually turning the ball to keep it nice and even. The key is too keep it loose (learned from Susan Bryant) because otherwise you stretch the yarn fibres. Keeping it loose also makes it easier to pull from the centre.
I wind my yarn on a beautifully crafted wooden winder!
I have a swift from my spinning/weaving days and a smallish ball winder that I use on some yarns, others I wind by hand from my swift to understand what the yarn has to tell me. I like talkative yarn.
I’ll use chair arms, legs of a chair that’s been flipped over – and if set up my yarn swift from my kids! Just depends on where I am….
I use a yarn swift and a ball winder, or if it’s already in a useable skein I will just knit from the skein until it becomes a floppy mess — then I’ll hand wind into a ball.
I have a table top swift and a winder that has been a permanent fixture on my dining room table since the lockdown of 2021.
By hand—around my knees or, in tight quarters or on planes, looped around my neck.
With a swift! (Look Ma…no hands!)
Umbrella swift and the thing that makes it into a ball. Some yarn stores have powered yarn winders – they’re fun to watch!
About 75% of the time I use a tabletop swift and ball winder, but I do enjoy winding by hand sometimes especially if it’s a new-to-me yarn. If I’m about to cast on a big shawl with multiple 400yd skeins of fingering, though, I use technology. My kid used to love winding yarn for me with the swift but he’s a teen now so those days are over.
I use a wooden swift and ball winder. Love this method.
I use a wooden umbrella swift with a plastic winder. I lightly tension the yarn through my fingers as it winds to catch knots and such. Before I bought the swift, I draped the yarn around the ends of a collapsible clothes drying rack onto the winder.
Hand winder here too! Around my thumb to creat the center pull. But I have been dropping hints to no apparent avail about a swift being a good gift.
I wind with the world’s jankiest swift and ball winder. Do not recommend.
I wind yarn by hand with the skein over my knees; if it’s a yarn that is prone to misbehaving I’ll put the skein on my swift and wind it by hand or ball winder. As others have noted, I like untangling messy skeins 🙂
I use a swift and a yarn winder. I love having them for frogging projects, too.
By shopping at a yarn store which will wind the yarn for free!
I have a swift, but wind the balls/cakes by hand. I start on my thumb, and then move the cake(center pull) to a stick about that same thickness and wind the rest onto the stick. It’s simple and I like watching the yarn lay in nice even patterns as I wind it up. It’s very satisfying.
After too many times trying to untangle a dropped skein by stretching it between my coat rack and a chair, and then the chair tipping over and tangling yet more…I bought a skein winder and swift. My arm tires easily so I wind pretty slowly, to avoid the swift overtaking itself and taking the yarn in the opposite direction because the winder is behind. And the cats you mentioned – they’re the other reason for NOT having round yarn balls! (Although they seem to manage just fine with getting flat-bottom cakes out of a yarn bowl anyway…)
After years and years of hand winding my yarn, I know use a swift and ball winder. I deal with knots as they appear when I am knitting.
I wind with a wooden swift and ball winder. Then I rewind that ball to get a softer ball of yarn wound under less tension. I have a good chance of catching slubs and knots by running it through my hands for each winding.
I wind mine into a cake with a swift and ball winder…
I usually wind my yarn on a Stanwood winder my friend gifted to me.
Occasionally, I still wind a ball by hand. I learned to do that from Cynthia of River City Yarns… Podcast On!
If I ask my LYS to wind yarn for me, I only ask for one skein to be wound and that always depends on how busy they are.
As a child, I held the yarn for my Mother as she wound or knit right from my arms. Not a favorite thing of mine to do.
I mainly use a ball winder and swift but sometimes just lay the skein in my lap and pray for not too many tangles.
I have a swift and a plastic yarn winder that I love! I never have accept an offer to wind my yarn because I love that introduction to my yarn. I try to wind as needed but occasionally wind a skein to see what it looks like in a cake
I have a swift and a yarn winder. But my favorite way is to put the skein on our antique high chair and wind while I listen to an audio book. I find this method to be the most relaxing and the yarn never gets tangled or breaks.
I wind my yarn by hand from around my knees. The lovely women in my LYS used to think I was crazy but now I think they are relieved that I don’t ask them to do it. I love to touch the whole skein of yarn before I knit with it. So relaxing.
I wind my yarn with an Amish swift and a small ball winder. I’m already a subscriber to the newsletter!
About 5 years ago I invested in a tabletop wooden swift and plastic ball winder and I’ve never looked back.
I have a ball winder and use that most of the time. I love fingering weight yarn and before I had a ball winder it took me 40 minutes to wind a skein. Now I can do serval skeins in that time.
I like to use my swift and wonder. But linen yarn does not work well doing this. So I hand wind yarn a lot of the time. It is easy to do while watching Netflix and drinking a glass of wine.
I drape the skein around my knees and wind by hand most of the time. If it’s a big project, I use my swift and skein winder.
I have a Knitter’s Pride Natural Ball Winder and swift. After trying a couple of cheap ball winders, I spent the extra money and could not be more pleased! I also wind around my thumb, the Andrea Mowry which works in a pinch.
I use a swift and ball winder to wind my yarn. This came after many years of using chair backs and family members to wind yarn!
I am much like many of your other commenters…I prefer to hand-wind my yarn into a ball, except if I have purchased 1,000 yards of laceweight yarn–then it is mechanical all the way.
I have a Mama Bear swift that spins like butter, and I prefer to put the skein on that, but honestly, it breaks down for storage, so in order to use it, I have to find an empty surface for it to sit on, and then put it together. That translates to most often using my knees and hoping that the skein only gets tangled towards the end of the winding process.
I learned to wind a center pull ball by hand years and years ago from the Reader’s Digest Book of Knitting, and have been mostly using that process ever since. You start by making a small butterfly of your yarn, fold that in half and hold it between your thumb and index finger and start winding around your thumb. I have gotten to the point that I can actually make a yarn cake (like what you get off of a skein winder) when I use this process. I also like winding around a nostepinne sometimes; and again, I seem to end up with yarn cakes rather than yarn balls.
I actually enjoy hand winding, unless there are more that four skeins to wind. Sitting in my rocker listening to good music or watching a sweet movie, is very good for my overactive brain.
I use my swift and my handy-dandy Royal winder, which I hear they no longer make. Good thing I have a spare that I inherited when a knitting friend passed away (Jody would be happy that she’s helping me out this way!).
I have my own ball winder and swift which means if I get excited about a project in the evening or even the wee hours and have yarn in my stash that I want to use, I’m all set. I just set the ball winder up on one wooden arm of my comfy chair and the swift on the other, and wind up what I need.
How I wind really depends on the yarn. If it’s a massive skein, like Miss Babs Yowza, it goes on the umbrella swift and then wound into a massive cake on my big ball winder. If it’s a smaller or normal size skein, again it goes on the umbrella swift and wound into a cake on a smaller ball winder. However, if the yarn is delicate or slippery, or if it’s not behaving on the ball winder, it gets looped around a chair back and then wound into a ball by hand. Even when I have the yarn caked, if it starts getting unruly as the cake collapses, I’ll often wind the remaining yarn into a ball by hand. That’s probably more information than you wanted!
With my hands!
I love my swift and ball winder! So long knees and chair backs.
I avoid buying much yarn that needs to be wound, I know that’s a shock but I’m not crazy about most hand dyed yarns! Thank you for introducing me to Bien Aimée, definitely worth it. When I have to do wind yarn I wrap the loop around a chair and go for it.
I have a ball winder and I made a homemade swift from hangers. Been doing it this way for years! Works like a charm!
I use an umbrella swift and a ballwinder.
Ah, winding. If I don’t do it at the Yarn Bar in Billings, MT I can sit in my favorite comfy chair at home. It’s made perfectly to let me use my feet to hold the skein as I wind away.
I, like others, don’t mind taking on the occasional detangling task. My husband actually likes that too!
I have a swift for big jobs (sweater quantities) but little jobs (1-2 skeins) are a pleasure to wind by hand.
I caved and bough5 a heavy duty yarn winder after I wore my first one out and a wooden Amish swift. Can’t live without either of them
I wind it around my knees
I make butterflies for each of my colors – something I learned to do in my college tapestry weaving classes many years ago. If the butterfly gets too big I just keep wrapping around to make a ball.
I use a wooden swift and a plastic ball winder, but I still have moments where I get into a tangle. Still working on getting it right! Went to a LYS today and my son said, “I wish it sounded that nice when YOU wind up your yarn.” Apparently my setup is a bit loud.
I like to hand wind from the swift. Feeling all the yarn makes me more secure about the look of the finished item. No bumps, knots or frays that appear when least expected and then have to live with it or frog the project. Sad experience has made this my winding way.
I wind yarn myself using my own hands.
I use an umbrella swift and a winder when I have 100g hanks of fingering or sport weight yarn. Otherwise, I will choose to wind it by hand making sure not to to let it get tangled!
Swift and ball winder, of course. Hand winding? SMH. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
I use a swift, back of the dinning room chair, my knees, the best is my 91 year old mother arms, just a quiet time to talk!
My husband holds, I wind. He has developed this wonderful way of dipping one side after the other and releasing the next strand to be wound so that I don’t have to reach in order to wind. Genius!
I most often wind my yarn by hand. I have a swift and winder but I prefer to just start winding around my thumb and continue on. I find it relaxing. However, I do have to remove my Apple Watch or it can look like I ran a marathon
Two perfect dining chairs set at a 45 degree angle to the corner of the dining table so I can stand facing the southeast looking out at a tranquil Cape Cod kettle hole pond. Wind away. Heavenly!
Using my swift and winder, I wind all new yarn, whether it’s already wound or not, so I can find knots, breaks or other defects before they surprise me while knitting.
When I have a lot to wind I use a wooden swift and plastic ball winder that both work quite well. But if I’m in a hurry to use a single skein, the chair back holds the yarn and I wind the ball by hand. I recently purchased a nostepinne from a friend, whose husband is a wood worker – and it worked great! My new portable system for winding a skein, and it still has the benefits of going slow and getting to know your yarn along the way.
I use a nostepinne that my nephew made for me. When I temporarily had the use of only one hand, I purchased a yarn ball winder, but I actually prefer to use the nostepinne because it gives me the opportunity to really understand the yarn before I knit.
I wind my yarn by hand, with the skein on my lap. It’s my fibre meditation.
On my thumb, while the skein rests over the back of a dining room arm chair.
I have an umbrella swift and plastic winder upstairs, but after many struggles untangling swift/winder messes or having to leave it while i went to work, I have switched to mostly using my Amish swift and winding on a nostepinne. The cats hate that, though, because I have to shut them out of my room to do it.
I hand wind my yarn in a variety of ways depending on the yarn and/or my mood. If it’s a hank I may use my swift or the back of the chair at my computer. If it’s a ball that I want to turn into into a center pull I use a portion of the sturdy cardboard center from a roll of gift wrapping paper.
I use an Amish swift and ball winder unless the skein is too big for my winder to handle, or ribbon yarn. That mess took me a week to untangle and hand wind.
I wind my yarn from the back of a kitchen chair. I’ve learned to turn the yarn on the chair back to accommodate the twist rather than try to untangle it as I go. It’s very satisfying.
Usually using a swift but sometimes draped over a chair back!
If I have a lot of yarn to wind I’ll use my swift and ball winder setup. But, for one or two skeins I’ll usually use a chair or my sofa arm and wind them by hand. Sometimes there’s actually something stress relieving in the process!
I do have a swift which I use occasionally, but find more often than not I just go ahead and hand-wind my yarn into a ball.
Depends on the yarn, but mostly I use a swift and winder slowly for knots.
I use a yarn swift & a plastic ball winder, almost exclusively. Occasionally I will wind by hand, but not often. It hurts my shoulder, lol!
I don’t because due to long term side effects from chemo I can’t wind yarn by any method…….way too much wrist pain and then ice and ace for weeks and no knitting. I am a passionate knitter, buy tons and I mean tons of yarnie goodness and rely on the seller to graciously wind the yarns for me and I have never had anyone ever say no and there are many knitters just like me who love us some yarnie goodness but only from someone willing to take the time to graciously wind it for us….How rude not to !
Well, my husband has strong arms!
I have:
hand-wound a skein, arriving a few minutes early, sitting in the back seat of my car using the headrests,(the brushed upholstery holds the yarn in place) when I didn’t wind off a skein in time to start my project at knitnite.
Rewound on a ball winder: I liberated 320 Barbie size balls of full skein premium yarn wound so tight I could hear the muffled screams of the fibers as they slowly suffocated. I raced from the garage sale to the LYS arriving just as they were closing-one look at the sample travesties in my hand and a gasp of “is THAT Malabrigo?!” she flung open the door, turned and raced to the winders.(apparently garage sale host/ess attempted to hide the enormity of their stash from hubbo by making yarn appear smaller than it actually was by winding little rocks of yarns)
Zen wound: using my treasured Hornshaw Woodworks handmade swift (gifted by my knitnite group on a milestone birthday) and the “rescue” ball winder, anticipating watching the colors of a hank unfold as it’s wound off.
My husband will not indulge my yarn habit directly, but he will buy me tools. One year for Christmas he gave me an umbrella swift and a winder. I will hand wind bulkier yarn.
I wind my yarn by hand, usually when I am too tired or bored to do anything else except such a mundane task. Also, sometimes I will wind in the car, as my partner drives. I put the ends of the skeins on each of my knees. My friend has a ball winder, but she usually gets frustrated with it. Hence sticking to the old fashioned ways.
I drape it around two chair backs and then wind into an inside-pull ball by hand.
I have a GORGEOUS Hurricane swift that I bought at MD Sheep and Wool, complemented by a beautifully crafted wooden winder. And when I am brave, I use my drill with the Winderfull!!
When I plan ahead, I check out the ball winder and swift from my local library’s Library of Things. When I don’t remember to, I use my handy feet or the back of a chair.
A few years ago my husband gifted me a lovely swift and winder, and I use it all the time! I love it.
How do I wind my yarn? If I am short on time, I will wind into a cake from a swift. If I have time, I hand wind into a ball leaving 3 fingers in between each 10-12 wraps so I do not stretch the yarn leaving the bounce/body in the fiber. Turning the ball with each set of wraps to give a patchwork appearance,
I have a wooden swift & plastic ball winder in my office – when confounded by ridiculous tax questions I haul it out and wind a ball of yarn —- usually that will bring me back to a sensible state of mind. (My cat loves helping me unwind yarn as I’m winding it – hence the office project)
I use a nostepinne to wind yarn. I have several, because I can’t resist carved wooden objects! That makes it a collection, I suppose, along with the yarn, books, plants, and teapots. I find nostepinne winding meditative. I can also do it while chatting with friends. It’s more portable than a ball winder, as well.
When I feel like sitting, I throw the yarn over my news and proceed to wind. When I’m feeling energetic, I throw it over the back of a kitchen chair.
I have a ball winder, but enjoy slowly winding my yarn by hand. It’s just something about it. I think it helps me get to know my yarn on an intimate level.
I too love untangling yarn
Glad I bought a Wooden swift and plastic ball winder years ago, always there when I want to wind a ball . Occasionally a very tangled skein won’t go on the swift correctly and then it’s back to the old fashioned chair back
To me, yarn winding is the beginning of a project. Just part of the process.
I wind my yarn on a small winder that my husband bought me one Christmas. It does the trick!
I have an umbrella swift, that I use with a ball winder, but I have been known to tip a chair back towards me with a skirt looped around the back and hand wind away.
After trying a couple different ways, I use my knees to help wind yarn. Which I am very happy to see many others do too! Still get some tangles, especially at the last 1/3 or so. But mostly successful. Seems to matter which “end” I start with.
I have a swift and a winder but the best winding I think is done by hand and I am on a quest to learn how to do it right
I almost always use a swift and ball winder. Occasionally, I’ll rewind it if the yarn appears to be pulled too tightly.
I start with the end on my index finger and do a figure 8 between my index and middle finger until it is about a inch thick of yarn and then make the ball
I have used the back of a chair, draped yarn around my neck, stretched precariously over my knees, and nearby available human to hold while I wind. I love when the vendor offers to wind it for me, but I usually lose the tag and have to guess where I bought it, what it was called, etc.
I use a swift and ball winder unless it’s super chunky and then I wind by hand using an antique ladder back chair.
I have a swift and ball winder but put them away when I was in a cleaning fit a few months ago and am not sure exactly where I put them. So for my last 2 projects I have just wound the skeins into balls by hand.
I use a swift and ball winder for most. I hand wind minis and of course when the winder doesn’t want to behave!
I use the back spindles of my ladderback chair. Also the arms of a wooden chair when not at home. I also love the untangling process. Winding can be very soothing.
I am very low-tech in my winding. I place the yarn around my neck and wind by hand onto an empty paper towel cylinder made of cardboard. No fancy tools needed.
I use a swift and a hand crank winder- it is a new purchase and I am so glad I bought it!
I successfully use a yarn swift and ball winder. I keep trying to wind yarn using a nostepinne but I haven’t gotten it down pat. Mine comes out uneven.
If I’ve planned ahead, I use a wooden swift and ball winder. When impulsive, I use my knees or the backs of two straight-backed chairs, set the proper distance apart.
With a Ball Winder and the Skein around my neck. It’s the only way to keep my cats from pulling at it and turning it into a knot.
By hand; often it’s handspun so hurry is not a part of the process. Well, no, not quite true, but at least hurry is a well-known opponent.
I typically use my ball winder and umbrella swift, but sometimes I enjoy slowing down and hand winding using a nostepinne.
I wind but hand. Sometimes I will hook it over a kitchen chair.
I wind it around a paper towel tube, leaving a nice hole in the middle of my flat-bottomed cake just in case I want to pull from the center. I also have a smooth gorgeous piece of driftwood that I sometimes substitute for the paper towel tube if I’m in a crunchy granola artsy mood.
I have a nostepinne made from a sassafras tree and an Amish style yarn swift from Chiaogoo…very meditative.
I wind my yarn with a swift & ball winder when necessary. I currently have 2 cakes of yarn in time-out following the last session – it was torture! I wound 2 balls first for another project, then decided to do these 2 while everything was out. Oh, my, 3 hours later, the last 2 were done. I doubt it was me, since the first 2 took only minutes.
I usually use a squirrel cage swift and Ball winder
Hand and a wonderful swift from Fleece & Harmony. No longer need anyone’s hands or my contortions
I bought a swift a few years ago and enjoy using it. I worked in a yarn store and a few times yarn we were winding for a customer tangled- nightmare.
When I first started knitting in 2008 I wound my yarn by hand. But once I knew knitting would become a life-long hobby, I invested in an Amish yarn swift and ball winder. I prefer winding my own yarn once I am ready to start a project. That way if I change my mind and decide not to use the yarn, it’s still in the original hank and I can trade with other knitters.
I have my swift and ball winder attached to my drafting table so when the need arises, I can just thumb my nose at the cats and wind before they wake up and start helping! And if there’s anything fluff like in that cake of yarn they will still grab it and run fast when they think I’m not looking. They appreciate yarn differently than I do.
I wind by hand into center-pull balls. I put the skein over the handles of 2 adjacent kitchen cupboard doors, and stand to wind to music.
I undo the skein and place it around my dear hubby’s hands, and we chat as I wind the yarn into a ball. Sometimes we reverse the technique and I hold and he winds.
I place the hank over the back of a kitchen chair and then use my Harry Potter wand to wind it on!
I’m a voracious consumer of loved but disposed yarn found at thrift stores. I come home with treasures from days gone by – found in attics, tucked back in closets, packaged in the original kit – and carefully tend by hand winding. It’s a quiet and peaceful time to get acquainted.